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In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: A quest for a better monitor.
Post Subject: The different views about Celestion SL600.Posted by Romy the Cat on: 7/2/2006

 guy sergeant wrote:
What you say may be true. I'm not sure there was an amplifier available in the mid to late 1980's that would have been suitable for these. They did get good reviews but I suspect that some of this was due to awe inspired by the technical achievement of making the cabinet and the laser interferometry images. It was almost as though some reviewers were afraid to criticise them. Presumably they found amplifiers that they felt were suitable. I seem to recall Krell amps being used but I didn't like those either with the Celestions (KSA50 or KSA100) or with any other speakers.      Ah I understand now.... I was probably just using the wrong speakers!!!

If there was a suitable amp then, I certainly didn't find it. It did make me question the wisdom of making such a thing (clever cabinet or not) if there wasn't an amp that could make it work.  I'm not even sure a suitable (commercially made) amp exists now. Even if you could make or have made an amp to squeeze some life from them I'm sure that amp would sound much better on more sensitive speakers anyway.

I always preferred Peter Snell's original Type K design which was a smallish two way IB with relatively low cost Vifa drivers but which gave far more life and colour to music than I could ever imagine the Celestions producing.

I look forward to hearing of your further adventures with them and must admit that if I found a pair I'd enjoy putting a Revelator tweeter in and trying to find a 6" driver I liked. I imagine, given what you said earlier, you'd be trying to reduce the LF bandwidth but this may be throwing away the benefit of the cabinet design. I don't know.
Actually it is very funny how much off our views about the SL600 are. To substitute SL600 original tweeter with anything else, would it be Revelators, Diamond or made from Faberge Eggs is like to make a movie with Humphrey Bogart and ask busboy form a nearby Chinese restaurant to re-record the Bogart’s dialogs. The SL600 tweeter with pure copper dome and phenolic suspension was probably the most perfect tweeter even was made (sonically), with only disadvantage in sensitively department. They did the similar thing that EV dir in T350 but the dome was made with copper that added an extra puss to the tweeter. What a beautify!



The SL600 obviously should not be used all the way down as those PVC woofer begin to pump air intend of sound. I crossing them (electrolytic with active bias) at +15Hz-60Hz form their natural decay. The Lover sound transferred into my LF line arrays at 60Hz. I was driving them with 5 amps, SS and tubes, including the new full-range Melquiades (in small room it has enough powers to develop good volume as I driving the 6C33C there at whole 60W) All amp made the SL600++ sound like crap: no dynamics, very challenged, very small, diminutive and with all other negative sort of things. Then I brought Lamm M1.1 and it did all necessary things.

I still not there yet as the key is in the very precise cutting off the SL600. I would need to inhale them at the very strange location were they will be living in my room and perhaps then try to optimize them. I will be doing it in a few weeks AFTER I resolve my interest in “fundamentals channel” as I am planning to settled the SL600 on the frame of the “fundamentals chancel” support.

Rgs,
The caT

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