Something To Keep Me Busy!

[walpurgis]

A little project.

Just got a pair of early Celestion Ditton 15 speakers in pretty tidy condition (thanks Shane!).

There is something wrong. I measured the DC resistance at the terminals and one gives a 6 ohm reading and the other 9 ohms. I'd guess the 9 ohm reading is correct and the 6 ohm speaker has problems. A capacitor I suspect, if the tweeter had fused the resistance would probably be even higher than the 9 ohms of the other. Unless of course the coil has shorted, which might account for the low reading.

One little job done. A pair of modern terminal posts fitted instead of the horrible little bare wire terminals. The other speaker to do yet.

Fortunately, I have spare tweeters and crossovers for these, so I should have them sorted out quickly!

[RichB]

Nice work. I paid a tenner for my pair from a local recycling place. They provide regular service in my second system and I love em dearly. I got round the binding post problem with some cheap spade connectors so I can use any cable. Strangely enough they like the budget Gale stuff from richers best.

[walpurgis]

Some of the Gale branded cables are actually remarkably good.

[walpurgis]

Just found the problem.

The tweeter on the speaker with the low resistance reading has a shorted coil, measuring 0.9 ohms instead of the usual 6 ohms DC you normally get on these. That explains the low 6 ohms at the terminals.

I have a matched pair of good spare tweeters. I'll change both over. The crossover components will be checked and I may rewire everything anyway. I'll tidy and re-polish the cabinets and heat tighten the 'Tygan' grille cloth. They should end up as a very sound and tidy little pair of 'Classic' Celestions!

[Wakefield Turntables]

I love my 15's to bit's, I have some 44's as well, must admit not used these as much as the 15's. They truly are worth digging out if you fancy a pair of classic speakers.

[istari_knight]

Always handy to keep old tweeters & crossovers, they will come in handy one day :)

If replacing the xover caps best stick to BP lytics in the 15's IME ;)

[walpurgis]

I'm not going to any extremes with these. They aren't worth a fortune, so any re-usable bits including capacitors will remain.

I'm familiar with Ditton 15s, having had about five pairs and I reckon they'll be singing by the time I finish.

Slightly tempted with the idea of using a super-tweeter. There's just enough room for a small tweeter next to the HF1300 and I have suitable drivers and a pair of 8 ohm 12db/oct 13kHz filters I made years go to work with a super-tweeter coming in above HF1300s. I wouldn't use the popular but horrible Coles/STC 3001g unit. A pair of tiny Eagle horns appeals, they were actually made by Coral and sound rather nice.

[walpurgis]

This is weird. I had differing DC resistance measurements from the tweeters measured at the crossover. I take them out of the speaker and they both measure OK. I swap the spare tweeters into the cabinets and find each speaker measures about 5.5 ohms at the terminals now, which I suppose is correct for a 4 to 8 ohm speaker. Where has the defect gone? It may have just been a bad soldered joint. I'm not complaining though. I still have to connect these and try them mind you.

[walpurgis]

Yup! All up and running and sounding good.

Now as nice a pair of early Ditton 15s as you could wish to find. Never did figure out what the problem was, dodgy soldered joint is all I can think of.

http://imgbox.com/gallery/edit/vK2y8Rk7S5/596UvtzbqNdbjzUP

[walpurgis]

Yup! All up and running and sounding good.

Now as nice a pair of early Ditton 15s as you could wish to find. Never did figure out what the problem was, dodgy soldered joint is all I can think of.

[istari_knight]

Yup! All up and running and sounding good.

Now as nice a pair of early Ditton 15s as you could wish to find. Never did figure out what the problem was, dodgy soldered joint is all I can think of.

Nice job :thumbsup:

Last pair I owned sounded bad, now according to some on here who obviously aren't deaf they can be quite good so I'm guessing they didn't get on with the partnering amplifier [Trio KA-8100] or may have just been knackered.

I'm playing with the idea of trying another pair - Have you tried them in a Quad 33/303 setup before ? Any idea if there would be "synergy" ?

Cheers :)

[walpurgis]

Nice job :thumbsup:

Last pair I owned sounded bad, now according to some on here who obviously aren't deaf they can be quite good so I'm guessing they didn't get on with the partnering amplifier [Trio KA-8100] or may have just been knackered.

I'm playing with the idea of trying another pair - Have you tried them in a Quad 33/303 setup before ? Any idea if there would be "synergy" ?

Cheers :)

Nope, never used them with 33/303, but I suspect it would actually be a decent match soundwise.

[istari_knight]

Could be worth a try for £50-odd then.

I'm looking for a period pair of speakers to go with the 33/303 but am on an extremely tight budget [under £100.] Had a few models in mind but everything's doubled in price since I last looked :rolleyes:

[walpurgis]

Could be worth a try for £50-odd then.

I'm looking for a period pair of speakers to go with the 33/303 but am on an extremely tight budget [under £100.] Had a few models in mind but everything's doubled in price since I last looked :rolleyes:

I'll be selling mine once I've tidied the cabinets. They will look good and sound fine.