The Celestion kid strikes again.....!

[Barry]

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 - André's right, shove them through the little white door and let the demons play with them for a while!

Look forward to hearing them next month.

Spare a thought for Tabatha (the gymnomastic melophage record cleaner) and the Gimp!

[Marco]

LOL!

Hi Dave,

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.....

Spot on, dude - as they say, there are many ways to skin a cat!

Look at the 'thin-wall', 'lossy' approach of companies like Harbeth... Totally dead and acoustically inert they are not, yet their speakers sound supremely musical, and notably (measurably) very accurate.

The high-mass enclosure approach has its undoubted merits, but it is not the only way to musical nirvana.

The fact is, the Celestions sound simply stunning in spite of their "cack cabinets", so the manufacturer appears to have got something most definitely very right

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

Nope. The 15XRs are staying put in the lounge.

What I think I'll do is swap between the 66's and the Lockwoods, as the mood takes me, as I value their unique traits and adore how they both present music. Fortunately, the Lockwoods have handles and are on castors, so they're easily moved from the listening room to the bedroom (which are next door to each other, only a matter of a few feet apart) and vice versa. I think that's the way I'll do it, and keep the Celestions mainly in situ.

Yup, Wynn Hall is still on the cards, so all three sets of speakers will find a good home somewhere. I'll likely build three different systems in different rooms to accommodate them (should we buy the property) - now that will be fun!

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

Marco:
Do you fancy trying a pair of '66' series 2, or even '662' at some point?

[Marco]

Why not, dude? I seem to like the vintage Celestion sound

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

Well they are later speakers, series II had the ABR unit around the back..

[Marco]

Hi Adam,

Congrats on a very nice purchase, although £1320 - ouch!

Lol, I know!

Thing is, they sound fantastic to my ears with performance far in excess of the price I paid for them, and they also look fab - so for me it was a win-win

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.

I think you'll love them - they are just so goddamn insightful and musically addictive.

Mind you I trust you'll be returning the favour and popping down to hear some Leak 2075s in the Cottesmore Room!

Oh, I'll be there, matey. Will I bump into the Sondex?

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.

For now, though - enjoy!

Cheers, and don't worry, I am.

Having listened to them now quite carefully over a reasonable period of time, I think that I'll upgrade the caps in the HF and mid sections, as I think some subtle improvements could be made there, and then possibly rewire the crossovers with the same VDH CS-14 Hybrid cable as I used in the Monitor Golds inside the Lockwoods (shown below), but the rest will likely be left well alone, as honestly, there isn't a lot wrong with how they sound now.

Of course, I also have to check that the crossovers inside my own speakers are the same as the ones in the picture I posted earlier. Who knows - someone may have been in there already!

On the subject of crossovers, for those interested, here's what the modified ones look like inside my Lockwoods:





Back of a 15" Monitor Gold (hard-wired in position, instead of using the original multi-pin plug and 'umbilical cord'):





Marco.

[Marco]

Well they are later speakers, series II had the ABR unit around the back..

Sounds interesting - wonder what impact that would have?

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

Yum Yum mate those Duelund Resistors on those X Overs are well expensive but nice..

[Marco]

Hi Steve,

nice one marco... about 10 years ago a pair of 66's were in the local secondhand shop... i scoffed at them... wish i hadn't.. they where about £60 if i remember correctly

it's suprising how good alot of the old kit sounds,
and old speakers do well

Indeed. I'm coming to the conclusion that there are only a handful of modern speakers I like or could live with, as more often than not the voicing just isn't my cup of cocoa.

The Celestions achieve the difficult balancing act of sounding both 'crisp and insightful', yet wonderfully rich and organic, too, with appropriate material. Their genuine monitor status ensures that they are accurate and uncoloured, but their voicing and driver compliment also ensures they are never sterile sounding.

Most modern loudspeakers do the 'hi-fi thing' very well, although many are rather 'in yer face', and struggle to convey emotion in recordings or have the effortless musicality of the Celestions. I'm so pleased with them!!

Marco.

[Marco]

Yum Yum mate those Duelund Resistors on those X Overs are well expensive but nice..

Ah, you recognised my little 'cigarillos'

Yup, they defo do the bizzo. Those crossovers are the reason why the Lockwoods sound so open and dynamic and have plenty of top-end sparkle.

The original crossovers make the drivers sound positively 'sat on' in comparison!

Marco.