Upgrading Vintage Celestion Ditton 44 Speaker Cabinets

Here we have the amazing old school Celestion Ditton 44 getting the upgrade treatment.
Please have a read of the blog post below to see the full list of components used in the upgrade.
www.hificollec...

[@dittonworks]

As a former Celestion employee and a long time restoring these older Ditton’s, I enjoyed watching this video. Original line up was.. Ditton 10 15ohm 1964 Celestion’s first Hifi speaker in a cabinet, Cx2012 and 1512 were 1964 but only available as a Chassis, cabinet was “build your own” Ditton 15 1966 Ditton 25 was approx 1969 Later it was Ditton 10 8ohm, County, 15, 44, 25, 66. Then the 15xr 22 and 33 were added to the range Then the UL6, 8 and 10

[@klausmuhlbach1869]

As a Ditton engineer, could you help out recapping a pair of 15 XR's?

[@dittonworks]

@@klausmuhlbach1869 they are easy to do buddy. One capacitor and you’ve done ☑️

[@emmapennington3018]

Hi, maybe you can also help me with my previous comment of the thread? Your expertise and background would be very helpful, thanks (comment reproduced below): (I'm doing a bit of research for work and know nothing about speakers so hopefully you can help - At 7.04 there is a red component wrapped in fibrous material - please can you tell me what this is, and do you know what the material is that it was wrapped in? Also - would you know if asbestos was used in any Celestion speakers in around 1968/69, or at all? many thanks)

[@MrBaseren]

Love the Ditton series, I own the 33, and have given my 15xr to my brother as a present. They now play at his restaurant everyday in Copenhagen

[@robertdavis5714]

Bought a pair of Ditton 66 about 2 yrs ago (own 13 pairs of speakers) and are 1 of my favorites in the collection. They like Stereo equipment from the 1970's IE: Have them wired to a Kenwood 9000G and sound spectacular.

[@noble_wolf]

Recently replaced the caps in my Ditton 44s - they were the original 1975-dated caps in there and while bass was good the treble was somewhat flat. Also the mid driver enclosure needed sealing. They do sound fantastic now (albeit the tweeters aren't original, I will refurb these in due course), really filling the room, both physically and sonically, full range with great clarity & separation .

[@DJWerkz]

A summary on sonic improvement would be great Nick

[@MiguelMarinho]

Yes would be great to get impressions on the listening experience.

[@susan0ne]

Why didn't you lay them down?

[@chris6796]

Before and after would be great dude

[@danielb8877]

I was at first confused as to why you were unscrewing the base driver screws the wrong way, but then I noticed the image was flipped...🤣

[@aitchr8770]

So Nick, did you reocrd the old v upgraded 44 comparison? And can we have a view on what you found. Thanks

[@rikardekvall3433]

Great refurbishment. Well done. Question! In a previous video about capacitors you highlighted the problem about going from electrolyte to film foil. Same value but higher voltage would change the sound. Higher sound. I have a vintage speaker with a 4,7 uF cap 63 volt on the mid woofer and want to change to a Jantzen Standard Z-cap 4,7 uF, 400 volt. The sound will improve but will it be louder in a negative way?

[@briancampbell7712]

I tried out replacing my Spendor S100 with the Mundorf ecap Plain and my opinion is they sound like there name...Plain...actually made my speakers sound like cheap speakers with them installed...so I put back new original Bennics and have a Wima 1uf next to them...the sound is much better!

[@matthewtaylor7355]

Audio note electrolytics sound great in my 44s problem may b they cost more

[@jebeq2007]

I just happened to pick up a pair of Ditton 44 Speakers at a thrift store for $4.99 US. They are in fantastic condition and even came nicely packaged in the original boxes. Only thing is that the glue on the tweeter dust cover grill dried and has fallen off, I just need to glue them back on. All aside they sound fantastic but I was wondering if a crossover upgrade would have any improvements. Is there any way you could do a follow up video comparing the sound of the upgraded one vs the non upgraded. It would really help to determine if it's worth the time.

[@hificollective]

HI That was an amazing find, well done. I would suggest that you get used to the sound of them for a few weeks as they are. We didn`t do a sound review on the upgrade as you need to play them for a couple of 100 hours to burn them in. I have them set up at home now and they are certainly getting there, overall dynamics has improved the boom of the originals has calmed down and they are more controlled. This upgrade is a no-brainer. If you are concerned just keep the original parts. Regards, Nick

[@chris6796]

4.99. Ffs

[@andrewdrouin]

@chris6796 I was doing a computer repair service call at a home here in Penticton BC Canada a few years back, when I noticed a nice set of old Celestion Ditton 44's sitting in the corner of the room, not hooked up to anything. I asked the lady about them and she said "those belonged to my ex-husband, who died five years ago, "I really don't know what I'll do with them". I told her the story of Celestion and that they were some of the best speakers of their time, but left it at that, and got on with my work. A few months later, I get a call from this little old lady, asking if I wanted those speakers... "Hell ya! How much are you asking?". "Oh, I don't want anything, I just want to get rid of them" (!!!).. "I'll be right over..." And that is how I have a nice set of Ditton 44's in the workshop right now!

[@Folkharp-sx8nh]

I have 2 out of my 4 trebles which are blown but how do I go about replacing them? Also both midrange speakers are not working either. 2x technics SB-X3-KXG -One treble not working and both midrange/the middle speaker elements 2x Birklin DM 250 -one of the trebles are broken too.

[@gibonape]

shouldn't the whole in the inside box for the mid be completely sealed? the one where you changed the wires for the mid? i mean that box inside is meant to completely isolate the mid from the pressure from the bass.. if not sealed you have pressure coming from the bass to the mid thru that whole..

[@noble_wolf]

The mid enclosure seems to need sealing in most of these - mine certainly did.

[@knightinstallationmaintena261]

Great vid, what are the advantages of using 3 poly caps in parallel instead of just 1 6uf cap

[@noble_wolf]

To create a lower ESR value with the capacitors of the time when the crossover was designed

[@peterjohnson5198]

Hi Thanks for the great video of the Ditton 44. I have a pair of Ditton 25s i bought in UK in1972. I now have them in the USA and its time to set them up again after 10 yrs in storage. The rubber on the 12 inch and the ABR look good but there is a little "mildew" on the center plate of the ABR and 12" cone. The mid range and high range tweeters look a little different to the 44. Is there any maintenance i should complete on them? I wish i could drop them off but its a bit too far!

[@hificollective]

Hi You should be able to wipe with a damp cloth to remove the mildew. Go carefully though. There are few versions of this speaker so drive units do vary Regards, Nick

[@emmapennington3018]

I'm doing a bit of research for work and know nothing about speakers so hopefully you can help - At 7.04 there is a red component wrapped in fibrous material - please can you tell me what this is, and do you know what the material is that it was wrapped in? Also - would you know if asbestos was used in any Celestion speakers in around 1968/69, or at all? many thanks

[@WizardBalls29]

i keep thinking i want to add port holes in the front of my ditton 22 ...wonder what this would sound like ?? any thoughts ?.i keep them up against the wall . figured it my open up the sound a bit

[@mistermarcel22]

Beautiefull speakers i self have the ditton 110 yes much smaller but with a big sound

[@crossoverchef]

I do crossover upgrades for these speakers.

[@wrenrover]

Are you based in the UK?

[@saddle1940]

What about Ditton 88s?

[@adrianrainbow4106]

LOL, I bought a pair of these for 5 quid from a jumble sale about 20 years ago.

[@antonystewart4637]

would you take on a renovation of a set of 44s?

[@hificollective]

No sorry we do not do renovations, please take a look at the list engineers on our site www.hificollective.co.uk/repair-upgrade-engineers.html

[@conngocbh]

Can you help me to give link for buying all capacitor which like you did? Thank you

[@hificollective]

You can see a list of all the caps used here www.hificollective.co.uk/video/celestion-ditton-upgrade.html

[@nathancullen2429]

@@hificollective Your parts list calls out one of each item. Is that really the case or do I need to purchase multiple of any caps?

[@MrRourk]

How does the Ditton do with just 25w?

[@hificollective]

I would suggest you get your drive unit repaired. We cannot comment on replacing with an unknown unit. For example Wembley Loudspeaker repair Dittons

[@robertrogers564]

Hi there why didn't you measure the resistance of all the drive units prior to upgrade and also a test of the xover caps, btw are you aware that your replacement caps will change the character of the sonics. Another good move would be to replace the old binding posts for modern types (I E) removing magnetic steel from the signal path. Thanks.

[@BobMonty99]

Get urself a battery fan they are great

[@susan0ne]

You missed out the ditton 25

[@cuppyco8371]

What are all those bits and bods? Wtf is happening man?

[@matthewtaylor7355]

A great ego substitute if u can't afford Tannoys etc at 4 6 grand

[@moodyga40]

there ok speakers KEF sound