Celestion DL8 modding.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I ams what I ams
Cos' thats all what I ams
Cos' I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
Toot Toot

[Dave the bass]

A wet gloomy Sunday... time for DL8 playtime!

Whahey! They work!

Here they are in all their glory. Before I went on Hols a couple of weeks ago I gave them a bit of extra doping in the centre where the Bison Kit had pulled and reacted with the PlastiDip coating, its not pretty...


So, they've had a good few weeks to dry/set/settle after all that gluey doping process so the mid bass drive units feel nice and dry to the touch now and are no longer 'sticky' or tacky in feel.

The finished results look like this...

Fostex HF horn on curvaceous MDF mounting gasket...


And with doped Mid/Bass unit...


Even the original grilles fit back on now....


And initial listening impressions...

Sorry about one of the piccies appearing 90 degrees out of kilter, Photobucket wont allow me to correct it at the mo.

On Audio Talk karatestu asked..."Do you have any comments on the sound or do they need running in ?"


I'm guessing here but I'd imagine they'll need a time to free up and re-acclimatise after what they've gone through but initial impressions are...

Pro's.

They still actually work after all they've been through!
There's nothing horrible about the overall sound (IMO).
They cover a wide bandwidth of sound.
VLF's especially are fulsome, there's summat going on that gives the impression of 'big bass' akin to the hump of an LS3/5a. As a result of this Kickdrums in particular and muted bass notes are an 'exciting' listen. Its fast too, which is great, its not that slow subwoofery slob-type-bass.
Its a very dry 'tone' and they still retain that sealed enclosure tightness I've heard in other IB designs which I like a lot.
As before the Fostex tweeter 'may' be a little too prominent in the long term, I think I'll leave 'em be for now, early days yet.
Overall IMO I'd say they sound better than they did before carrying out the mods which is great.

Cons.

I can't prove it but... I don't think they're as efficient as the unmodded DL8's so I have to drive them approx 2 clicks more on my TVC.
They appear very sensitive to backwards/forwards room positioning for some reason. Getting this not right results in an odd out of focus/phasey sound at the listening position in my room.
That fulsome bass has forced me to move the cabinets forward a bit, its too overbearing otherwise IMO when they're close to the rear wall.
Currently the speakers don't do that imaging 'thing' so well that I love about other speakers I've played with and built in the past. What they do do well though is exacting 'Left' 'Right' and 'Centre' but thats it! Its very precise and liveable-with but there's little of that holographic imagining like you get with a speaker like a Saburo IMO (in my room).

Initial Conclusion.

They're fun! They really are. Are they 'accurate'? Probably not. Did I mention they're fun, YES! I think there's some accentuations at both ends of the audio spectrum which maybe are adding to the fun factor, does it matter? Nope, I don't think so as its a characterful listen and not unpleasant. Maybe the best way to describe the overall sound is like erm.....its a bit like the sonic equivalent of the modern day 'Barbie' style make-up some women are sporting at the moment

Think...


I'm happy to have characterful pair of speakers in my 'collection'.

Howzat?

[wiicrackpot]

Love to ask her ''how's her father''.

Great write up Dave, sounds like you had fun,
you could've cut to the chase and said they sound like Sara's , (ducks behind sofa)
amazed you still had the energy to finish it off after your bike runs.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

You will find they will change in many parameter over the next few days as the doping loosens up, they become more liquid from my experience.

You say - "Currently the speakers don't do that imaging 'thing' so well that I love about other speakers I've played with and built in the past. What they do do well though is exacting 'Left' 'Right' and 'Centre' but thats it! Its very precise and liveable-with but there's little of that holographic imagining like you get with a speaker like a Saburo IMO (in my room)."

This especially will change, and you will need to reposition as they settle in.

Do they sound in any similar to the ones I had at Tonbridge, as there should (in the end) be a distinct family sound, apart from the unknown influence of a horn tweeter to the design, the result of which I will find very interesting.

[Daniel Quinn]

They will not be as efficient as the cone is heavier .

Not sure what "fun" means in the context of speakers , they are for playing music . Accurate I presume you mean pertaining to frequency response .

[Dave the bass]

Do they sound in any similar to the ones I had at Tonbridge, as there should (in the end) be a distinct family sound, apart from the unknown influence of a horn tweeter to the design, the result of which I will find very interesting.

Not that I've noticed particularly as far as my (possibly flawed) sonic-memory can recall, though I do remember the HF dominated the sound in that room which was a very lively (bouncy) hard sounding room TBH Richard. I wasn't in there for a long time and we were chatting for most of the time.

They will not be as efficient as the cone is heavier .

Not sure what "fun" means in the context of speakers , they are for playing music . Accurate I presume you mean pertaining to frequency response .

Thats makes sense Daniel, the cone has deffo 'put-on-a-few-pounds' since Christmas...

I mean 'fun' as in just that, its not a dull un-involving sound, they're lively and fun. I like fun, I'm a fun kinda guy.

Accurate, yes in relation to frequency response, sorry, I should have expalined myself better. You know when designers and manufacturers maybe aim for a flattish response in a mass produced 'marketable' speaker....well this hasn't happened here, I've just followed some advice on doping and adding steel plates and such-like and stuck in a surplus HF horn, no measurements at all were involved so I don't know (or even care TBH!) how 'accurate' these are, they're a good fun listen, thats what I meant. I'm back to fun again aren't I ?

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Spray the centre again with Plastidip it will look a lot nicer. There will be no reaction.

Leave them as your speaker for a few days give them a good run in at good levels and watch (listen) to them change. The frequency anomaly is down to the horn it needs some more padding OR a brief squirt with Plastidip does wonders.

[Daniel Quinn]

Not sure I like the word fun when levelled at speakers. It is to my mind and may be my mind only , a word that I have often seen used by reviewers when they are being slightly patronising as to the capabilities of a pair of speakers . It brings to my mind an image of a big fat Alvin Gold saying "these speakers sure are fun" , while winking at his inferior £20,000 HIFI speakers in the corner.

To my mind a better description is "musical" in that my modded speakers were better at portraying music and all it attributes .

[karatestu]

my modded speakers were better at portraying music and all it attributes .

I don't think they would agree with you on PFM.

[Daniel Quinn]

PFM is of course a collection of people , but if you mean the people I think you mean then I take it as indication I am correct. It is much the same as the daily mail disagreeing with my opinions.