Celestion ditton 120

[minimonitor]

Again hello knowledgeable folks ,ive had a strange find this week a pair of celestion ditton 120s. The web is surprisingly void of information on these.They are a 2 way design with an abr similar to ditton 15s but the drivers are smaller similar to the mids in 44s. Any info would be appreciated

[Rare Bird]

By your description i'm assuming they are the original 120's (like a miniture Ditton 15 Mk.1)

What do you want to know?

[minimonitor]

Yes they are a mini 15 ,6inch mid/bass and abr and celestion hf1300 look like a 60s effort cones etc are excellent shape ,a brochure pic would be nice:lol: but just general freq range and yr of manufacture will do. They make a surprising nice sound if only they fitted a coles or a hf2000 in it :rolleyes:

[DSJR]

The HF1300 is good for 14kHz which is fine for most purposes, especially for the day and the cheap peaky pickups they would have been used with. FM radio and many cassete decks are brick-walled at 15khz so please don't worry about it. Adding a Coles or HF2000 was initially done for tax reasons I vaguely remember and it helped with the BC1 used in TV broadcast situations as the line whistle was better reproduced...

Enjoy them as they are :) Celestion made a good general range of speakers right up until their absorption and demise into a Chinese conglomerate and, in my opinion, their range was far more consistent than B&W over the years, who did some real clunkers as well as a handful of great speakers.

[Wakefield Turntables]

The celestion's are keepers. I happened across the brand purely once upon a time at a car boot sale. I now own 2 pairs. I have never heard the 120's but if they are anything like the 15XR's then they should make a fine pair of speakers.

[Macca]

Celestion made a good general range of speakers right up until their absorption and demise into a Chinese conglomerate and, in my opinion, their range was far more consistent than B&W over the years, who did some real clunkers as well as a handful of great speakers.

People keep talking about these B&W 'clunkers' but no-one ever mentions a model number? Why is that?

[walpurgis]

The Ditton 120 is a great little speaker and pretty rare now. I had two pairs in the past and was always amazed at what a big, room filling sound they could make. Well worth keeping.

[DSJR]

People keep talking about these B&W 'clunkers' but no-one ever mentions a model number? Why is that?

Too damned many! Most of the cheapies pre the 600 series could sound a bit odd and contrived when compared to their peers and the bigger models around and before the early 80's could be dire. The original 500 series was fine, but the "i" versions went all tight-a*sed as I remember.

In all fairness to B&W though, the CDM models of the mid to late 90's were lovely and the 600 series in original form mellowed out into a fine used buy (601 and 602 especially), especially with a little extrsa damping inside.

Somehow, many of the Celestion models from the same period (late 70's to late 80's) seemed more consistent range on range. They seemed to listen to their more experienced dealers too and come up with developments that genuinely made them better and/or cheaper.

As for the market leaders, we did Heybrook and KEF, the latter again having one or two models that let the music sing and others that almost smothered it. Decoupling the bass units with grommets may have "solved" one issue, but it caused all sorts of others. Thankfully, KEF abandoned the idea after a year or two in the early 80's and gave us the thick toned but popular Coda II's and III's instead :rolleyes:

[Macca]

Too damned many! Most of the cheapies pre the 600 series could sound a bit odd and contrived when compared to their peers and the bigger models around and before the early 80's could be dire. :

Not really chapter and verse that Dave ;) You have almost certainly heard more B&W than me I am sure but I have heard quite a few. I've used the original 601 and agree with your summation, also the Kef Coda III. Given a choice I would take the Coda III in a heartbeat. That doesn't mean the 601 is a bad speaker. As an example of what I consider a bad speaker - Wharfedale Delta 30. B&W never did anything that bad, not IME.

[minimonitor]

thanks for the replys ,i have dug out some relistic supertweeters/with attenuators and placed on top of the dittons .this gives them that sparkle i was after without hacking the cabinet and keeping it original :).These now sound really good i sort of did nt want to like them i had been put off by this range of speakers maybe because the components were tired. i have never listened to the 66s though although once i passed up a pair at a boot fair for £10 only because i was on a motorbike and a pair of large dittons would not have gone down well with the old bill as a pillion passenger:lol: .B and w dm4 are a nice model from that era btw very spendor like

[dantheman91]

Hi Lads

Bought a pair today at my local mollies den picking them up tomorrow there in stunning unmarked condition no even a blemish..

Cheers
Dan

[istari_knight]

Like these ?

http://www.hifidatabase.com/static/gallery/2/2012-dit.JPG

Looks like the midrange driver from the Ditton 44's :hmm: Never have liked the HF1300 on its own but I know others do... I have a feeling I'd like Ditton 15's with a Coles fitted.

[dantheman91]

Hi James

Yep Thats them they were my first speaker when i started a few year back & have good memories from them.

[dantheman91]

Hi

Pictures. Also got a Akai AA 1030 & a Akai GXC 740D not quite sure why akai stuff is so underrated :scratch: