Celestion Ditton 25 and 44 Refurbs

[madders]

Hi everyone,

I recently acquired a pair of Celestion Ditton 25s and 44s that need some work. I've seen a few threads on here about these speakers so I thought I'd start one, and hopefully get some advice.

They are both in good condition - the 25s are really good, the 44 cabinets have a few scuffs and scratches.

So I've started by cleaning and re-oiling the cabinets. They are currently drying after a couple of coats:

IMAG1086.jpg

Something looks dodgy with one of the tweeters on the 25s, but I've decided to concentrate on the 44s first.

I'm really impressed with how these sound. Really full. But there are times when something is not quite right, although it's hard to identify what.

So the next thing I want to do is upgrade the wiring and capacitors on the crossovers (they are the older non-PCB type):

IMAG1075.jpg

The date on some of those capacitors is 1972 - so I think they are due for a change! I've never done any internal work on speakers before. There's so much conflicting information on what replacements to use (I've spent hours reading through threads on here and other forums). So I'm just going to go for exactly like for like replacements:

For the woofers (the black caps on the right), 72 uF Alcaps.

For the mids (the 6 uF at the top and 24 uF at the bottom), I'm not sure if both these existing caps are low leakage. Does anyone know for sure? Neither has LL written on them anywhere. If they are, I'll probably go for Mundorf ECap PLAIN. The exact values aren't available though, so I'm thinking I'll make the 6 uF with 4.7 + 1.5, and the 24 uF with 22 + 2.2. Or I could get exactly a 6uF Alcap Low Loss.

For the tweeter, I might use ClarityCaps. Does anyone know if they are worth the extra cost over cheaper polypropylenes?

I attempted to remove the crossover board, but I found my trusty 25W soldering iron (Antex from Maplin) was not very effective. I'm wondering if I really need to buy a more powerful soldering iron, or persevere with the one I have, but I don't want to damage any of the components I'm not changing by overheating them.

Any tips or advice would be great!

Thanks!

[karma67]

hi,
have a look here
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...ng-ditton-44-s
take pictures as you go so you have a reference point of each step,you might find the old solder melts easier if you put some flux on it and puts some fresh solder on the old,it will all melt much quicker then.
J.

[madders]

Hi Jamie,

Thanks! I'll try again with some flux. On some of the connections, there is a lot of solder though!

In your pictures, it looks like you didn't use a low leakage Alcap for the 6 uF in the mid range. Is that correct?

Also, what replacement wire did you use? I like the blue sleeves - looks very smart!

Thanks,
Michael

[karma67]

if i remember correctly the darker blue alcaps are low loss and i used van damme blue for internal wire

[DarrenHW]

Hi Michael,

Your speakers look to be good examples.

I've tried the DIYAudio mods for the 44's using Jantzen CrossCaps and I've recapped them with Alcaps but now use Mundorf E-Caps with a small Ansar Supersound for the mids, Alcaps for bass (although I will try Mundorfs at some point) and Ansar Supersound for the tweeter (I have used Clarity Caps for the tweeter and found Ansars to be a better tonal fit for the speakers).

My advice would be to follow Ken's work (I know it's for 66's but the same applies to 44's), you'll find the answers to all your questions and plenty of advice here:
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...ghlight=ditton
http://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Project_Images/66/66_XOver.pdf

[Wakefield Turntables]

Michael,

Just listen to what Darren and Jamie have to say they have probably taken the Celestion speakers further than anyone else.

[madders]

Thanks guys. For the mids, I'm sill not sure about the second 6 uF cap. On the PDF it is just a standard Alcap, should I go for a low loss one?

What thickness of speaker cable do you recommend? I was thinking about 1.5mm between the crossover and the drivers, and 0.75mm on the crossover.

[DarrenHW]

From memory I don't believe it's LL. Personally I think there's a noticeable improvement using a Mundorf here, you could use a 5.6 or if you want exact values 3.3 + 2.7.

I too used Van Damme Blue 2.5mm to rewire the speakers although this was a bit awkward soldering to the tweeters, if I did them again I would probably use 1.5mm.

[karma67]

From memory I don't believe it's LL. Personally I think there's a noticeable improvement using a Mundorf here,

yep agree with you there,i followed kens advice in the pdf, he used 24uf Parallel 22uf ECap + 1uf ECap + 1uf
Ansar PP.
sounds better than the like for like replacement.

[sumday]

Assuming the cabs are in a raw state, I would recommend using LORD SHERATON CARETAKER WOOD BALSOM.
comes in a small glass jar looking like yellow shoe polish.
its a bit of work polishing out but brings out a nice dull sheen...not too glossy.

oh, the pine scent makes your room smell like a Swedish forest glade.....or summat!!!!

NIGE.