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Celestion DL8 Series 2, bass response and crossover recap?

andylsun

andylsun

Active Member
I picked up a lovely pair of Celestion DL8 Series 2 speakers at the weekend free on CL. Very nice condition, very well looked after, but not quite the low end bass that I expected. Playing tracks that normally have a bass punch (e.g. opening few seconds of Unfinished Sympathy) seemed to be lacking low end. I know it's only a 2 way speaker with an 8" woofer, but I expected a bit more. Mids and highs and imaging are lovely.

The crossover looks like it contains 4MFD and 6MFD Nonpolar electrolytic caps. They are probably around 20 years old, so time for a recap? Would it help the bass response?

Looking at poly caps, it appears Dayton from parts-express seem a popular choice, but there didn't seem to be anything suitable at digikey. Any other good places to get them?

I'm not looking to bust the budget here, but if I could recap them for around $10 for 3 caps that would be great.
 

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Celestion 8's are not about low end. They're all about mids and highs. Superb mids and highs are is most music is all about. If you need more bass, you could always add a sub.
 
sealy said:
Celestion 8's are not about low end. They're all about mids and highs. Superb mids and highs are is most music is all about. If you need more bass, you could always add a sub.
Click to expand...

I have a sub I could add, but most of the comments I've seen about the DL8 indicate that there's quite a bit of bass - not room shaking, but more than I get from these. I'll run some test tones and see where the roll off starts. If it matches the spec (which I can't find) then I'll leave well alone.

Just trying to make sure they are working right!
 
Replacing the caps will most likely not help the low end any at all but should help out on the tonality of the speaker. These are going to be all about room placement for the best results. Speaker stands a certain height, certain distance from the back wall, from side walls, etc. What sources are you using? What type of music do you primarily listen to? I have a pair of the Ditton 44 Series II's and they have pretty decent low end having an 8" woofer and 10" (rear firing) passive. Not thundering capable bass like my Norman Labs, Polk SDA's, Infinity RS-IIIa's, Quantum 3's, etc....but good musical bass.
 
I had a good email exchange with the previous owner where he indicated that they had plenty of bass where he had them placed. The room placement isn't optimal at the moment, so will play around - and thinking about the way a crossover works, a cap change won't affect the low end.

Will play around with placement and see what happens. I'm running vinyl and CD through a Yamaha A-1000 amp, and the other speakers I run on the same system with the same sources (that are ported 3 way speakers) have gobs of bass.
 
Mine were placed on stands with the tweeters at ear level, well away from any reflective surfaces. I'm sure placing the speakers near a reflective surface will increase bass response, but to what end? If the compromise results in reduced quality of mid range and treble reproduction, the trade-off simply isn't worth it.
 
As said, you may be expecting too much in the bass department from them. I have a pair of DL4's. Bass is nothing to write home about in them either. But the mids and upper end is VERY nice. I love the tweeter in them.
 
I have a pair of DL-8 Series II in my office. They are placed for convenience, not for sonics. I find the bass to be clean and musical, if not terribly deep. I actually find the mids and highs to be a little "boxy" sounding, for lack of a better term. Perhaps they are due for a re-cap. Access to the caps through the woofer hole, or from the back?
 
I took the crossover picture with the woofer removed, but the back plate is screwed in place, so I suspect it can be removed from the rear.
 
Thanks. I thought I remembered the back plate having screws, but it's inconvenient to pull the speakers from their positions right now.
 
andylsun said:
Looking at poly caps, it appears Dayton from parts-express seem a popular choice, but there didn't seem to be anything suitable at digikey. Any other good places to get them?
Click to expand...

Solen. Their caps are used on many if not most high-end speaker Xovers but they are reasonably affordable.

http://www.solen.ca/pub/

As you said a recap won't change much in the bass department but replacing 20-year old electrolytics certainly won't hurt imaging.
 
the celestion ethos on bass was quality over extention and quantity, this makes them excellent candidates for using with subwoofers. infact with the sl6/600/700 your problem will be finding a subwoofer that is fast enough and tuneful to keep up with them!

check out the 'system 6000' - celestions own attempt at a matching subwoofer. the bass is so good they were often bought up to partner electrostatics!
 
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