Just won these on Ebay......

[Rare Bird]

The ones on the right look like Peerless or Audax.

No the ones on the right are also Celestion tweeters..I'm sure it's 'HD-1000' as used in the '33'!

[Marco]

Well, if the '33' are good, I suppose that's a bonus!

Dave, do you know anything about the respective mid and bass units on both models of Ditton, specifically if the ones on the XRs were considered as an upgrade?

I'd have thought they were from your era, mate!

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

Marco:
I know your eagar to know but only a obsessed nutter will know.. i think it's probably more to do with costing than anything if not a whole new Crossover/unit design to accomidate the new tweeter......The '33' has a nice 10'' bass unit which sound suprisingly tight, the '22' is simular looking but smaller speaker..

I'm actually considering buying a pair of '33' i have for sometime as i really liked em. Some folk don't like the Tweeters in these they think they are sizzly, i never had a prob with that cos i never use bright sounding amps most probably..

Dave: i don't remember Celestion ever using someone elses tweeters in the hifi range back then!

[Marco]

I know your eagar to know but only a obsessed nutter will know..

...which is why I asked DSJR

Dave: i don't remember Celestion ever using someone elses tweeters in the hifi range back then!

Good point; I suspect you're right, and also about the 15XRs sharing the same tweeter as the 33s. Looking at their respective tweeters side-by-side, I agree there is a significant resemblence.........


Tweeter on the 15XRs:


Tweeter on the 33s:



Marco.

[Rare Bird]

...which is why I asked DSJR



Looking at their respective tweeters side-by-side, I agree there is a significant resemblence.........

As is

The Ditton '11'/'15XR'/'22'/'33'/'UL6'/'UL-8' etc...

[DSJR]

I dunno... I've been doing some *work* today (five hours no less...).......

Right. it was my understanding that the Ditton 15XR had the HF1300's in 'em. It's so long ago and I'm sorry to say they sounded a bit horrid by this time, so I never bothered to lift the grilles off to see what was inside - sorry. When I've finished the school run I'll look up me HiFi Choice book and see what tweeters their review ones had..

Marco, the tweeters in yours look to be the same as the ones in the "UL" series which came out at the same time. this has a wider bandwidth than the HF1300, which needs a high crossover point plus a "super-tweeter" to aid it above 14KHz. By the way, the BBC derived models with HF1300's had a version with a much larger magnet and 16 Ohm loading IIRC. These performed with rather more control apparently - there was a thread last year on the Yahoo Spendor group describing them.

Seriously Marco, (the Ditton 25's were pants but) the 33 and 44 would be marvellous for the garden (12" bass driver in the 44) as they go loud, are efficient IIRC and sound very good if got off the floor (most of these were plonked on the carpet with the inevitable results)

[Rare Bird]

I been using my b&o system for the garden but have also been looking for something a bit better...one of the tweeters is died in one of the b&o's speakers

Hamish:
Ever seen that trick where you pull the table cloth from under a full laid out dinner table?

[hifi_dave]

Well, if the '33' are good, I suppose that's a bonus!

Dave, do you know anything about the respective mid and bass units on both models of Ditton, specifically if the ones on the XRs were considered as an upgrade?

I'd have thought they were from your era, mate!

Marco.

Sorry, I don't know much about them, I was more interested in the less commercial designs like Celef, Keesonic, Chartwell, Spendor, WAR, RAM, JBL etc. I did own a pair of Ditton 10's though - they had the HF1300.

I do know that the HF1300 was an expensive unit to make and it would make sense for a commercial company to use an Audax or Peerless as, back then, a good HF would cost a fiver or so from them.

[Rare Bird]

Sorry, I don't know much about them, I was more interested in the less commercial designs like Celef, Keesonic, Chartwell, Spendor, WAR, RAM, JBL etc. I did own a pair of Ditton 10's though - they had the HF1300.

I do know that the HF1300 was an expensive unit to make and it would make sense for a commercial company to use an Audax or Peerless as, back then, a good HF would cost a fiver or so from them.

Yes Celestion 10 did have a 'HF1300' as did the old C: 'County'

Agreed it would be a good idea to buy in tweeters but it's also easier to make a crossover to their own design unit..I can assure you they were Celestion tweeters.

[Marco]

Hi Dave,

I dunno... I've been doing some *work* today (five hours no less...).......

Work? How dare you - this is far more important!

Right. it was my understanding that the Ditton 15XR had the HF1300's in 'em. It's so long ago and I'm sorry to say they sounded a bit horrid by this time, so I never bothered to lift the grilles off to see what was inside - sorry. When I've finished the school run I'll look up me HiFi Choice book and see what tweeters their review ones had..

Cheers, please do.

I'd be very surprised though if the XRs sound horrid on the end of good kit. In my view, some of the speakers from that era sounded that way more likely because of the quality of some of the partnering equipment, bell-wire used as speaker cable (and just as poor quality interconnects), lack of proper stands, and designs possibly using not the best of crossover components......

I expect them to shine when nearly all of those variables are removed from the equation. The crossovers will be suitably modified in due course.

Marco, the tweeters in yours look to be the same as the ones in the "UL" series which came out at the same time. this has a wider bandwidth than the HF1300, which needs a high crossover point plus a "super-tweeter" to aid it above 14KHz.

Interesting. That's what I suspected and was hoping for. Since the inclusion of a Coles unit to partner with a HF1300 isn't an option, the current driver compliment used on the XRs will do nicely.

Seriously Marco, (the Ditton 25's were pants but) the 33 and 44 would be marvellous for the garden (12" bass driver in the 44) as they go loud, are efficient IIRC and sound very good if got off the floor (most of these were plonked on the carpet with the inevitable results)

No doubt you're right, but I was sold on the remarkable 'showroom' condition of the 15XRs, and also the fact that they're the right size. Eventually these will be living in our lounge (fed from my system upstairs), so even I must respect domestic harmony in this instance, and the XRs will fit in just fine.

I'm already picturing sitting back during the winter months listening to great music whilst sipping a glass or three of St Émilion in front of the inglenook log fire we've just opened up in our lounge, which will end up looking something like this:



Happy days!

Marco.