SOLD: FS: Celestion SL600 bookshelf speakers

[Pip]

Item: Celestion SL600 speakers
Location: Western Sydney (lower Blue Mountains)
Price: SOLD
Item Condition: Cosmetically 7/10, a few small scratches on the nextel finish and some marks on the bottom (which you don't see). Otherwise good.
Reason for selling: Moving house and selling off hifi gear I no longer use.
Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, COD Only
Extra Info: I am the second owner of these speakers. I bought them at Doug Brady Hi Fi in London in 1987, after the original owner had traded them back. They are a sealed 2-way speaker, with a 6 inch PVC mid-woofer and a copper dome tweeter - one of the first speakers to use a metal dome. The cabinet is made from honeycomb aluminium (taken from the airplane industry), painted in a matte-black Nextel finish. They were famous in their day for having a magical midrange, a bit like the Quad electrostatics and the LS3/5a; and have the same  mild roll-off at both ends of the frequency spectrum. They are famously inefficient at 82dB, but a modern D-class amp with a lot of watts could well be a successful, cost-efficient match. They also like good solid stands and some space around them. Then they can be very seductive, great imaging, tonally pure in the mids. If you're looking for music rather than spectacle, they could well suit you.

This pair has had the biwire crossover factory fitted by the previous owner - as was later made standard on the SL600si version.

I don't have the boxes, so would prefer a local buyer, and could possibly deliver them in the Sydney area. Sorry, I don't have the stands for them.

Lots of info on the web for these classics.
Pictures:

Edited January 9, 2014 by Pip

[Sir Rab of Everest]

Classic speakers! I have never actually heard them but I understand they are very well regarded and quite famous. IIRC, I Seem to recall they were the first speaker to be designed using laser interferometry to analyse cone breakup.... Or was that the SL6?

GLWTS!

[Pip]

Yes, rab, I believe you're right about the laser interferometry. Celestion were at the technical forefront in many ways of speaker design at that time. I think the tweeter was first designed for the SL6, then slightly modified for the 600. They used the honeycomb aluminium cabinet because it shifted the main resonances up 2 octaves compared to any wood or wood-composite they had tried. Celestion then designed and sold a dedicated dipole subwoofer to match the SL600s - I suspect they secretly admired the Quad electrostatics! Certainly one of the reasons I bought them was the lack of boxiness to the sound compared to most speakers.  

[ZEN MISTER]

I ran a pair of these for many years. They produced some of the most beautiful and holographic sounds I have ever heard, and I regret ever selling them. They are not for the doof doof specialist, but for someone in the market for a totally satisfying listen in a smaller room, they are hard to go past. At this price, an absolute steal. If it was a local sale, I would be a contender.

ZM.

Edited January 7, 2014 by Zen Mister

[Gordon Macfarlane]

What a bargain .GLWTS.

[Sir Triode]

The cabinets are made of Aerolam - an aluminium honeycomb laminate used in the aircraft industry. Light and strong. But do not spike into the material for obvious reasons.

[speedgod66]

hi very interested just sent you a message 

[speedgod66]

this was one of the first speakers that I ever heard that totally disappeared leaving just the music and performers in their sound space sure hope I get them  .They really were state of the art back then

[Gordon Macfarlane]

Item: Celestion SL600 speakers

Location: Western Sydney (lower Blue Mountains)

Price: $300 firm.

Item Condition: Cosmetically 7/10, a few small scratches on the nextel finish and some marks on the bottom (which you don't see). Otherwise good.

Reason for selling: Moving house and selling off hifi gear I no longer use.

Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, COD Only

Extra Info: I am the second owner of these speakers. I bought them at Doug Brady Hi Fi in London in 1987, after the original owner had traded them back. They are a sealed 2-way speaker, with a 6 inch PVC mid-woofer and a copper dome tweeter - one of the first speakers to use a metal dome. The cabinet is made from honeycomb aluminium (taken from the airplane industry), painted in a matte-black Nextel finish. They were famous in their day for having a magical midrange, a bit like the Quad electrostatics and the LS3/5a; and have the same  mild roll-off at both ends of the frequency spectrum. They are famously inefficient at 82dB, but a modern D-class amp with a lot of watts could well be a successful, cost-efficient match. They also like good solid stands and some space around them. Then they can be very seductive, great imaging, tonally pure in the mids. If you're looking for music rather than spectacle, they could well suit you.

This pair has had the biwire crossover factory fitted by the previous owner - as was later made standard on the SL600si version.

I don't have the boxes, so would prefer a local buyer, and could possibly deliver them in the Sydney area. Sorry, I don't have the stands for them.

Lots of info on the web for these classics.

Pictures:

Edited January 7, 2014 by Ozcall

[Gordon Macfarlane]

oops

Edited January 7, 2014 by Ozcall

[Pip]

Thanks Ozcall. I can only assume you have some magical power that enables you to get inside my computer and turn my dodgy photos around! 

[piparas]

hi can i call you with some questions

cheers

jim

[koiflick]

I will take them off your hand if they are still available.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

THREE HUNDRED BUCKS! For SL600 speakers?

Stunning bargain for a beautiful sounding speaker.

Edited January 8, 2014 by Zaphod Beeblebrox

[Jeff65]

These speakers were my introduction to real hi-fi some 33 years ago.  I bought a bargain priced, mint pair in a pawn shop who thought the book price was too high compared to the Bose 901s sitting next to them on the shelf.  

 

Wonderful little speakers.  Whoever buys these will love them.

 

Edit: actually it was 25 years ago.  What is it they say about old age and memory?  I forgot.

Edited January 8, 2014 by Jeff65

[Pip]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I have a buyer who will receive these tomorrow. I have had a great deal of pleasure from these classics over the years, and it's a pleasure to pass them on to someone else to share their mini-marvelness. (If that's not a word, it should be. If it was good enough for Shakespeare to make up words, it's good enough for me.) Sometimes in the progress towards higher fidelity we lose a little something, I've just been listening to Nina Simone played through a Linn LP12 and a pair of Harbeths, both rather old-fashioned pieces of equipment, and yes there are a lot of objective limitations to the reproduction, but also something seductively (and musically) just right, too.

Pip

[Marc]

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