Celestion Speaker Appreciation Thread

[SFP]

For Admins.. please delete if not allowed.

For the rest of us...

Who all loves their Celestion speakers (pre non-UK built ones).

I come with background in the music industry since 1985. Freely admit mostly metal, punk and hard rock. But I also have a love of opera, blue grass, blues and folk.

At 53 years of age, (2023) a pair of Celestion Ditton-9 Legends came into my life and changed everything.

Prior to this year I had a pair of old and freely admit to abusing pair of JBL L100's and Cerwin Vegas's S1.

Music biz wise as one can guess, it's loud. Marshall, Orange and Ampeg rules in that part of my life. Studio work, whole different ballgame.

Late March 2023 I decide to take the plunge and buy myself a vintage stereo amp and turntable. I had my eye on a Akai-1030 amp and the day I go to buy, seller tells me it's sold, but has something he thinks I might like if I wanna come see. A Realistic STA-960 amp (made by Foster), Lab-250 TT and matching speakers. I said why not. Short story I buy the kit he is selling. While I am there I notice the Celestion 9's up on the top shelf and out of the way. "What about those?" I asked. He informs me he got them with a bundle, no screens and has had them for two years.

I ask to see them, and yeah they are real Celestion's. Now, I know the brand from the music industry. He's not a music industry guy, but a vintage collector who buys and cleans/restores then sells/not a flipper (hence the reason I am there). "No interest in these from other buyers?" I ask. "No one has ever been interested, I have ever tried to throw them in on a sale and people didn't want them" he tells me. "I'll take the with the package".

At this point I am already over my budget so I make arrangements to come back in two weeks and grab the rest (I took the amp with me for $300.xx). Two weeks later I grab all the rest including the 9's for $200.xx

Well, I had zero idea how those speakers/monitors would impact my life. I got everything home, hooked up the Realistic speakers and throw on a few records and it was nice. Then I pulled the Celestion's into play. WOW... I heard things on albums I have been listing to for forty years I had never heard before.

That's it. I'm hooked.

My entire life I have loved LOUD... but loud and clear at this level is a whole new thing.

A month later a pair of OG Ditton-44's ($400 CDN) - Hooked up to a 1978 Akai AM-2400 - these are now my primay speakers in my listening room (9's are in my bedroom)

Ten days later, a pair for F1S for a friend who was blown away hearing mine.

Two months later, DL-6 - these are unreal for their size. Amazing, haven't decided where they will end up.

Four days later, F-10's (giving to a friend for a birthday present)

Just missed on a pair of Ditton-332's - kinda bummed to be honest - they would have paired nicely with the D-44

Currently looking at a pair of Ditton-442 ($400 CDN) - not sure I *really* need them - would rather find some D-66's.

So I thought (after looking) to start the Celestion Speaker Appreciation Thread.

Share photos, stories, why you love them.
Tech advice, where to buy parts/etc.
What are you driving them with?
What got you hooked on their sound?
Old ads - pics/links to video/audio
Tech sheets/manual links
Upgrades/repairs

It's the Celestion Appreciation Thread

 

[Lavane]

I have a pair of Celestion Ditton 300's. Very clear with a good high end and midrange. They could be better at producing more low end though.

 

[SFP]

Have added a pair of 1980 Ditton 332's to the collection as of last week.

So need to get some good photos of my collection to share.

 

[JRhoBurton]

I've had a pair of Ditton 100's for some time, very smooth speakers. I recapped, stripped off the vinyl, and added a layer of 1/4" oak on top, bottom, and sides. Also changed the grill cloth to gray.





A week ago I decided to grab a pair of locally available 9's. Not a ton of info on these, but several owners said the metal dome tweeters are not at all harsh. I generally don't like metal domes except for the two pairs of JBLs I have with 035Tia's.

I first thought these were 2-ways with passive radiators, but they're 3-way, crossed at 1k and 4k. I just set them up for initial listen. I detect no harshness so far. Maybe I will refinish these too. I don't like vinyl on speakers.

 

[S. Pupp]

I was looking to audition a pair of Celestions back in 1995, but there were none to be found in my area of Pennsylvania. After auditioning everything within my price range that I could find, I ended up with a great heavily discounted demo pair of Apogee Centaurus Slant 6 hybrid ribbon speakers. They are truly outstanding at throwing a deep and realistic soundstage, and bringing the artists or orchestras into your listening room.

Fast forward a couple decades, to a year after my wife and I move into our first house together. My wife tried her very best to tolerate a pair of “tall black pylons” in the living room, but her looks of grief whenever she caught sight of the Apogees led me on a search to find an alternative for the living room. I found a pair of Celestion SL6S speakers in good condition on eBay, and bought them. I’d never actually heard a pair of Celestions, but had read enough good reviews in the 1980’s and 1990’s to believe that they would be to my taste.

I set them up, hooked them up to my McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe amp, and played some tunes. These small boxes do most of what the Apogees do, but with better quality (if not quite as deep) bass. They are good. They are jaw-droppingly good. They are so good that I heard myself shout over the music “How the *^%# are you doing this????????”

My wife recently said, and understandably so given the layout of that room, that living room speakers need to be right up against the wall. The SL6S needs some space to breathe, so we’re going to replace the front speakers of our Mission M5 surround system in the den with the SL6S pair. “We’re NOT getting rid of the Celestions!” my wife had declared, “even if we have to find a place to store them temporarily. We are keeping them no matter what, OK? Understood?” - I guess she loves them too!

 

[Chad Michael]

DL8 series 2

Bought new around 1987 ish... As I recall list price for the pair was $600, I paid about $425 for them. Because I like variety, have several different speakers that I rotate through several systems, and trade with an audio friend. The DL8's are my overall favorite. My other gems include:

- Boston Acoustics A40 series 2
- Wharfedale Sapphire SP-83
- MB Quart QLS 530
- Rega RS1
- JBL L19
- KEF C30

 

[Lavane]

My Ditton 300's had 6 non polar electrolytic caps in the crossover.
It was easy enough to find 5 of the values in film caps, the 5th was a 50uf cap. I was just about to just get a other 50uf electrolytic cap to replace it. But then I found some 50uf film caps on closeout for a tenth of the original cost at Partsconnexion. So I ordered them. I knew film caps can get rather large after a certain value, but what arrived were polypropylene film caps with a diameter of a Cambell's condensed soup can and half as tall. They were huge? I had to mount them off the PCB to the inside of the cabinets.
The speakers do sound pretty good though. I have them connected to a Marantz 1060 integrated amp im using as a preamp for a Marantz model 140 power amp in a small system in another room.
The Marantz is the only piece of equipment I have with tone controls.
Most of my equipment is tube based and even the few tube preamps I have don't have tone controls. So with the Marantz I can adjust the bass up some to get the Ditton's to sound better.

 

[Chad Michael]