Celestion Ditton 66’s. ‘Upgrade’ to modern speakers consequences?


I have some vintage Celestion Ditton 66’s that have had their crossovers professionally recapped and serviced. All speaker units are in excellent condition.

My question is.. what might I gain and what might I lose (sonically not financially..) by replacing them with high quality large/floor standing speakers manufactured in the last decade or so?

My amplification set up is a Yamaha C4 preamp and a Yamaha 2200 power amplifier both recently recapped and serviced.

Source is mostly streaming Tidal or CD player via a Chord Hugo DAC, and occasionally some vinyl.

yamayama

Showing 1 response by lrlacosse

A pic of the crossover and inside of cabinet would be helpful here.  If they are updated properly and the drivers are in good condition, stay with them.  I have a set of modern "towers" from a well known company.  They retail for two thousand some a pair and are rated/reviewed as a great buy for the price.  And of course their description on the website describe them as using top notch quality parts.  Not so.  Piano gloss finish and all but once I looked inside I was very disappointed.

The electronics are basic, made overseas(not always a bad thing.)  Cost cutting by the speaker company for sure.  Only one small poly cap for the tweeter circuit and small steel core inductors.  Binding post is junk.  Not enough dampening of the cabinet.  The drivers seem OK though.

I revamped the crossovers with Clarity Caps and audio grade(?) electrolytic caps where needed.  The tweeter/mid circuit inductors are now good air core ribbon style.  Installed quality binding posts and added more internal dampening.

The result is worth the $$$ and time spent.  Now, they not only look real pretty😉 but sound much better(at least to me).