neiljadman
Senior Member
Looked high and low, no sign of the original review. Damn. I was sure I had it somewhere.
Celef Pe1
- Thread starter Singlemania45
- Start date
I just found the forum and thought I would post a late addition, I have just checked for an old review I had but cant find it, just the original spec sheet including frequency response chart. I still have my PE1s but since moving last year they are sitting in the cupboard under the stairs. They still sound very good conencted to my modified Dynaco PAT4, Stereo 120 combination (All the rubbish like bass & treble controls removed, rebuilt phono input etc). My brother had Celef Studio Professionals until very recently, these had a lower bas response (Possibly not as tight) but to my ears did not have such good imagery or openness. We had good fun comparing both sets of speakers on the Dynaco and on a Naim 32/250 combination.
My first post to this fascinating forum.
I'm about to bid in an auction for a pair of Celef Domestic 1's (picture link below). According to the seller, they have a Celestion tweeter. Does anyone have anything on these speakers?
The conversation about the Spendors brings back some nice memories about a pair that I owned in the early 80s, and foolishly sold.
The Celefs will need some restoration I suspect. The crossovers at least. It would be a nice little project.
I'm a little suspicious of the Woofers too - they look a bit new. Does anyone know what they should look like?
Shane
I'm about to bid in an auction for a pair of Celef Domestic 1's (picture link below). According to the seller, they have a Celestion tweeter. Does anyone have anything on these speakers?
The conversation about the Spendors brings back some nice memories about a pair that I owned in the early 80s, and foolishly sold.
The Celefs will need some restoration I suspect. The crossovers at least. It would be a nice little project.
I'm a little suspicious of the Woofers too - they look a bit new. Does anyone know what they should look like?
Shane
Certainly sold a few pairs of these and the Dom-2 back in the day. Unfortunately, I don't recall much about them but I do know they didn't use a Celestion HF. I believe they used a Peerless bass unit with Peerless or Audax 25mm HF. I seem to recall that the bass unit had a foam surround as did many speakers of the day and that is bound to be on it's way out now. I'm not sure what that speaker is you show but DSJR is bound to know.
Not much use probably, but if you can find someoned who has a copy of HiFi for Pleasure from sometime in 1977 you will find a review by David Wren.
I wrote a letter to the magazine for advice on a new pair of speakers, and David replied with a couple of suggestions (the Celefs and some Keesonic Cubs I think) but also very kindly offered to bring a pair to my home to listen to in my own system. I eventually bought a pair the next year, and enjoyed them for ten years before changing them for Epos ES14's when I had a complete system change.
I wrote a letter to the magazine for advice on a new pair of speakers, and David replied with a couple of suggestions (the Celefs and some Keesonic Cubs I think) but also very kindly offered to bring a pair to my home to listen to in my own system. I eventually bought a pair the next year, and enjoyed them for ten years before changing them for Epos ES14's when I had a complete system change.
Rockhopper
pfm Member
I had one of those pairs from hifi-Dave in 1980. He and Stuart Tyler came and installed them in my house. After a few years the mid range drivers gave some problems and Stuart replaced them and they then lasted till 2004.
Wonderful sound.
R.
Wonderful sound.
R.
Rockhopper
pfm Member
Yes and it's a great pity he doesn't have more input on the design front nowadays.
Those speakers were the Studio Professional Transducer, one of the finest speakers to pass through my hands. You will note the initials 'SPT' are those of Stuart Paul Tyler. Only ten pairs were made and I sold five of them. Wonderful
I should have looked at the date of Dave's post. This is a long running thread.
R.
Martyn Miles
pfm Member
Yes, it is. I still look back with more than nostalgia to my Celef Monitors. I was reading an old ( 1978) HFN and there's an ad. for Celef, with a testimonial from Bob Auger Associates, re. using a pair of PE1s for monitoring. Evidentally their own monitors has broken and they used a pair of PE1s. Bob was, "Most impressed." It seems Celef 'knew what they were doing' in those far-off days. Bit different to today and 'Chinese, Chinese', everwhere ! Martyn Miles
pete the bus
pfm Member
Yes and it's a great pity he doesn't have more input on the design front nowadays.
Those speakers were the Studio Professional Transducer, one of the finest speakers to pass through my hands. You will note the initials 'SPT' are those of Stuart Paul Tyler. Only ten pairs were made and I sold five of them. Wonderful
Has anyone else got a pair of "SPT" Celef's? I'm thinking I might have one of the last remaining pair in existence!
pete the bus
pfm Member
Unlikely, as only ten pairs were made. A crying shame but they just didn't sell and the manufacturer just gave up on them.
I regret selling the pair I had to someone who, despite me requesting that he sell them back to me, sold them on..
Actually I've just had another look at mine. Although they are called " Celef Studio Professional Transducer", the serial numbers do not start with SPT but with REF. Mine are REF 009 and REF 010.
From the research I have done, it seems there were a few different variants of the Studio Professional Transducer, using different drive units but sharing the same cabinet dimensions. I believe mine were an early pair, using Kef B110's, Audax mid and tweeter, and a motorola piezo super tweeter. Later models used B139's, instead of the B110's and no super tweeter, and then, apparently, ATC units. Other than your description, I haven't seen any mention of using a Volt. Maybe yours were an even later incarnation? Any idea when you would have had them? Mine are from 1977 I think...
And, like many other Celefs of the period, mine also have the "drinking straws" in the port, although positioned in the rear of the cabinet.
I must remember to drop a line to Stewart Tyler to glean some more information about them. They are a very rare beast indeed...
DavidY80
Not RoHS Compliant
FWIW, I've just found my "HIFI YEAR BOOK 1978" which does include an entry for the Celef Studio Professional Transducer, along with a rather washed out looking picture.
Only scant information listed unfortunately, but if it's of any real interest, I'll have a go at scanning the page and posting it.
Only scant information listed unfortunately, but if it's of any real interest, I'll have a go at scanning the page and posting it.
pete the bus
pfm Member
That would be really useful, as information on them is very hard to come by, and, like I said, there appears to be different variations of drivers but all called "Studio Professional Transducer".
Also, if anyone has a copy of 'HiFi Choice Loudspeakers' by Angus McKenzie 1976' I would like to know, as that also has a reference to them...
I have a pair of Celef Studio Professionals - SPT/113 and SPT/114. I bought them from a friend about 20 years ago. I am more music addict than hi fi specialist and they have a beautiful warm and detailed sound and tend to really come into their own with the jazz and classical bits of my collection. The only downside is that they've never been that popular as furniture with some of the women in my life......
Here are some pics - I'd love to know a bit more about them.
http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p484/jeank3/P1000485.jpg
http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p484/jeank3/P1000484.jpg
sergeauckland
pfm Member
I only have a little information about them:-
"Specially damped tapering bass chamber with rear resistive reflex loading. Impedance 8 ohms, Power handling 100 watts, Crossover 250Hz & 5kHz, FR 20Hz-20kHz. DIstortion less than 1% for 96dB"
Not hugely helpful I'm afraid!
S.
pete the bus
pfm Member
Thanks for sharing this. There are some still around then! Interesting the serial numbers are in the 100's - I wonder how many were actually made?
I can tell you that the drivers are:-
Audax woofer on top, model HD 20 B 25 H (although used for midrange in this application)
Audax treble in the middle, model HD 12x9 D 25
Kef bass at the bottom, model B139, also known as the 'race track driver' ( don't know the SP number, though, you would need to look on the back of the driver).
Heavily modified Falcon crossover.
The damped port at the rear, if you look closely enough or have a look inside, is stuffed full of drinking straws!
They are not exactly pretty to look at, are big and bulky, weigh a ton (well, 30kgs actually), but sound much better than they look!
If you ever want to move yours on, please let me know.
Peter
Serge, where did you get the info from? I am looking for references to these rare speakers, any sources of information would be useful.
Thanks
Peter
sergeauckland
pfm Member
I have a set of HiFi Yearbooks from 1968-1979 which covers much Classic HiFi, and a scruffy photocopied part-copy of the 1959 yearbook which has some interesting stuff.
S.