Celestion Ditton 15

[aquapiranha]

I iamgine there are a few people here who will remember celestions as being pretty common a couple of decades ago. It seems their popularity has waned throughout the years, though based on the quality of these examples I cannot think why. When you take into account the age of these speakers, it may be easy to assume that they are everything a modern speaker shouldn't be, yet my experience is qite the opposite. I have now tried quite a few "classc" speakers, and if I am honest I find it hard to see, other than fancy materials and a flash box, just what the newer ones offer that these don't. OK, we are talking about a "budget" speaker here, as they were when launched, but despite this they actually sound pretty good, and I can see why at the time they were so popular. Anyway, if anyone has any nuggets of information on this model, please post them here. I apologise for the dodgy quality of the pic, the 'phone I use to take the pics has a 5 MP camera on it, but they still always come out shite...

[leo]

I got a pair of these in the garage, 3 quid from a charity shop, seemed a shame to just ignore them when walking by

[aquapiranha]

I got a pair of these in the garage, 3 quid from a charity shop, seemed a shame to just ignore them when walking by

Indeed it would have been a waste had you not picked them up. However I find I now have several pairs of speakers, most of which cost me nothing, that are taking up too much space! I must offload some...

[DSJR]

The HF1300 tweeter can do some wonderful things in certain circumstances (the numerous BBC derivatives for example), but the Ditton 15 isn't the best speaker to hear it (it uses a more basic magnet assembly I think). I found the top end a bit "pinched" and "peaky" and ultimate extension is limited to a peak at around 14KHz followed by a swift roll-off, hence the "BBC" designs adding a super-tweeter by Coles, KEF or Celestion.

I think the Ditton 15 was of its time - the early seventies. By 1974 when I started in a serious HiFi shop, it was starting to sound very coloured by comparison with the likes of KEF Chorales and Monitor Audio MA7's for example.

[Gromit]

These bring back memories - my first ever set of speakers which I inherited from my dad when he upgraded to some Castles.

I loved them, although they were a bit dull at the top.

[aquapiranha]

Thanks for the commnets guys. As I say, i was not expecting these to be a erplacement for anything I have already, merely indulging in an interest in hifi gear from the past. Some thing I have noticed however is that despite the "Heath Robinson" appearance, some of these old things are surprisingly well built.

Oh look, it is snowing again!

[spendorman]

I have a couple of pairs of Ditton 15, they do what was intended, make quite nice music from just a few watts input.

However, the Ditton 10 (same tweeter and a smaller bass/ mid unit) sound better to me, less coloured in the mid and tighter in the bass, and its only a bit bigger than LS3/5a size. The earlier 15 Ohm Ditton 10's have better cabinets due to heavy sound deadening material glued to the inside of the cabinet walls.