[kydsid]

Heard some Celestion's back in the day and liked them, did I get a good deal? Not much info on the ol' tubes about these particular speakers.


ebay listing removed.



I guess only time will tell.

 

[NightOwl]

I've also been a long time fan and still use a pair of sl600's. I still have a pair of sl6's with one blown woofer. I bought the sl600's after I gave up trying to get a replacement speaker. You couldn't just buy a replacement driver since the whole speaker (including crossover components) was matched through laser inferometry, the forerunner to computer matching.
Anyway, I heard the UL6 briefly about 25 years ago. It was a short-lived experiment by Celestion. They tried to improve from their previous Ditton series. The drivers were similar, but better than their contemporary and more conventional DL series but not as good as the SL's. The speaker was designed to improve soundstaging and make them more efficient. The Sl600's are 83db. I believe the UL6's were 90db. They were supposed to be less sensitive to positioning than previous Celestion's, but in this they failed and I believe that's the main reason the series wasn't successful. AFAIR they retailed around $500. I seem to remember some reviewers saying that the sound was similar to Spendor's. Most vintage Celestion's have midrange and imaging to die for. I've never heard a vintage Celestion that sounded bad and the drivers were extremely durable. The only common problem was that the voice coil in the woofers would sag from gravity over time and rub on the cage. Push gently on the woofer near, but not on the dust cap. If it travels freely without rubbing, you got a great deal. Experiment with positioning. Tweeters slightly below ear level, well away from back walls and corners and slightly towed in. Celestion's cabinets were fairly rigid for the time so they shoud be on rigid or sand-filled stands. Impedance rarely dipped below 4 ohms but hit 16 ohms quite a bit in all the Celestions I'm familiar with. Unfortunately if you run into problems, parts are made of unobtainium unlike old Kef's.

 

[kydsid]

^ Wow thanks for all of the info. After all that I will make sure I let you know there condition when I get them.

 

[kydsid]

Well they arrived today. Opened and heard a rattle in one speaker. Opened it up and that the magnet of one woofer had fallen off of the speaker. While attempting to get everything out the powers of magnetism and clutziness took over and the magnet attached to the back of the speaker.

Is it even possible to realign the speaker magnet and cone or is the whole drive toast?

 

[krmathis]

So, were they worth it?

 

[NightOwl]

Wow. I'm having a hard time visualizing this. Usually the magnet is screwed to the basket. Some woofers do have the magnet glued though, so I guess it's possible. If it was glued, those speakers must have been played pretty loud or stored in a very hot place to generate enough heat for the glue to have dried out. As long as the basket and electromagnet/voice coil are intact and properly aligned, it should be possible to reattach the permanent magnet and get it working. If the magnet is pulling the voice coil out of alignment/off-center where it's located right now, you'll have to get it off asap or the misalignment will be permanent. Slide it slowly to the outer edge of the frame and then you can pull it off. Would it be possible to post pictures front, back & side of the driver since I'm still having a hard time trying to visualize this.

 

[kydsid]

KRMathis, worth it? Sure. A pair is currently on sale at agon in similar condition, albeit working

for 300 plus 75 shipping. Mine were less than a $100 including shipping.

Here are the pictures.

 

[NightOwl]

Well, there's still hope. From your pictures it looks like the voice coil is intact and the wires still attached. The diaphragm and surround look in good shape.
The third picture shows that the spider (the folded yellow part) may have separated from the voice coil tube. Also the fourth picture looks like the voice coil may be very slightly off-center (or it could just be the picture). With your hand in the shape of a claw, push gently on the outer edge of the dust cap (center part of the driver) and see if the voice coil travels freely and relatively centered and that the spider also travels freely and evenly and doesn't seem to be jerky or slide on the voice coil tube. Pull GENTLY on the edge of the spider in the direction of the diaphragm to see if it's still glued and to see if you can realign it if it needs to be reattached. You will probably have to use angled tweezers or angled needle nosed pliers. Don't pull too hard or you could slip off and damage the diaphragm or the tube or separate the spider. Let me know the results.
Reattaching the magnet will require some care in alignment but is actually the easy part.

 

[kydsid]

Everything looks good according to the tests you indicated. The spider does appear to be slightly off of level to the voice coil. Otherwise the travel is good and looks like the magnet just needs to be reattached. Good news is the seller has agreed to accept the speaker and have it repaired by a professional at his cost.

The other speaker sounds great and it in great condition. So I will be sending the one speaker back in hopes it will once again sing with it's mate.

NightOwl I can't thank you enough for all of your help.

 

[NightOwl]

You're very welcome. I am more than glad to help. That's good news about the repair. I think you'll really enjoy the speakers when you get the other one back. There may be better but, at worst, vintage Celestions are never offensive or fatiguing, or missing parts of the audio spectrum.