Thanks.

[Landulphcounter]

Thank you for adding me to your group. I am by no means a Hi-Fi head, but I'm nursing my forty odd year old system into it's dotage and I need help!! I bought my stereo set up in around 1975/ 6 for the then unheard of sum of £450 (ish). It comprises of a Pioneer PL112 record deck with a Shure cartridge, not sure which model. The amp is a Rotel RX202 Mk.2. The sound comes through a pair of Celestion Ditton15 speakers. It's the speakers that are causing headaches at the moment (no pun intended). I listen to anything; early seventies rock, folk, classical, jazz, JONI MITCHELL anything but funk or soul! Can't stand it!

[Marco]

Hi Roy,

Welcome to AoS - glad you decided to join us!:)

You say that the Celestions are a headache. May I ask in what way exactly - what is it about their sound you dislike? Also is it the original 15s you've got with the HF1300 tweeters, etc, or the later XRs?

I've got both and have no problems with either; indeed the older original 15s I find quite superb. Anyway, what I'd suggest you do is start a thread about this in Blank Canvas and others and I will pop along and see if we can help:cool:

Marco.

[Landulphcounter]

Hello Marco, I don't actually have a problem with the speakers as such. One of the bass speakers has given up the ghost. I'm looking for a replacement on E-Bay etc. My speakers are Celestion Ditton 15. I'm seeing Ditton 15XR for sale, but no Ditton 15. Will 15XR fit into my speaker boxes?

[Marco]

They might physically fit, but I doubt it would be compatible sonically, certainly from the point of view alone of it matching the one in your other speaker., so keep on looking for a spare one for the 15. Someone here might have one, so I'd put an ad out in the Private Exhibitions section:)

Marco.

[system7]

Depends on your technical level how easy the fix is. Might just be a loose wire to the bass, but Wilmslow Audio can usually rustle up a new driver for you, it's a big part of their business:

https://www.wilmslowaudio.co.uk/repair-and-upgrade-service-4-w.asp

If that picture isn't a Ditton 15, I'll eat my hat! :)

[Pigmy Pony]

Often it will be cheaper to buy a tatty pair with intact units than to seek out individual units. This happened with me a couple of years ago when I was after a pair of tweeters for some Celestion 5's. I was finding tweeters at 20+ quid each, but got a complete pair of speakers for £18 :)

[walpurgis]

There are no new original parts available for the fifty year old Ditton 15. Second-hand is all you will find and employing any kind of alternative would probably be unrewarding.

[system7]

I might sound a bit like Michael Caine here, but not many people know this....

You can actually diagnose most speaker faults with nothing more than a screwdriver. :eek:

Rustle up a 1.5V penlight battery and a paperclip and you are cooking with gas. :D

[Landulphcounter]

Would you care to elaborate? I'm just thinking about my speakers; where there are two bass speakers per cabinet, will they both be the same? Thanks in anticipation.

[walpurgis]

The Ditton 15 employs one actual 8" bass driver in a near central position. The lower unit is a passive bass drone with no coil or magnet and relies on the influence of the actively driven upper speaker to energise it. Basically, it resonates sympathetically at designated lower frequencies to augment the bass output of the upper drive unit.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Hi Roy
Can you describe the fault you are observing ?. Can you identify if you think its the driver, for example is there any visible damage you are seeing, or does it just sound incorrect.

The Celestion Ditton 15 is described and reviewed here; https://audionostalgia.co.uk/celestion-ditton-15-review/

As can be seen it uses a Acoustic bass radiator or ABR for short, the driven bass driver is in the middle. Speaker faults as others are saying can be diagnosed
reasonably easily, then again there may be a fault with a crossover component, such as a capacitor or resistor. It will be good to know just where you think the fault is,
which will help us greatly to help you.

[Landulphcounter]

That's interesting Walpurgis, thanks. As I said previously, I've had this set up for at least forty years, but I've never much ventured beyond changing the plug! Thanks to everyone for their advice and comments.

[system7]

All you do for a basic test is connect a 1.5V battery to the speaker wires and a working bass will move forward a few mm and make a crackling noise.

It is worth gently pushing the bass cone in. If the voicecoil has not fried into a birdsnest, the cone will move freely.

Loudspeakers often develop an electrical break somewhere due to vibration.

You then unscrew the bass and have a look inside. Chris' excellent link shows you what to expect. The crossover has lots of soldered wires, any one of which might have come loose.

Bass units don't often blow. It's usually tweeters that pop after party action.

[Landulphcounter]

There is no sound from the base driver. I have just put my working base driver into the offending case and it is fine. Likewise, the offending driver is in the "working" case and nothing. Does this then point to the driver being buggered?

[system7]

Ew, that's a bit disappointing.

Sounds like the bass unit is broken.

Back in the day, you used to be able to find someone to fix them. New voicecoil, replace tinsel leads and all that. But a bit of a lost art nowadays.

For about £40 you can buy a new one.

If you like these things, that is the route I would go down.

I am a bit weak on ABR speakers, So am not too sure what Qts is required here, but definitely fixable.

[Barry]

Welcome to AoS Roy.

Nice taste in music you have there. :)

Barry

[Landulphcounter]

Well thanks Barry. Seeing your avatar reminded me that I also enjoy Indian music; Ravi Shankar obviously but also Suryakumari and Pandit Rasraj and even a bit of Bollywood.

[Landulphcounter]

Hello Chris, it's just got better! Second hand speaker cabinet arrived today, absolutely perfect...but I now find that I have no signal from the speaker outlet which served the faulty speaker. Is this just a coincidence? The old speaker was definitely duff. I have a Rotel amp, RX-202 Mk.2. There are four speaker outlets at the rear of the amp but only one of these functions. Any thoughts?