I struggled with myself to write this in public, but, to support Kelvin's channel I just do it now! In the first place, I am sad to say, that I am a poor retired guy with a small amount of pension. This is due to the long illness I suffered for many years. So, despite having quite a good salary at the end of my career as an engineer, I had also a lot of time loss without paying into my retirement fund. My sickness was of the come-and-go type. This phase changed about 4 times a year for many many years. It was hell, I tell you. Being bipolar is living in hell! Therefore I am stranded with my small pension at the end. Despite this, I begin to support you from now on within my circumstances. And I hope I can be a role model for many others who love kelvins channel as much as I do! He is one of the reviewers with the most charming attitude in his videos. Come on guys! Let's support our Channel and Kelvin, so we can await a lot of new content in the future! If I can afford a few bucks, anyone can, can´t you?

Really pleased you are back on the scene after your break. I enjoy your reviews, they get the message across in a casual no BS manner. Keep it up.

Hi Kelvin. Ive refurbished a few pairs of these. They have a very simple crossover. Just an inductor on the woofer (1st order) and a 12uF capacitor and inductor on the tweeter (2nd order). That capacitor is nasty. By now way out of tollerence. Replacing it with a SOLEN 12uF really helps them. Their then better with more complicated tracks. Easy to replace on these. Undo the 4 screws on the binding post cup and pull out. The crossover is on the back of this. Great video as always. Cheers. Matt

For those on a limited budget your videos are invaluable as well as interesting Kelvin. Many thanks.

I have heard Celestion 15s many moons ago and I was very impressed. Connoisseur BD2 turntable, Shure M75 EJ2 cartridge, Teleton 5 watts per channel amp. Sounded great.

Very entertaining as always. I still have a pair of mint Celestion 3 ac suspension I bought for my mom because I liked my pair so much. They had an early metal dome and cost only $250 or $280 per pr. Julian Hersch of Stereo Review magazine measured them to be 91db sensitivity and -3 at 58hz. Impossible even today in a closed box that small, haha. Very delicate tweeter so to find one without a ding is probably rare. They needed to be a hand span from the wall for balance. A true bookshelf speaker but I used them on 31” target stands.

Hi Kelvin these might fall in the Marmite camp for some as I know a few people that did not like them but also a few that loved them. I did not get on with them and were not for me as I found the mids just a bit to forward but they were ok and for £40 I would not argue. I sold mine for £100 and the bloke that picked them up was a massive fan of them. Please don't forget your class D mini amp review.

Between 1969 and 1974 I used Leak Sandwich 300, then Ditton15 which sounded JUST as you describe, then KEF Chorale (which I didn’t enjoy), then B&W DM4. The era of discount mail order, no hope of an audition. An expensive way to find out what suits. Then the madness stops.

🙋‍♂️THANKS KELVIN,FOR REVIEWING ‘old school 🏫 speakers 🔊…with the voice of experience,LOVELY CABINETS…and I love ❤️ your Lava lamps going in the background 🤗💚💚💚

The Celestion Ditton 15's are lovely. great mid range punch.

Passive Radiators are the best way to build a ported Speaker. Many people think a port must be open, but that´s not true at all. Why should it be open? The air can not go out of the cabin anyway. The same amount of air the port blasts out, it sucks in afterward. Otherways, the cabin would collapse due to the vacuum, lol won´t it? An open Port pipe has as a resistor the Amount of air that sits in the pipe. This is quite complicated to design. A passive Radiator has the spider and the membrane for this effort, and it is quite easy. You simply put weight on the membrane or put it off the membrane, and that goes on the fly if needed. All in all, when the membrane has reached the maximum point of moving out, the bass gets tight and controlled again like with a sealed cabin. And before that point, it behaves like an open pipe. This way, we have both advantages of 2 sides of speaker cabinet designs. Who wants more? The only thing is, you might tune the membrane new when the speaker ages. But that´s peanuts.

I once owned a pair of celestion ditton 44s . Only sold them because of the size , too large when I moved house. Wish I still had them, would upgrade the caps , and enjoy the full , wonderful smooth sound they produced.

i had a pair of the Glendales they where the next speaker up in the mid 70's and i realy liked them i only changed them because i bought a pair of Tannoy Cheviot's in 1978

Great to see you return Kevin. I appreciate your videos and no nonsense style. We both hail from the same era and your lifelong love of high, good sound and music are similar to mine. No hype, no BS, just your honest opinions. And I've discovered new songs from your test songs. Keep it up, you brighten my day. Thanks.

Just another great review Kelvin can’t wait until the next one .

Great clip as always Kelvin. I owned a pair of Ditton 44 which I regret getting rid of. Solved most of the issues that the 15 has with a dedicated mid-frequency range speaker. Beautiful!

Wasn’t the original tweeter a Coles unit? I had the originals, with a nice cast basket years ago and much later purchased the 15XR’s which I still use today? The bass unit has a pressed steel basket, but it still has the Celestion sound - great with rock and stringed instruments. 👍

Hi Kelvin, nice video, once more time. About the HF1300 I appreciated the comments on Money from pink Floyd, it is precisely said! I have those speakers, bought in 2020, associated to a recaped Sony ta1150, I wanted to feel back the sound of this system my father bought in 1973 in London ,when I was 8. Those underrated speakers are real value for money, no foam surrounds but good and strong rubber, very musical and using them with a bluetooth dac, my home office is always a pleasure hearing them at work. Midrange is nice, treble a bit bright but very engaging. I changed the olf 12uf cap by a scr polystyrene cap and it's fine! thanks for your very nice channel.

Great to see u r back! I would be interested on your views in the similar bigger speakers….Ditton 66’s and the B&O 5700’s.

This channel is living proof that people knew how to make some pretty decent HiFi in the past.

Always liked them speakers, never had a pair, but heard them great review

I have a pair of those that were destined for the tip. The cabinets are a bit shabby, but they do sound nice to my industrially impared ear 'oles!

I've got one in my av room for repair at the moment Kevin, great video 👍

Another great insight into older gear and what to expect... Always enjoy your comments dear boy, funny how i remember the days in england when most of this gear was new Happy days though..bless you pal..take care.

I had the XR versions. Got them from a skip. Decent enough sound but I put the mechanics in some beautiful Dynatron floorstander cabinets and really enjoyed them. Got the Dynatrons from a recycling centre for free 🎶🎵

I've a pair of these in my bassement. They were the rear speakers for my grand-father quad hifi system made with a Marantz 4270 and a pair of Ditton 66. Today the 66s and the 4270 are in my living room for everyday use. I've set the 4270 to stereo (the little switch behind). One of this day I will take up these celestion 15 and plug them to a period amp I have. The only question is where in my house 😁

Love your thoughts on the people that think their gear is worth a treasure!

Dave Alvin - Eleven Eleven. A wonderful album.

Hi Kelvin. I always had a soft spot for Diiton 15's. Even though they had a limited range, what they did do was very good. Lovely midrange quality, especially with valves. When they went to the 15xr with the dome tweeter all the magic went. 👍

It's actually an isobaric passive radiator.

By the way: Now I am stable for 12 years. Not 100% but I don´t want to take my own life anymore, like I wanted to do in my past... for 35 years....And the money I have now is enough for me because I don´t smoke or drink. My only way to squander my wealth is my HiFi equipment! And being a gifted DIY Guy, I can afford quite some luxury gear from the past, for example, I am building a Record player from scratch with a 12" Carbon tonearm, in a pretty heavy round plinth covered in Buffalo leather, and on top of massive acacia wood. My only concern was the motor. Originally I planned a direct drive, quartz-locked motor, but I ruined it because some screws fell into the case and produced a short circuit. Damn me I must say. LOL! But that´s life... You learn and struggle from beginning to end!

Nice work ! Very accurate representation here. ❤

Absolutely perfect for 1970s rock, like Deep Purple etc.

Sunday afternoons are much better these days. Cheers Kelvin

fantastic as ever!

My Ditton 25 can be described in the same words : nice high and middle, but soft bass, difficult to turn your living in disco. I had rebuild the crossover with high and bass improvement. I only regretted not to choose Mundorf cap for woofer. Maybe the 1970s didn't have the same music reference. Classical music with big orchestra was dominant among high-end users and with BBC, at this time. Now the wind turned, pop and R&R are the reference.

Another super video! - So, suddenly I'm in the market for a Phillips RH491 speakers to pair with a fully restored Phillips 591 amp and 202 Electronic turntable, from the same range/year just about 1970/1. If you have a pair at the back of your cupboard or suggest a good place to look then I'd be very interested! Keep up the great work!

Nice lava lamps ….cant beat the Astro! And yes eBay sellers of amps and other gear just don’t have a clue how much time effort and cash it takes to service old gear.

Hi Kelvin. I’ve shared this on the Celestion page for you. 😊

I have some ditton 44's. 3 way speakers I'm guessing from the late 70's. They sound wonderful and musical, but you can't crank them up past 80db. They start popping. Their are so sweet sounding, hooked to a Marantz 2250b down in the woodwork shop.

Used to live a stone's throw from the Celestion factory in Thames Ditton.

My neighbor gave me a pair of Celestion 1 bookshelf speakers last week to try with a classic turntable and amp I'd just picked up - only given them a quick try to check the turntable over - much newer and small than your of course, but they were fine, not a brand I had heard of. .. but I understand they were not bad at all?

outstanding video. I have owned a pair or perhaps 2 over the years. I remember I thought they looked quite cool but don't remeber how they sounded. I'm sad to say I actually got drunk and filled one of them with fireworks (in my youth) so I suspect I didn't like them that much

I perfect my speakers a little... for my taste

Love my Ditton 25's with the addition of the HF2000 tweeter added. Would consider swapping them out for the 66's if I ever find any for a decent price, those are the real money grabbers! I also replaced the back terminals of the Dittons (the originals are horrible IMO) with some banana plug terminals. Very easy to do. Also, what components are hooked up to your 15's? I'm using the more modern Arcam Alpha with mine and I wonder if they're doing true justice to the Dittons.

I watch your videos for the hifi info but also just let them play in the BG for fun. I know how much time goes into video production so kudos for your efforts. My dad's family is from northern London. Have you ever heard the names McKone or Holt in your area? Cheers from Halifax NS

Would be keen to hear your thoughts on the Ditton 66's or even the 662's

In the sixties they were £29.19shillings and six pence

Great insights Kelvin. Perhaps one of the few people who acknowledge hifi is subject to the laws of diminishing returns - even when vintage ? After a certain level of spend we're better off buying more music!

Another great review, and your description of the sound seems spot on. My Dad bought a pair of Ditton 15's around 1970. He replaced them with KEF 104 abs which were much better! But, although I haven't heard a paid of Ditton 15s since around 1972, your description of the sound really brought back their strengths and weaknesses.

I LOVE YOU And We Love Your presentations Of Old Hifi Gear And You Get Younger Folk Interested SO That's Why We Are Gonna Send Some Funds To Help You Buy And The Gear You Review And When You Get too much Gear You Can Sell some and get more to review Exellent Exellent Idea CAUSE We love ya And Appreciate Your Input. THANKS SO MUCH

I really enjoy your reviews. I'm using the later version Ditton 15xr (maybe the last redesign on these) and I absolutely love them. Do you think that Celestion solved any drawbacks that the earlier versions may have had in this '79/'80 version? I'm also considering upgrading the quality of the crossover parts.

Not bad £40, from what I dig from, there a a bit buttery sounding,.. but £40, ya can't go wrong

The 15XR trumps the 15 completely..

Nice Review! Try to find an old Yamaha NS-690... You'll be amazed!

Old school HiFi for old school Hifi buffs. Non of your Harman Target curve nonsense here -love it 💗 HiFi for the flat-earthers and there's nowt wrong wi' that.

Kel... Haydn Boardman said these series ain't that good... I agree my recapped Ditton 44s ain't in the same league as the bigger Tannoys.. Thats why they go for 250GBP and the Canturbury etc 2500GBP..The Ditton sound nasely

HF1300..what a peach!..DM2 fanboy xx

It's studio monitors or not?

👍💯👍

Hi Kelvin.What'll it cost to be a patreon?

i had a previous model that still own it from 1970 ,later when returning from working in Africa i had went to japan and bought a complete pioneer system and bought trhis model to improve it´s sound ,it wasn´t so powerfull as the older 1970 model but had great sound , sometimes the amplifier in use isn´t the proper one for them to release it´s fullest capacity , but a pioneer receiver from 74 make them sound at the time spectacular , the new amplifiers or built after 1980 (as all brands decreased their quality at the time,to make them more afordable to everyone, they say)can´t make them deliver it´s best sound, i´m not saying they were the best but still in use today as the receiver and no new amplifier, my son also likes music and apeared at home with arcam alpha´s and cambridge audio´s ,and i hear a lot of good critics to this modern amplifiers but what the hell is happening and i did restore several speakers i had from the 70´s to their original specifications, also bought good speakers from early 80´s to last years and trhis modern things if opened ,electronically speaking they are what they sound ,very poor and can´t fire them 70´s speakers, as an example more either than this ones that were critisized by many some years ago, because they don´t know what a speakers is, the technics SB-F3 were amazing good but some say they don´t have bass ,well the amplifiers they own can´t release any bass that´s why , this were and are incredible good till 90watts(real ones) amplifiers, so i think the celestion brand might had released a cheaper speakers instead of trying to improve their known quality, for no reason Marshal started to use it´s speakers , till they ended up destroyd in China with Kef joint adventure, they killed two birds with one stone , only hope that warphedale doesn´t follow the same path, as the Linton´s are a great pair of modern speakers

Valeu!

What amplifier(s) did you use with those speakers? Best wishes, Rain

Had a set of these which I found dumped in an alley behind a row of shops. Blew the drivers in an audio experiment sadly.

KEF's from the time are better, aren't they?

1st ;-)

The tweeter on the Ditton 15 goes up to 15KHz. Great speaker. Set up a system for a friend in the 70’s using these speakers.

one thing is for sure, it is ugly.

You must have a skip for all those auld speakers.

They needed a super tweeter. That would have made them sound so much better. Found the top very muted and the sound woolly