Route 66

[Terry]

Couldn’t resist these when they became available. A completely unmolested pair of Celestion Ditton 66’s. All original and cabinets in lovely condition. They are the ‘woody’ version (as opposed to ‘blacky’, front baffle finish) of the original MK1 and feature the legendary MD500 midrange driver with “military grade” crossover. On audition there was a ‘tizz’ from one of the mids but not enough to put me off and I figured I could fix it. I removed the offending driver and, to rule out the crossover, I switched it across to the other speaker. The problem travelled comfirming all was well with the Xovers and the driver needed work. An easy fix as it turned out. On taking it apart, some of the screws of the protective plate were loose (could have been the problem right there). However, the doping/glue on the dustcap had deteriorated over 40+ years and where it had pooled all those years ago in one of the hollows of the diaphragm, it had started to detach as a solid (flexible) piece. I thought it was a gasket of sorts at first. I cleaned it out carefully using warm water and a fine bristle brush. When dry I applied a new coat of water based latex adhesive - being careful not to add undue thickness or rigidity to the cap or the diaphragm. I built this up over a few hours applying a second and third coat as the previous coat dried but remained tacky. It was hard waiting the 48 hours for the glue to cure. But it was worth it. No more ‘tizz’ and they sound astonishing... slam fast, effortlessly tight base, hair-raising detail and depth.

[cybot]

Bloody well done Terry! Enjoy!

[Terry]

Cheers Derek. Was sitting in a hot, sweaty exam hall doing my Leaving Cert when the these 66’s were in the showroom. 1979!

[cybot]

Cheers Derek. Was sitting in a hot, sweaty exam hall doing my Leaving Cert when the these 66’s were in the showroom. 1979!

......and I was in Knebeworth watching Zeppelin's last hurrah before Bonham's sad exit.

[Ivor]

Looking good Terry, best of luck with them.

[tony]

Echo Ivor's thoughts they look in fantastic condition. Lovely looking speakers in the pictures a lot more character than current designs. Sort of look like a very nice piece of furniture. Not sure a woman would agree with me!

[Terry]

Cheers lads. Enjoying the 66’s a lot but they’ve been quietened these last few days. I removed all drivers (three plus an ABR) and internal damping and was delighted to see that the crossovers were in great (cosmetic) shape. No leaky caps. I didn’t measure them but am happy to leave well alone as I like how things sound. I decided to freshen up the cabinets and gently sanded them back to the original untreated oak. They were then finished with a matt aqueous sealer (colourless) and now look like they were manufactured last week.

[Fran]

Lovely thread!

I recently picked an early and fairly original pair of B&W DM2 that I have yet to really check through.... but looking forward to it!

[Terry]

Thanks Fran. I probably should have posted this in ‘General’. Maybe you can move it over? Interesting to see how you get on with those DM2’s.

Here’s another interesting one - the B&O 5700 and an illustration of how to shoehorn as many drivers into a baffle as one can manage - not typical of the ‘less is more’ Scandinavian approach!!

BD8F1C09-D3C4-4198-A974-5BF0265ECD19.jpeg (283.07 KiB) Viewed 784 times

At first glance it seems to use the same mid as the 66, but they’re different. The Celestion uses the MD500 rated at 80w, whereas the B&O uses the less potent MF500 (50w). The classic Celestion HF2000 tweeter is common to both.

T