Celesion Ditton 44's and foam insulation

[BeR]

Hello

First time on the forum, so if I inadvertently miss one or two of the discussion protocols, it's not intentional.

I recently purchased a pair of mint condition Celestion Ditton 44's. The seller indicated he was the original owner, and didn't do any modifications whatsoever. When I removed the bass driver to have a look at the crossovers, I noticed a significant amount of foam insulation inside the cabinet. So much os that the foam was actually pressings against the metal bonnet of the driver to such a degree, that the foam had been molded around the housing.

I've had vintage speakers before, (better than entry level) where some foam was used, but never to this extent. My question is whether or not this is an intentional factory design. Also...I've read suggestions about cutting two ports holes ( approx 1.5" - 2".0 diameter) at the bottom front of the cabinets, resulting in them now being bass reflex, and am wondering if anyone has any feedback on this.

Thanks

Regards

BeR

[DarrenHW]

Hi Bevis,

Welcome to the forum.

What you describe sounds normal to me, every pair of 44's I've been inside has 1 piece of foam (~75mm thick) between the crossover and woofer.

Hope that helps.

[karma67]

and green!

[DarrenHW]

and green!

or not....

[Macca]

Yes it is normal.

Cutting ports in the cabs is not a good idea. Especially as they are in good condition, these are quite a desirable vintage speaker. You could refresh the crossovers and upgrade the internal wiring, they are potentially useful mods that won't ruin the sound or reduce the desirability.

[DarrenHW]

Cutting ports in the cabs is not a good idea. Especially as they are in good condition, these are quite a desirable vintage speaker. You could refresh the crossovers and upgrade the internal wiring, they are potentially useful mods that won't ruin the sound or reduce the desirability.

What he said!

A good read if your considering a refurb: http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...ghlight=ditton

[walpurgis]

Hello Bevis. Welcome to AOS.

Tell us what music you listen to and what equipment you use in your Hi-Fi system.

The Celestion Ditton 44 is a well liked vintage speaker. The speaker is tuned to work as a sealed system, so cutting ports in the front baffle is probably not a great idea. As mentioned, they can be modernised a bit with sensible upgrades like high quality capacitors in the crossovers and better internal wiring. If you do make any changes, keep all the old parts in case you sell the speaker. Some buyers want originality and may need the parts.

Modifications and upgrades have been covered here before. If you want to discuss these, start a thread in the Past Masters section. I'm sure there'll be plenty of response to any questions you may have.



Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

[spendorman]

My friend modified some Ditton 44's by removing the cone midrange units and replacing them with the dome midrange units from Ditton 66's. According to him, this resulted in an improvement in the mid.

[Macca]

Although I suppose you could make them active without doing anything irreversible. That would be interesting.

[Macca]

If I was going to heavily modify a speaker, I wouldn't start with a Ditton 44.