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Celestion 25, 33, 44 or 66

legacylenslover

legacylenslover

pfm Member
If anyone is running (or has run) a set of these speakers, would you care to let me know what amplification you've used - what works/worked and what didn't. New or old. Would welcome any input.
Thank you.
 
66 all the way! :D

I cannot comment on valve amps as I haven't tried them with my 66s but they play nicely with whatever Class AB solid-state amplifier I've thrown at them, whether it be a vintage Yamaha CR-1000, CR-2020, Pioneer SX-1250, etc, or a modern Yamaha A-S3000.

They are fairly efficient so don't need a ton of power (unless you have a huge room or listen at headbanging volumes, if you do then I'd probably recommend another speaker because the HF2000 and MF500 drive units aren't indestructible). They do however go down to 4 ohms in the bass so you need an amp that's happy with a low impedance.

A valve amp with high output impedance (i.e. low damping factor) probably isn't the best match given the passive bass radiator as it may result in a 'slow' sounding bass, but again I don't have the experience of such a pairing to be in a position to either confirm or deny.

Hope this helps.

PS - The 44s are nice speakers too, very lush and easy-going, but sound too 'cuddly' and 'bloomy' for my tastes.
 
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ToTo Man said:
66 all the way! :D

I cannot comment on valve amps as I haven't tried them with my 66s but they play nicely with whatever Class AB solid-state amplifier I've thrown at them, whether it be a vintage Yamaha CR-1000, CR-2020, Pioneer SX-1250, etc, or a modern Yamaha A-S3000.

They are fairly efficient so don't need a ton of power (unless you have a huge room or listen at headbanging volumes, if you do then I'd probably recommend another speaker because the HF2000 and MF500 drive units aren't indestructible). They do however go down to 4 ohms in the bass so you need an amp that's happy with a low impedance.

A valve amp with high output impedance (i.e. low damping factor) probably isn't the best match given the passive bass radiator as it may result in a 'slow' sounding bass, but again I don't have the experience of such a pairing to be in a position to either confirm or deny.

Hope this helps.

PS - The 44s are nice speakers too, very lush and easy-going, but sound too 'cuddly' and 'bloomy' for my tastes.
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thanks for your input. Much appreciated.
have you, by any chance, tried your 66s with either vintage Quad or Sansui kit?
 
A 33/303 or a nice chunky Japanese receiver was the default pairing at the time. My first experience of real hi-fi was hearing a pair of 66s driven by the Quad pre/power with a TD-125 upstream and it left a heck of an impression. I knew from that point (I was about 13) I needed a good system.
 
I have used Ditton 66s and 25s. The 66 is a stunning speaker, it will however rattle your windows and fillings going down to 18htz! Very entertaining, and way better than the 25 and 44. Very easy to drive, a proper loudspeaker rather than the slim towers with multiple drives, defiantly worth a try, no risk of losing money if you buy a good clean pair but they are getting pricy now. The MKII has the veneered front baffle, the MKI painted black.
 
I must admit I have a soft spot for the 25s. They sound far more balanced than I was expecting from a speaker that effectively has a big woofer and ABR, plus three tweeters! They’re big and warm sounding and just really ‘nice’ to listen to!

That said, though, the 66s are the ones to go for.
 
Tony L said:
A 33/303 or a nice chunky Japanese receiver was the default pairing at the time. My first experience of real hi-fi was hearing a pair of 66s driven by the Quad pre/power with a TD-125 upstream and it left a heck of an impression. I knew from that point (I was about 13) I needed a good system.
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Thanks, Tony.
Ties in with something else I’ve read where Quad and Sansui were both mentioned in connection with a pair of 44s.
 
Gaius said:
I have used Ditton 66s and 25s. The 66 is a stunning speaker, it will however rattle your windows and fillings going down to 18htz! Very entertaining, and way better than the 25 and 44. Very easy to drive, a proper loudspeaker rather than the slim towers with multiple drives, defiantly worth a try, no risk of losing money if you buy a good clean pair but they are getting pricy now. The MKII has the veneered front baffle, the MKI painted black.
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Thanks. I currently own a pair of 44s and have no doubt that the 66s are a real step up.
I did try to buy a pair of 66s about 2 months ago but my auction bids were left behind in the dust!
Since then, I decided to drop my attempts to get hold of a pair of 66s after a reality check regarding size of lounge, aesthetics, etc.
 
legacylenslover said:
thanks for your input. Much appreciated.
have you, by any chance, tried your 66s with either vintage Quad or Sansui kit?
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Briefly with a Quad 909 power amp, using my Yamaha A-S3000 as a pre. No problems there, but I bought the 909 specifically for a pair of ESL63, I didn't use it with my other speakers long enough to form comprehensive impressions.
 
Gaius said:
I have used Ditton 66s and 25s. The 66 is a stunning speaker, it will however rattle your windows and fillings going down to 18htz! Very entertaining, and way better than the 25 and 44. Very easy to drive, a proper loudspeaker rather than the slim towers with multiple drives, defiantly worth a try, no risk of losing money if you buy a good clean pair but they are getting pricy now. The MKII has the veneered front baffle, the MKI painted black.
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I'm curious why you still believe the 66 produces audible output down to 18Hz? A quick glance at the anechoic frequency response curve reveals that it's already -4dB down at 50Hz and rolls of pretty sharply below that. Room gain will of course provide some LF boost but unless you have a room that happens to be 31ft long (which has an axial mode that gives a convenient boost exactly at 18Hz :cool:) then I doubt anyone will ever hear an 18Hz note being produced by this speaker.

ditton66_measurements.jpg
 
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I have a pair of Ditton 44s I am using a Cyrus 3 amp, previously used a Arcam A60 both sounded good to me but the Cyrus is better
 
I listen to the Ditton 66 driven by a large Yamaha integrated of 70 watts per channel (if not more) and PinkFloyd’s Money and Meddle sounded very good with a lot of deep bass.
In that same period of time, I also listened to some Radford T90S speakers driven by a Naim NAC 42/110 and the punch and dynamic was way better, no slow bass at all despite being a bit harsh on my ears.
But this is 35 years ago so............
I'm sure that even by today’s standards, the 66 are still impressive so for a large room, I wouldn’t hesitate to get a pair if the drivers are in good condition.
 
A standard tranny amp sounded good on 33x I remember. A friend ran quad 33-303 fir years into 44s and was very happy, he graduated to 66s and ran a series of muscular (200 W +) tranny amps. All great.
 
The associated B&O speakers that are kind of like a smaller 66 without the ABR are well worth a look too. Can’t remember the model number, but I’ve heard them sounding very nice indeed. They have that really nice dome mid unit from the 66.
 
Tony L said:
The associated B&O speakers that are kind of like a smaller 66 without the ABR are well worth a look too. Can’t remember the model number, but I’ve heard them sounding very nice indeed. They have that really nice dome mid unit from the 66.
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That'd be the Beovox 5700 and 5702 :)
 
Tony L said:
The associated B&O speakers that are kind of like a smaller 66 without the ABR are well worth a look too. Can’t remember the model number, but I’ve heard them sounding very nice indeed. They have that really nice dome mid unit from the 66.
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backtovinyl said:
That'd be the Beovox 5700 and 5702 :)
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I've owned both the 5700 and 5702 and can confirm that they both employ ABRs! :)
 
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