The Celestion kid strikes again.....!

[Rare Bird]

Your bass units may be VIFA / Seas, usually good units

It's a SEAS unit i can tell by the model number sticker on the back on the magnet..6.5'' paper cone.

[SPS]

thanks alex and andre... thats good info thanks...
i'm more into older kit, most of my drivers are pre 1970's
and my best valves are all pre war

so have not really much to go on except a few hi fi year books when it come to later 70's and eighties kit..

cheers ...
sorry all for the slight off topic drift..

[Marco]

Still busy listening, chaps.... I've been positioning the Celestions in the room to get best results, so will report later regarding what I'm hearing with them, now I've got a pretty good handle on what they're capable of.

I'm certainly very impressed and have been doing direct comparisons between them and the Lockwoods - it's been an interesting battle...!

Anyway, here are some piccies for your delectation, until I've finished my scribbles.....

No1 Ditton 66:





No2 Ditton 66:





A Lockwood sandwich!! .........





The Koss 'n' Ditton show:








Back later!

Marco.

[Ali Tait]

Funky finish on the speakers Marco.

[Marco]

Hi Ali,

Cheers, dude. It's probably more an effect of the flash, TBH, as it tends to bleach out the natural colour of things. However, I find the walnut finish rather more interesting and warmer than teak.

The patina on the Celestions is certainly very nice, but of course that only comes with age

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

Nice
Can't you open the door shove the Tannoy's in & forget about em

[Ali Tait]

I'll give them a good home!

[Marco]

Nice
Can't you open the door shove the Tannoy's in & forget about em

Lol! But that would mean my mistress couldn't get out of the dungeon....

They both have their strengths, dude.

The Lockwoods, as you would expect, have more weight and scale (by that, I don't really mean bass, but rather presence and size of sound), and an arguably sweeter top-end, but that could be due to the electrolytic caps in the crossovers of the Celestions. Some nice polyprops will probably cure the ever so slight hard edge in the treble.

Compared with 95% of speakers on the market, the Celestions have all the weight and scale you could ever want, but the Lockwoods are truly exceptional in this area, and their 15" drivers and huge cabinets can really shift air and create earthquake bass with massive slam and gravitas, whilst still remaining tight and tuneful. The Celestions are lighter in the bass, but make up for the Lockwoods sheer heft with their very impressive speed and 'attack'.

Being true monitor designs, both are exceptionally musical sounding, coherent, accurate, transparent and hugely revealing of programme material, giving effortless microscopic insight into all recordings, but never straying into harshness, meaning that one can indulge in long listening sessions and experience no fatigue whatsoever, either with CD or vinyl, providing they are fed by a top-notch system. The Studio 66's in particular have huge resolving power, are ruthlessly revealing, although always unfailingly musical.

They are also not tonally cold in the way of some monitor designs, as the Celestions possess an organic warmth, tunefulness and texture, which keeps their presentation from ever sounding 'austere'.

They also have the edge over the Lockwoods in terms of high frequency extension and midrange alacrity (probably due to the superlative qualities of the MD500/HF2000 units - particularly the 'supertweeter effect' of the latter) which combine to create a top end that seemingly extends into infinity, giving all genres of music oodles of crystalline clarity and sparkle, and midrange detail that beguiles and enchants in a way I've never heard before, making female vocals in particular positively drip with emotion.

Their overall effect in that area, quite frankly, is just simply STUNNING.....

These Celestions really know how to portray the musical message! If there's even more to come with a crossover upgrade, then it beggars belief what these speakers are truly capable of

I may have paid £1320 for them, but quite simply this sort of performance isn't available today for under £4k (minimum), which makes them a hi-end bargain, and their beautiful vintage looks simply add further to their appeal and the pride of ownership.

More thoughts later - I'm off for another listen!

Marco.

[Alex_UK]

Very nice (I love walnut, hence why our living room floor will be covered in the American Black variety by tomorrow.) That pair of old wardrobes in between the 66's will definitely be playing havoc with the imaging though - Andre's rights, shove them through the little white door and let the demons play with them for a while!

Look forward to hearing them next month.

[Marco]

Hi Alex,

Yes you're right about the imaging, but I'm making allowances for that temporarily due to lack of space!

However, the musical abilities of the Celestions are so exceptional that I'm able to almost disregard the sonic shortcomings of their current positional arrangement

Marco.