Celestion Ditton 110 Speaker System Review

The Celestion Ditton 110 is a compact two-way speaker system whose 6-3/4-inch-diameter woofer operates in a sealed enclosure and crosses over at 2,300 Hz to a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter. The speaker has a nominal system impedance of 8 ohms, and it is rated to deliver a sound-pressure level (SPL) of 87.5 dB at 1 meter when driven by a 1-watt input. It can handle up to 60 watts of “music-power” input and is recommended for use with amplifiers rated from 10 to 60 watts per channel.

The frequency response of the Ditton 110 is rated at 78 to 20,000 Hz ± 3 dB. The cabinet, veneered in walnut-grain vinyl, measures about 17-1/4 inches high, 10 inches wide, and 8-1/4 inches deep. Weight is about 14-3/4 pounds. Recessed spring-loaded connectors in the rear accept the stripped ends of speaker cables. There are no external controls. The dark-brown cloth grille is retained by plastic snaps.

The Ditton 110 is packed and sold in pairs. Price: $400 per pair.

Laboratory Measurements

For most of our tests, the Ditton 110’s were placed on a shelf against the wall; we also listened to them in a free-standing placement on floor stands, with very good results. The smoothed and averaged room frequency-response plot was quite flat, and it was easily spliced to the close-miked woofer-response curve. The woofer’s output reached its maximum at 140 Hz, falling off smoothly from there up to 500 Hz and remaining within ± 2.5 dB from 500 to almost 2,000 Hz. The low-frequency output fell at 12 dB per octave below 100 Hz.

The composite frequency response was within ±2.5 dB from 300 to 20,000 Hz. The maximum level, at 140 Hz, was about 5 dB above the average midrange level. Overall, it was ±4 dB from 62 to 20,000 Hz—an excellent response for a speaker of this size and consistent with its published ratings. The system impedance was at least 7 to 8 ohms from 20 to 4,000 Hz, with maximums of 30 to 35 ohms at 85 and 2,000 Hz. Impedance dipped to a minimum of 5 ohms from 8,000 to 9,000 Hz.

The Ditton 110’s sensitivity was 89 db SPL with a 1-watt input (slightly better than rated), and when it was driven with an input corresponding to a 90-dB midrange-output sound-pressure level, the woofer’s distortion was remarkably low for its size (or, indeed, for a much larger driver). Starting with about 1 per cent harmonic distortion at 100 Hz, the readings rose to 4 per cent in the 40- to 50-Hz range and to only 6 per cent at 20 Hz. Of course, the actual fundamental output of the speaker at the lowest frequencies was quite low, but the low distortion readings indicate that, unlike many other speakers, the Ditton 110 does not generate a synthetic bass quality by emitting only distortion harmonics of the lower bass frequencies.

Quasi-anechoic frequency-response measurements made with our IQS FFT analyzer confirmed the essential features of the room-response curves, including a maximum high-frequency output at about 14.000 Hz and a slightly falling one from there to 20,000 Hz (this is our upper frequency limit for a room-response measurement). Being able to measure response up to 30.000 Hz, the FFT analyzer showed an axial response that was down only 9 dB from the average midrange level at 28,000 Hz. By subtracting the response measured 45 degrees off axis from the speaker’s axial response, the IQS system also showed us that tweeter directivity was minimal up to about 16.000 Hz (there was less than 5 dB difference between the two curves). The output became directional only at higher frequencies, with a maximum difference of about 18 dB at 20,000 Hz. The time coherence of the Ditton 110 was also good, with a group-delay variation of less than ±0.4 millisecond from about 500 to 23,000 Hz.

Comment

The Celestion Ditton 110 sounds every bit as good as its measured performance would suggest. It is smooth, balanced, and musical—a trio of virtues that every hi-fi speaker should have but not all do. Probably because of the frequency of its maximum bass output, the speaker has a slightly warm quality that is noticeable (though not excessive) on male voices and gives some welcome body to music that might otherwise sound “thin.”

We played a number of digital Compact Discs through the Ditton 110, using amplifiers somewhat more powerful than recommended (in the 100- to 200-watt range).

Neither the speakers nor our sensibilities suffered from this experience, and the superb quality of the recordings we played could be thoroughly appreciated through these fine little speakers whether the volume level was moderate or a bit louder than that.

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