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Celestion Powercel 15-250 (15'' driver) Any good ? |
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Tekasis 
Old Croc 
Joined: 03 July 2006 Status: Offline Points: 6492 |
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 Topic: Celestion Powercel 15-250 (15'' driver) Any good ?Posted: 16 December 2006 at 4:10pm |
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On stripping a couple of boxes I received a while back to take out the large comp horns, I came across some old small RCF 1'' compression drivers. On taking out the 15'' drivers I saw that they were Celestion Powercel 15-250. I haven't even tried them properly yet.
  Anyone know these drivers ? Are they out of date/fashion & not in todays league ?
They maybe cast iron as they are very heavy. They look & feel solid, has a hefty magnet, but has a shiny voice coil which to me spoils their look.
Cheers.
Edited by Tekasis - 16 December 2006 at 4:18pm |
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Tom Umney
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Posted: 16 December 2006 at 4:28pm |
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From what I know about those speakers they are mid 70's - early 80's bass guitar drivers. The shiny centre is the dust cap not the voice coil. Its an aluminium dust cap which gives the speaker a certain tone[extended highs as well probably] and maybe helps cool the voice coil a bit too.
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Tekasis
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Posted: 16 December 2006 at 5:03pm |
Bass guitar speakers ?
With that shiny dust cap made me think the were a mid speaker.
Are you saying you think they sound sh*te ? Bass or Mids use what you think ?
Do you know say years ago in the mid 70's - early 80's these are the types of speakers some big powerful sound systems used to use ?
I've still got an 18'' version of this, 230 watt I think with a blue case (without a shiny dust cap), it used to sound heavy.
Toxic, do you know them speakers which were called ''sidewinders'' ?
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Tom Umney
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Posted: 16 December 2006 at 5:17pm |
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Yep I googled that speaker and there was a discussion and its a bass guitar speaker with extended highs[indicated by the aluminium dust cap].
Yeah and it could have been a great speaker for those times in the late 70's to early 80's as there wasn't much alse around that was better and 400w rms was like the highest in the late 70's. But nowadays most drivers would beat it.
It should sound fine if it hasn't been abused or used a lot for years.
The 18 inch version with the 4 leg blue frame is a very good vintage bass speaker which Jah Shaka uses or used to use.
I don't know anything about the sidewinders, but could find out for you if gave have me the model number of them.
Fane Studio and McKenzie,JBL drivers,Altec,Gauss were better ones from the early 80's.
There was probably others but as I was born in the early 80's so I only know so much and the rest what my m8s have told me.
I remember a lot of them McKenzie drivers for instance from around the early - late 80's had aluminium dust caps.
Edited by Tom Umney - 16 December 2006 at 5:26pm |
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LostGrayCat
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Posted: 16 December 2006 at 7:14pm |
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Distribution was now wholly carried out from Ipswich by a new fleet of company vehicles, this being necessary for two reasons. The Thames Ditton factory was gradually run down, eventually closing altogether in 1975, and a new marketing policy by Celestion opened up a great many more smaller distribution points instead of the previous few selected wholesalers. http://www.celestion.com/history/1970s.html
In 1984 the Sidewinder range of guitar speakers were unveiled. These were endowed with a special edgewound aluminium voice coil - a process developed to maximise the ratio of motor strength to mass which resulted in very high efficiency designs http://www.celestion.com/history/1980s.html
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Tekasis
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Posted: 17 December 2006 at 2:45am |
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Cheers LostGrayCat, interesting Info. I only asked about sidewinders when Toxic mentioned guitar speakers, then I then remembered the name & that a lot of sound systems use to buy them way back then for use as mid range.
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Tekasis
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Posted: 17 December 2006 at 2:58am |
Them days money was a big issue & had to settle with Celetion, Altec, Mackenzie & Fane.
JBL & Gauss was out the question, unless you had a big PA system making loads of dosh.
Edited by Tekasis - 17 December 2006 at 2:59am |
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jbl_man
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Posted: 17 December 2006 at 5:04am |
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Correct. the Powercel was the top-of-the-range of the celestion models from the mid 1970`s,they made them in a 12" and a 15" version...it was the cheaper English alternative to the costly imported JBL/Gauss/Electrovoice option....they do sound quite nice,i heard a few in the 4560 cabinet (see my logo photo).also heard them in martin 115,again,sound good....nice "mid bass" sound.
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Be seeing you.
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Robbo
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Posted: 17 December 2006 at 10:17am |
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Yes---We had Powercells in JBL 4560 cabinets over 30 years ago and they were vitually indestructible---great for punchy hi bass or low mid but not very good for subs---they were originally 150 watts each but then Celestion uprated all models to 250 watts.
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Rog
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Posted: 17 December 2006 at 7:24pm |
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I dreamed of owening the powercell 250's in the late 70's, that and the Fane pop 100 18".
The powercell is still a really good mid driver even by todays standards. Its the pleated surround that gives its purpose away. Drivers that are designed for mid and lower mid work better if they have a pleated surround. It raises the Fs and also makes them a bit more efficient, but don't expect any lows. PD123er is another case of a great mid driver that uses a pleated surround.
A double roll is better for bass as it is less stiff and can will have a lower resonance. The cone can also travel further with a good double roll surround over a pleated. The best for travel is a single half roll, like the kind made of rubber and used in car woofers.
The alu dust cap helps with high frequency extension. The higher the frequency the more it comes from the centre of the cone. So a light dust cap will add more HF. It also keeps the moving mass down which also helps with HF performance. You have to be careful if using too much power with too high a crossover frequency with alu dust caps. The break up modes can rip them apart very easily.
Anyone remember the name of the 230 watt 18" bass driver from around that time. Think it was a Celestion and went on to be used in the B Line cab.
Rog. Edited by Rog Mogale - 17 December 2006 at 7:30pm |
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Tekasis
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Posted: 17 December 2006 at 7:37pm |
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From LostGrayCat, Jbl Man, Robbo & Rog has come back with that info & feedback, I don't think I'll sell them now.
Cheers gents. Edited by Tekasis - 17 December 2006 at 7:39pm |
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Robbo
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Posted: 18 December 2006 at 7:11am |
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Rog---I think Wembley fitted the original B Line cabinets with a Goodmans Chasis that was originally only rated at 50 watts(unbeleivable for an 18" chasis),but they fitted a heavy duty recone kit into the blown chasis(they had loads of them as eveyone used to blow them take them in for recone and never bother collecting them)---They also painted the chasis blue to make it different from an original Goodmans colour---someone please correct me if I am wrong--but I do not think I am far away with this info.
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Tom Umney wrote: