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Thread: Renovation of Celestion 66 Studio Monitors

  1. #11
    Join Date: Dec 2011

    Location: South downs

    Posts: 3,477
    I'm James.

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    The tweeter caps are already film [the one's bundled together] the rest are all 'lytics.

    Having been there & done it with a pair of 44 [near identical crossover] I would advise replacing the tweeter capacitors with decent modern polypropylene's & replacing the rest with Alcap low loss 'lytics from Falcon acoustics. In other words: get them back to "as intended" by Celestion first and then see how you feel about mods.

  2. #12
    Join Date: Nov 2010

    Location: Yorkshire

    Posts: 9,302
    I'm Andrew.

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    Have a look on diyaudio.com with regards restoration threads for the 66's I think this may help you
    SS
    CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10

    VALVE
    PRE
    Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker



  3. #13
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

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    Rexton - have a read of my previous posting.

    istari_knight - Thanks for the tip.



    Word has it that the 66's need to be up off the floor and well isolated for the bass to perform properly. I am fitting 3 of these "Soundcare" feet to each speaker base. They are like a spike which caries round its own floor cup/shoe, the big stainless washer is to prevent the fairly small diameter neck from biting into the veneer.
    These will then stand on a custom made concrete plinth with a profile that matches the cabinet. This will have 4 adjustable spiked feet and a spirit bubble set into the centre, allowing the plinth to be levelled before putting the speakers in place.






    The Midrange Driver had its front plate removed and the crud cleaned from the inside and from the dome. This was then reassembled and tested, given a final polish and is ready to install.






    The ABR has been cleaned and is also ready to go back into the cabinet.

  4. #14
    Join Date: Oct 2013

    Location: Wrexham

    Posts: 1,058
    I'm Darren.

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    Looking good! What did you use to clean the ABR?
    Darren.
    Listening Room.
    UNDER CONSTRUCTION
    Turn Table. Garrard 401, Reso Mat, 2 Tier Slate Plinth, DIY Hadcock GH242, Nick G modded Lentek, Denon DL-103.
    Pre Amp. Croft Super Micro2. Power Amps Quad 405 Mono Blocks.
    Speakers. TBC

    Home Cinema.
    UNDER CONSTRUCTION
    DAC/Pre Amp. Denon AVC X3700H.
    BDP/Streamer. Panasonic DP-UB820EB / Apple TV4K.
    Display. Optoma UHD51 / DIY False Black Window Screen.
    Power Amps. 2 x Nakamichi AVP1.
    Front Speakers. DIY Baby Celestion Ditton 66. Surround Speakers. Celestion Ditton 11. Subwoofer. BK Electronics P12 300SB PR.

    Old Gallery. http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...-of-the-70%92s

  5. #15
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,771
    I'm Martin.

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    Those drivers look brand new now. You can't beat a speaker restoration thread especially when it's a good big 'un being restored.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  6. #16
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

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    Darren - I leveled the worst of the blobs in the gunk on the ABR face with some 400 grade abrasive, carefully as its only made from Polystyrene. Then applied a light coat of water based satin black paint (Acrylic Wilko own brand) some paints will disolve the styrene but acrylic is safe. This gave the styrene and glue an even colour just paint this, not the rubber or centre disc. The rubber and bittumen centre disc was given a coat of black trim wax and buffed with a clean cloth when dry, this cleans and feeds the rubber and helps protect it from drying out and cracking, oh and it looks good too.

    UPDATE:



    The replacement bass drivers arrived. The seller mounted them on plywood boards with spacers so the rubber surrounds wouldn't be under pressure. Then he wedged them face to face, diagonally in a thick polystyrene box, which was then in a stout cardboard box. I think the delivery guy could have dropped them from the van and kicked them to the door and they would have been undamaged - but I'm glad he didn't. They measure well and play music through the x-over so will just have a light clean up before being installed. Many of these drivers have had after market cone treatments applied these look original and unmolested.
    Last edited by Qwin; 15-04-2014 at 18:01.

  7. #17
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

    Default Update

    Found out the tweeters are both blown, open circuit between contacts, I suspected they may have been so it's no biggie.

    I've purchased a matched pair in pristine condition from a guy in California. When I say matched I mean they both measure exactly the same resistance. The base drivers are pretty close as well with only 0.1 Ohm difference between them.

  8. #18
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

    Default Update



    This is one of the x-over boards from my “Blackies”.
    The values may be useful to some folks.

  9. #19
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

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    Thanks for sharing that, Ken. Love the fact that all the components are hard-wired, point to point - when done properly it's so much better than using PCBs.

    I've not touched the crossovers yet on my 66s, but would quite like to upgrade the electrolytic capacitors with high-quality polys of the same value.

    Which ones are the electrolytics?

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

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  10. #20
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

    Default

    Marco - All bar the Tweeter caps are electrolytics.

    I will be replacing them all with Polyprops.

    When you replace the electrolytics you have to add a resistor in series with the Polyprop replacement.

    These are ESR simulating resistors to bring the replacements (low ESR) up to the original values of the Electrolytics (high ESR).

    If you don't do this the circuit will behave differently to the original.

    The Tweeter caps, on mine anyway, are film caps with low ESR so no resistors required when these are replaced, they used a variety of makes and qtys bundled in parallel to make the total value required.

    The bass coils and caps are a weak area regarding quality, apparently upgrading the coils with same value (mH) but approx half the dcR and changing lytics to props in this area will give tighter faster bass. The existing parts smear the sound.

    There is lots about this on diyaudio.

    I will be doing all this to mine but I am not touching the original x-overs. I am keeping these original and building new boards as every part will be changed and possibly a better layout on a bigger board. One point was raised over at diyaudio about coil interaction due to close proximity, the Celestion engineers were not fools and the circuits when new performed well, so maybe there was some interaction and was accounted for in values. If that was the case then giving better locations with similar values might produce worse results? It's a thought - if it ain’t broke don't fix it comes into mind here? Without building both versions and doing comparisons, it would be hard to guess about the outcome and who has the time for that amount of experimenting.

    I will be drawing up a circuit with values and parts to use soon, need to clarify one or two things first with the 66 guru on diyaudio. “Alan-1-b” seems to have a handle on what makes these things tick.

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