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 r042wal

I have Ditton 66 speakers and they are a prime example of how a speaker, compared to changing technology, remains fndamental and does not change a lot over time.  Many have tried to replicate the Celestion Ditton 66 Studio Monitors, but they have a unique sound all their own.

I drive mine with a McIntosh C48 preamp and a McIntosh MC500 power amp (2 x 500 watts).  I didn't plan for this combo, it just fell into place and there is not one part of it I would change.

I had Celestion Ditton 15s before and prior to that, all PSB and Paradigm speakers.  I am a strong believer that the old gear, before it was made offshore like most speakers are today, sound better.  I would rather spend less money on something older and better sounding then pay the jacked up prices and buy something lesser at todays prices (produced offshore and assmbled locally).

Even better for you that you got them recapped.  I bought all new caps out of France and plan to tackle that myself some day.  Just as a matter of interest, I added an SVS SM-2000 Pro subwoofer to my system which compliments the Ditton 66 around 40 Hz