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

I owned Ditton 66's in the late 70's  They are quite power hungry speakers and that is probably why it was recommended you upgrade the amp.  It does depend on the room size and how loud you like it.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

The P2200 delivers in excess of 200W per channel.

 

@stereo5 what power level would you suggest I should be looking for?

@jtcf I’ve always liked Tannoys.. thanks.

Don’t know the Ditton 66s but I helped rewire some 44s.

They were quite different to most modern speakers.

How to describe?

They had a more looser, faster, energetic bass for a start.

The giant bass driver must have played its part.

The sound was engaging and propulsive, brimming with life.

 

Downsides?

They were definitely more coloured than speakers of today.

I can’t describe this colouration, but it was there, a slight tint across the board.

 

If you like this colouration, then I’m afraid you’d have to spend an awful lot of money to improve on that energy.

 

If you don’t, then almost anything of today will be more neutral, if not more dynamic, full of life, energy and zest.

 

A lot depends on what you mean by large high quality floorstanding speakers manufacturered in the last decade or so.

I can remember the Dittons sounding balanced, engaging and doing some things pretty well like bass, depth, with natural mids and highs. Excellent for atmosphere and slow music but less when things got too busy. If you like that presentation but your music preferences are varied check for modern speakers with more transparency and better separation.