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The Celestion Owners Thread

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I bought a Celestion Ditton 130 as a single speaker at thrift recently. Cosmetically it is in decent shape with the vinyl and the grille cover looking very presentable. The drivers themselves appear intact and unmolested. I tested the overall resistance in store with a pocket meter, and was ~7Ω, and there was no rubbing of the woofer’s coil when pressed in, so I figured it had a good chance at being functional. The return of the woofer to its rest position was appropriately slow, indicating the cabinet was still sealed.

I set it up in a dining room small system to test out (subbing in for one of a pair of Large Advents), driven by a NAD 7225PE using mono and the balance control to isolate it. Very good initial impression, a smooth balanced presentation, if lacking somewhat in the lower octave or two. This isn’t a surprise given its modest woofer (nominally 8”, but only about 6” of cone) and small cabinet size, but nonetheless the difference was quite noticeable against the Advent with its larger woofer and cabinet. The rubber surround on the woofer is in excellent condition, near new really, and has a more engineered, almost pleated, shape than I am used to seeing. I have read about Celestion’s efforts back in the 1980s at developing better cones, and perhaps this is a product of that.

I removed the terminal cup so I could inspect the crossover. I saw 3 of the notorious black caps with red ends and “+” symbols on the body, a 4.7µF, 10µF, and 12µF. I suppose I will need to replace those if I want to hear the best out of this speaker. Based on prior experience, it might well help out a bit in the bass.

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All in all, a good showing, despite being a budget offering from Celestion. Not quite sure what I will do with it as a single, but not having owned any legitimately British-made gear (my BIC 960 TT doesn’t really count), curiosity got the better of me and decided that $3.99 was a pittance for a chance to play. Glad I did.
 
Disappointing that you didn't get them as a pair. BTW those Elcaps used aren't as bad as many make them out to be. I feel that this is a bit of a BS line of thinking that all caps need replacing when X amount of years old. A lot depends on their usage / abuse and climate they have lived in. If treated well I find that they survive rather well and in this particular case they would be younger variants compared to some of the speakers made in the late 1960's and 70's that used Elcaps.
 
Thanks for the comments. If my spare language didn't make it clear, there was just the one speaker. Would have loved to have the pair.

On the black/red caps, fair enough, but I have seen a number of people run into issues with them. Statistically valid, given the large number of popular models using them? Probably not. But unless one has intimate familiarity with the sound of a particular speaker model, it is hard to know if they are off without pulling and testing. And if I am pulling and testing a ca. 30 y old electrolytic in a sound-critical position like an in-series cap in a crossover, I'm going to replace it with at least a new NPE for longevity purposes alone. But I am with you about not wholesale recapping older amps, receivers, etc.

I did notice that two of the caps (the 4.7 and 12) are marked "LL", presumably "low loss". They are going to have a better quality construction than the 10µF (which is noticeably smaller). Perhaps those two are the in-series ones in the crossover.
 
Just an update on this lone Ditton 130.

I removed and measured the 3 caps in the crossover
Capacitance____Actual Capacitance_____Vloss______ESR
10 µF______________12.24____________3.2 _______2.7 Ω
12 µF (LL)__________13.96____________1.4 _______0.1 Ω
4.7µF (LL)___________5.92____________3.1 _______0.39 Ω

I don’t know what the tolerance spec on these BP caps are, my guess would be 10%, but even if they are 20%, 2 of the 3 are out of spec.

I also sketched out a schematic for the crossover while I had it out. I have not seen one for the Ditton 130 reported elsewhere, so I am including it here in case it is useful to someone in the future. I think this is the first one I’ve seen without any resistors.

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I replaced the 10µF with a Panasonic 10µF film cap, and the 4.7µF with what I had handy: 2 Panasonic 2.2µF film caps in parallel; all are metallized polyester. I left the 12µF cap alone for now.

In playing music through it after the changes, the basic sound character struck me as very similar to as before, but with a noticeably deeper reach into the bass, and with a good tautness. I played it against the Large Advent again, and I’d say it has made up more than half the ground it had given up to the Advent previously.
 
Well I haven't posted on this thread for a while but much earlier I asked if anyone here had a Copper Dome Tweeter to suit a set of SL6 that I have.

It seems that I don't need it anymore as I had a good friend of mine who works on these sort of higher end items repair it for me as it was merely a break in the flying lead and he joined it back together again for me and it's all good now.

So this leaves me with just the cabinets to refinish back to perfection again and then they'll become my Bedroom Speakers to replace the ever reliable Realistic Minimus 7's that have been there for quite some time now. I'm sure the SL6 system will certainly outperform the predecessors in there. I have a lovely Akai AM-M939 Combo set in there hooked up to the TV and this would be simply stunning as a bedroom system I'd say.

Below is a photo of the Akai system as it stands. (no remote showing but it's there)

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Yes I certainly agree with you on that point and thanks for that.

This particular Akai system is quite under rated and as such sought after whenever a set comes up for sale. By this point in time Akai were no longer a force in quality gear so this was right out of left field when looking at some of the previous Midi Combo's that they brought out prior to this one. Many of them were just cheapie plastic units but this one had all efforts put in and it certainly shows in the looks and performance. The amplifier is worth it's salt alone. The Turntable, (not pictured) not so much.
 
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Well the process is really moving along now.

Below is a couple of images of the cabinets just being sprayed with Sanding Sealer. Sadly I never took any before shots showing how rough these beauties were when I obtained them. The original faulty Beryllium copper domed tweeter was repaired and is now working perfectly.

All I have to do now is give the sealer a very light rubbing back with 800 grit paper and then they'll be ready for their final finishing in satin clear just like they originally were.

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Rebuilding some of the corners was the most time consuming part of it apart from all the scratching that was inflicted upon them, regardless they'll look just like new in the end. The only thing I'm still up in the air about is whether I should recover the grilles with the original Brown cloth or update to Black. Must admit the Brown appears very dated indeed while the Black just looks so much sharper and cleaner.

Thoughts would be appreciated. BTW I've always been a bit of a stickler for originality regardless of what I rebuild or restore.
 
Thought i would move this post where it belongs and where it deserves to be answered..i still don't how or where the New Thread button is..oh well..20200415_144358.jpg
I am at the point in my life with a the proverbial "houseful" of speakers and it is time to start the restoration process on a few pairs..I will no doubt be lugging some of these your way from the Fraser Valley to work on as my skill is very limited..I am in the process of securing a set of minty Celestion Ditton 442 speakers from a gentleman..in the process of auditioning them and moving one of the cabinets I neglected to remove the banana plug and snapped off the positive binding post right where the small hole was drilled for the bare wire to go through..I have found another Gentleman who will sell me the posts and crossovers from his cannibalized 332s. My question of the day is are the 442 and the 332 using the same components in the crossovers?.If so I thought I would practice my soldering skills and recap the crossovers and then test them one out at a time to discern any audible difference (of which I am sure will happen). I will also rotate the woofer 180 degrees to prevent sag as well as inspect the tweeters..( should I be checking the impedence with a multi meter while I am in there?) The pictures of the binding posts look the same on the 442's so I should have no problem re and re-ing them....or will I?..In any case if the next owner wants everything stock then I would have the original cross overs saved to switch back..Is this a worthwile plan in your estimate?..thanks for any advice you may have for me.
 
Well what's a guy gotta do to get a reply around here?..seriously now I would expect some bloke to take a couple minutes out of their time and give me a thought or two concerning my situation..
 
Pathetic really..don't understand this " community" thing..pathetic that I have to reply to myself..pathetic that I still check for a reply...any reply really...I used to have such respect for the fellow members but not so much anymore..talk about a dead thread...
 
@Granite It just may take more time. This forum doesn't have as large of a community as some of the others. Because it's about British equipment only. I've posted a few thread and questions here and a couple took awhile before someone familiar with what I had chimed in. Soon I'll be posting a few questions about a particular item that not much info is to be found.
I expect it will take a bit before someone familiar with it answers. Most may not know if the crossovers are the same, so no answer. Lots of speaker models from a single manufacturer use the same binding posts. But usually different models use different crossovers. I know of a few that use the same crossover as another model, but it's just do to different cosmetics. The speakers, crossovers and cabinet dimensions are the same, just different grills. But this isn't common. I'm guessing the crossovers are different.
 
I'm picking up a set of Ditton 250's today from a fellow AK'r. I plan on replacing all 5 electrolytic caps in each crossover. I didn't find a whole lot of info on these. I did find pictires of two different models. One with wood veneer and one with vinyl veneer. It looked like different tweeters were used also. The set I'm picking up have the vinyl veneer. I really only have a couple questions. Is one tweeter better than the other?
And does anyone here have a pair of 250's?
 

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Thanks Lavane for some kind of an explanation..I must admit that with the last 6 weeks of my " lockdown" and my desire to complete some of my projects and yes, one too many Scotches late at night it came off as a last attempt to elicit a response..My apologies for the roughness as it is not in my nature to whine and complain..That being said I hope we can get on with it and let the bright minds prevail. I will wait.
 
Granite said:
Thanks Lavane for some kind of an explanation..I must admit that with the last 6 weeks of my " lockdown" and my desire to complete some of my projects and yes, one too many Scotches late at night it came off as a last attempt to elicit a response..My apologies for the roughness as it is not in my nature to whine and complain..That being said I hope we can get on with it and let the bright minds prevail. I will wait.
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I really do think they would be different. Maybe shoot off an email to Celestion?
 
Good idea Lavane..I already talked to Corporate there about ordering the stock beefy metal stands that seemed to be an option when ordering the speakers and would they object to me having them fabricated locally here..The reply was they never had them in the first place..I emailed them a brochure page which i will forward here..I will email them about the x overs as I have nothing to lose and it does seem that not many subscribers here are too involved with British Audio..thanks for the tip. How do the 250's look after aquiring them?.. happy to have them in your possession i suppose..I am really loving my 442's especially with classical and vocals..beautiful soundstage right now with the way I have them set up..ttyl Screenshot_20200414-075533.jpg
 
Granite said:
Good idea Lavane..I already talked to Corporate there about ordering the stock beefy metal stands that seemed to be an option when ordering the speakers and would they object to me having them fabricated locally here..The reply was they never had them in the first place..I emailed them a brochure page which i will forward here..I will email them about the x overs as I have nothing to lose and it does seem that not many subscribers here are too involved with British Audio..thanks for the tip. How do the 250's look after aquiring them?.. happy to have them in your possession i suppose..I am really loving my 442's especially with classical and vocals..beautiful soundstage right now with the way I have them set up..ttyl View attachment 1839735
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From what I could find people really seem to like the older Dittons. Mine are from the 80's. After being bought out things kind of went down hill. The last of them built in the 90's don't seem to be much liked from what I read.
The 250's are pretty detailed without being harsh. The low end is pretty good for an 8" woofer in a sealed box. I have the caps ordered to replace the old electrolytics.
 
Sorry Granite and Lavane, my only experience with Celestions is the lone Ditton 130 I posted about here a few months ago.

FWIW, while there aren't listings of the 442s or the 250s on HiFiEngine, there are some catalogs there that have a little info on the Ditton 250s. The one listed on this page (https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/celestion/ditton.shtml) shows some Ditton 250 Series II that look like what Lavane posted above (e.g., tweeter with ribbed faceplate, no mesh guard, and only the word "Ditton" on the tweeter, not the model number), and has basic specs, tweeter version, etc.
 
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