Celestion ditton 25 issue

[Dave,E]

Recently acquired some Ditton25's .while some music sounds great ,, the Doors, first aid kit, Leftfield, when I go for something more noisy ,, Stooges, Damned, killing joke etc, they seem to get a bit muddled and harsh and soon become unlistenable. I've tried moving them away from the wall, no difference. Gonna try and get some stands take them off the bare floorboards, although I have used blue tack so not in direct contact. I Want to give them a good chance but may get rid if I can't solve issue??? Any advice greatly appreciated.

[hifi_dave]

Has this only just occurred with the Dittons ?

As I recall, the Stooges and Damned recordings are pretty naff anyway, so maybe they are the problem. If other recordings sound good, this might be the answer.

[Dave,E]

Ye, maybe the recordings weren't great but I've had these years and they sounded way better on a really cheap system. Maybe the dittons are more inclined to show how bad they were??

[hifi_dave]

It's difficult to advise at a distance. Hands on, it would be apparent within seconds. However, if some recordings sound good, it does point to those recordings not being up to the job and the Dittons merely showing up the faults.

The wider you open the window, the more muck comes in.

[DSJR]

You've got two tweeters and a large bass unit trying to work together I fear. Get them off the floor on low plinths and maybe have a look at the crossover for recapping.

Just so you know what you've got - I have in past years compared the 25's with 44's and 66's.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/DSJR_photos/scan0019_zps58e36c95.jpg (http://s132.photobucket.com/user/DSJR_photos/media/scan0019_zps58e36c95.jpg.html)

[walpurgis]

Are you using decent interconnect and speaker cables? Dodgy cabling can add muddle and a real brashness to the sound.

I doubt the speakers are at fault. Quite nice the Ditton 25s, not the most revealing through the lower midrange, but sweet enough above it.

[Dave,E]

The interconnect from CD player is a Cambridge, decent? Speaker cable is quite substantial Gale. Recapping. Is that easily done?

[walpurgis]

The interconnect from CD player is a Cambridge, decent? Speaker cable is quite substantial Gale. Recapping. Is that easily done?

Cambridge and Gale cables should be fine. Recapping can be easy. Depends how practical you are.

[Dave,E]

Have read elsewhere that recapping is a good idea just because of the age of the speakers. If this was done should there be improvements in what I'm hearing?

[walpurgis]

Have read elsewhere that recapping is a good idea just because of the age of the speakers. If this was done should there be improvements in what I'm hearing?

Recapping may have no effect or make things worse or improve things. It has to be carried out in a well informed way. You need to research which type of caps may suit the speaker best and whether a full internal rewire should be done too. Adding modern terminals is often a good idea as well.

[Dave,E]

Do you mean that it may make no difference or only make things worse if carried out in an incorrect way? Or could this happen if done correctly? if that makes sense.

[walpurgis]

Recapping (and other sensible mods) will be for the better, even if only for the peace of mind of having all new components. But an old speaker which has components within tolerance will not necessarily have its sound improved by it. It may be that recapping will produce a vast improvement, but until the existing caps are replaced, there's no way of being sure. I'd certainly not do a recap and throw away the old stuff, just in case it needed to be re-used.

If it was me with your system. I'd do a good recap and get the speakers off the deck (try a couple of strong bottle crates just to see what happens). People think it's only small speakers that belong on stands, but if anything big speakers need moving off the floor even more.

You didn't say what cartridge you have in your Technics.

[Reffc]

Recapping like for like should bring the speakers back to factory specification and rarely, if ever, will it make things worse. It generally makes the sound better (providing that identically rated caps of the same value are chosen) because it both restores the correct crossover points and correct driver balance (old electrolytic capacitors usually have raised series equivalent resistance which dull the speaker's response). I have done many older speakers and not once has it made them worse...quite the opposite.

Of course, other things change with age such as the spider suspension and surrounds becoming (in most cases ) more compliant. One thing to avoid for low frequency and lower mid frequency caps is replacing with modern boutique poly caps. This generally ruins the response by shifting crossover points due to equivalent series resistance being much lower (hence changing the impedance for the crossover).

[struth]

Nit a bad speaker and it is usually a good idea to redo the wiring/ crossovers. would not think it would cost the earth either. Maybe first is to try another decent set of speakers with these recordings in your system and have a listen.

[walpurgis]

Paul (Reffc) is your man for a well informed opinion. Heed what he says and you'll have a good recap. He might be able to suggest good modern equivalent caps you could try.

[Dave,E]

Thanks for that. I'll look into doing I myself. If I don't feel confident enough I will try and find someone local , Sheffield, who will. What would be the best caps to use as replacements.

[karma67]

Paul (Reffc) is your man for a well informed opinion. Heed what he says and you'll have a good recap. He might be able to suggest good modern equivalent caps you could try.
+1

[YNWaN]

Thanks for that. I'll look into doing I myself. If I don't feel confident enough I will try and find someone local , Sheffield, who will. What would be the best caps to use as replacements.

You could send just the crossovers to Paul at RFC, but if you do do it yourself and have a problem I live in Sheffield (S11).

If you can solder it's not a very difficult job (depends on the crossover and what you want to do to it) - if you can't solder, well that's another matter...

[The Barbarian]

Those X-Overs really could do with Re-capping, it's not an expensive job as their is only half a dozen caps per board all small values bar one. It cost me about twenty odd quid per board a couple years back for Ansar 'Supersound' polyprops..I don't remember any Resistors being present on the boards.