The Celestion kid strikes again.....!

I'd like to make a comment that speaker cabinets don't have to be totally dead and acoustically inert. It's all part of the art of speaker design to balance all things carefully. That's not to say that some sound deadening panels may not make a slight difference (two layers on each wall), but the ABR shouldn't cause too much excess pressure inside the boxes.

By the way re cabinet knuckle rapping - the Tannoy Turnberry's and Canterbury's sound like wardrobes when rapped, yet don't sound boxy at all to my ears.....

Hi Nathan,

Cheers, mate :)

Has the guy in Cork still got them - I thought he'd sold them?

I'll spend a day listening properly to the Celestions and answer your questions thoroughly.

Marco.

Will they replace the 15XR's until you move (if that's still on the cards)?

“I'd like to make a comment that speaker cabinets don't have to be totally dead and acoustically inert. It's all part of the art of speaker design to balance all things carefully.”

Do you think the majority of speaker manufacturers tune cabinets Dave? It would really mean testing each unit after production and I’m not convinced that it’s cost effective. Perhaps that’s why you get good uns and bad uns :scratch:

“That's not to say that some sound deadening panels may not make a slight difference (two layers on each wall), but the ABR shouldn't cause too much excess pressure inside the boxes.”

Slight difference!
Erm, I think it makes a lot of differences. Having recently rebuilt my cabs, which weren’t exactly floppy to start with to my ears the difference is considerable.
If the speaker is designed specifically with cabinet resonance as a feature then obviously you don’t want to interfere with it. I would have some concerns about keeping such a design “in tune” in the manufacturing process and differing environments when in use
bearing in mind the effects of temperature on most wood and fibre based products, knocks and bangs air moisture content etc.

Imo cabinets make a vast difference, open baffles more than demonstrate this.

Apparently, it's not the cabinets, more the air resonances within them - hence the preference with some to have non-parallel panels, curves or in your case, none at all ;)

Tightening up a box can push nasty hi-Q resonances into the midband. my ancient museum-piece Spendors tune these resonances out of the mid and with the port-hole modofied to a tube, the bass problems in these aren't anything like as audible as before.

The thing is, with Ditton 66's, it'll only be a potantial problem if the volume is whacked up too high, and bearing in mind the age of the speakers and the tired old brittle glues I've seen on some old Celestion and Goodmans drivers, the last thing I'd want to do is thrash them, out of respect for them. In the case of Ditton 66's, Marco is already discovering that they're one of a rare breed that doesn't NEED to be thrashed to "get" the musical message. I just hope the show doesn't break them.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marco

P.S (For those in the know) The serial number on my pair of 66's is 000260 - I presume that this indicates there are pretty early ones?

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In that case you need a serious cap change.

@Dave

Ah, I see.
Tbh, I don’t have much experience of commercial designs, as I’ve been building speakers for that many years now I don’t bother with them.
I would be interested to hear these 66’s though ;)

John:
The '66's are ace speakers, the one i had were one of the last pairs, not as old as Marco's

Marco,

Congrats on a very nice purchase, although £1320 - ouch! I've not heard a pair of 66s but they have been on my radar for a while so I'll be coming and visiting you at Scalford. Mind you I trust you'll be returning the favour and popping down to hear some Leak 2075s in the Cottesmore Room!

As to your speakers, I would strongly urge you to re-cap them, and for god's sake change the internal connection cable, if the picture you posted really is indicative of what they are wired with. The Leak 2075s I owned years ago had similarly thin rubbish connecting the bass unit and this actually completely REMOVED some of the frequency range (amusing story how I found out - I'll relay it one day)

For now, though - enjoy!

I wouldn't mind hearing those ' classic speaker's and with a bit of fettling to come by the sound of it !