advertisement


Your Views On The Celestion SL6?

M

Minstrel SE

These go to eleven
I rescued one speaker from a charity shop skip today. They said only one had been handed in and I could have it. Who hands one speaker in to a charity shop? :D

Aaaw it looked so lonely and its the first version with the copper tweeter. Mint front and drivers thanks to the grill but a heavily marked cabinet which could be re finished

I remember hearing 10cc Im not in love through them at the Harrogate show in 1981. They sounded very good to me at the time. Thats why I brought it home for a bit of casual fun.

I know times have moved on and Im being daft but it can always be flogged for parts. Oh Im embarrased posting this now but cant delete the thread :)
 
I purchased a new pair of SL6Si's to use with a new Quad 34/306/FM4 system in the early nineties. I eventually sold them along with the Quad items in 2010 / 2011 when I thought I was going to emigrate.
Last year I purchased a S/H pair of Sl6s's to use with refurbished 44/405/FM4 units for a second system, but I really like them so much that if I had to dispense with my 'main' system, I don't think that I would be too unhappy using them along with the Quad units

Regards

Mike Kelshaw
 
Yeah I see we have had an earlier sl6 thread and they get a bit of a slagging off :)

It sounded ok today as I was doing some left right balance tests with my other speakers.

If I can ever match it cheaply I will casually get a pair together. Theres a guy that has a refurb/ sales website on them.

At least its got a wikipedia entry as the first British speaker with a metal dome tweeter :)
 
Don't be embarrassed - they are excellent speakers. I used a pair for many years and they were difficult to replace (mine were also the original version). They have their faults but their strength, I think, lies in a very transparent midband. Their top end I thought was slightly recessed and they didn't produce massive bass - everything was well articulated though. I'm not sure what they would sound like now on the end of my much upgraded system. I should try because they are sitting in their boxes unused at present. I am trying to clear redundant hifi at the moment and they will no doubt appear in the classifieds before long. First I have to sell my Meridian amps which are currently listed.
 
I had a pair of SL6S, with the updated aluminium tweeter for many years, they were great, quite natural and musical.... I didn't actually at the time have the system that could have fully exploited them. I think they need quite a gutsy lean/clean amp to drive them well.

Would love to try one of the last variants, think it was an SL7 ?... had the aluminium cabinet matched to the latest drivers, on special cast alloy stands.
 
Cdb3 said:
Don't be embarrassed - they are excellent speakers. I used a pair for many years and they were difficult to replace (mine were also the original version). They have their faults but their strength, I think, lies in a very transparent midband. Their top end I thought was slightly recessed and they didn't produce massive bass - everything was well articulated though. I'm not sure what they would sound like now on the end of my much upgraded system. I should try because they are sitting in their boxes unused at present. I am trying to clear redundant hifi at the moment and they will no doubt appear in the classifieds before long. First I have to sell my Meridian amps which are currently listed.
Click to expand...

Yes I thought of the classified section and will keep an eye out. I will see. Its just a casual thing and Im sure this can go for parts if necessary.

The refurb guy ships them off to China and Germany.
 
9designs said:
I had a pair of SL6S, with the updated aluminium tweeter for many years, they were great, quite natural and musical.... I didn't actually at the time have the system that could have fully exploited them. I think they need quite a gutsy lean/clean amp to drive them well.

Would love to try one of the last variants, think it was an SL7 ?... had the aluminium cabinet matched to the latest drivers, on special cast alloy stands.
Click to expand...

Yes Ive been reading about the later models and improvements.

They soon dropped the copper tweeter :) The advertising leaflet is on ebay at the moment so I just read it from the picture :)

Im sure theres some hype there but it seems fairly well voiced and its only cost me 50p to get it home :)
 
Owned a pair from new 1988 and sold them to a friend in the late 90's.
They might have been the i version, can't recall. I liked them in small rooms and thought they had a nice midrange. My friend still has them, but the woofer
May have a problem.
Like to get the contact of the refurbishing guy.
Thanks
 
Possibly the worst loudspeaker ever to hit the market.
Produces a turgid, tuneless, flat, boxy cacophony and is the very antithesis of music.

Apart from that it's fine.

The SL6S and 'i' versions were hugely better.
 
Minstrel SE said:
I rescued one speaker from a charity shop skip today. They said only one had been handed in and I could have it. it was worth asking. Who hands one speaker in to a charity shop? :D

Aaaw it looked so lonely and its the first version with the copper tweeter. Mint front and drivers thanks to the grill but a heavily marked cabinet which could be sanded and waxed.

I remember hearing 10cc Im not in love through them at the Harrogate show in 1981. They sounded very good to me at the time. Thats why I brought it home for a bit of casual fun.

I know times have moved on and Im being daft but it can always be flogged for parts. Oh Im embarrased posting this now but cant delete the thread :)
Click to expand...



OLD HAT
 
Robert said:
Possibly the worst loudspeaker ever to hit the market.
Produces a turgid, tuneless, flat, boxy cacophony and is the very antithesis of music.

Apart from that it's fine.

The SL6S and 'i' versions were hugely better.
Click to expand...

There were a lot of developments of the 600, culminating in the 700 SE (or Si I think) and although they all looked very similar they actually sounded quite different to one another. However, as a previous poster has written, they all liked to be driven by slightly lean sounding amps with plenty of available wattage. They also liked to be on very heavy stands and a long way from room boundaries.
 
Yank said:
And undynamic.

They improved somewhat if you had north of 250W to push them.
Click to expand...

You're probably right.

I had a pair hooked up to a Counterpoint SA 12, not exactly a lightweight amp, kept cranking it up waiting for something to happen.

It never did.
 
Linus said:
Owned a pair from new 1988 and sold them to a friend in the late 90's.
They might have been the i version, can't recall. I liked them in small rooms and thought they had a nice midrange. My friend still has them, but the woofer
May have a problem.
Like to get the contact of the refurbishing guy.
Thanks
Click to expand...

If you google Celestion SL6 you will see

Refurbished Celestion SL6, SL6S and SL6Si Speakers for sale ... Carpwrangler.

He seems to be well into them with plenty of experience.

I found it interesting and a well laid out site with plenty of pictures. If you see the price of original parts it wasnt such a daft thing for me to rescue one.
 
Robert said:
Possibly the worst loudspeaker ever to hit the market.
Produces a turgid, tuneless, flat, boxy cacophony and is the very antithesis of music.

Apart from that it's fine.

The SL6S and 'i' versions were hugely better.
Click to expand...

Well I dont disbelieve you and others. When I took off the grill I thought ooooh first version copper tweeter..... parts parts parts! :) A nice rush of nostalgia for Harrogate :)

I couldnt leave it there even though some of you think the skip is the best place for it :)
 
I had SL6, SL12Si, then 6Si when I cooked the copper tweets.
Long term I hankered after the original, the 12Si were well built with more bass but ultimately I thought the originals were best .

ES14's blew them away though :D
 
Wonderful speaker. I love the way the produce a tangible image.

I still have my SL6 that I bought back in 1983.

They were only replaced a couple of years ago when I managed to acquire a pair of SL600Si.

They do need a good amp to drive them though.
 
I think all loudspeakers need a good amplifier. The only amplifier related issue with the original SL6 is very low sensitivity and falling HF, so they need power to go loud and develop some bite, but won't actually go very loud without falling apart sonically like all small loudspeakers.

YNWOAN said:
There were a lot of developments of the 600, culminating in the 700 SE (or Si I think) and although they all looked very similar they actually sounded quite different to one another. However, as a previous poster has written, they all liked to be driven by slightly lean sounding amps with plenty of available wattage. They also liked to be on very heavy stands and a long way from room boundaries.
Click to expand...

We had the original SL6 which replaced a pair of Heybrook HB2s. Bought on the basis of the glowing HFN review without a dem.
Many years later I bought a used pair of 6S versions just out of curiosity and they sounded pretty good - very different to the original. Then again, the bass driver, tweeter, cabinet and crossover were all different so the only things the same as the original model were the model number and cabinet dimensions.
 
Had a pair for a number of years and enjoyed them. I think I replaced them with a pair of Musical Fidelity Reference 4s. That was certainly a case of 'compare and contrast' at the top end.
 
Robert said:
Possibly the worst loudspeaker ever to hit the market.
Produces a turgid, tuneless, flat, boxy cacophony and is the very antithesis of music.

Apart from that it's fine.

The SL6S and 'i' versions were hugely better.
Click to expand...

Robert, i powered mine with a pair of sony bridged power amps 300w/channel and they were superb The problem was they were so hard to drive that your description would be the norm for most
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top