Back in the early eighties when I was still tinkering with our old Akai console stereo which have those big as a buddy ref speakers that have tweeters, mids and woofers that effortlessly blares out a wall of sound but barely can put forth a soundstage that one can discern, my Audio standard was very simple...if its loud it must be good. I was lusting for Bose, Cerwin Vega etc but as a high school student I couldn't afford those which are part of my wish list. Someday I said to myself...I'll have my own bad ass stereo system. That audio standard that I had was literally changed when I had the chance to enter this store in Manila that is a distributor of a then virtually unknown brand to me which was Celestion. Dont get me wrong, didn't go in that store because of that brand...I saw the big Bose speakers that they had in front that's why I was attracted like a fly to the light.
Once inside its was like a virtual Disneyland to me...901's galore but what immediately caught my attention was this pair of small speakers that was playing music. It's size is downright laughable compared to my reference Akai's that my parents own. The drivers are puny compared to the 12 inch woofers that I'm used to seeing on a daily basis....but the sound it conveyed was just like no other that I heard back then. Someday I said again to myself...SL6.
Throughout my Audio journey I had the chance to own several Celestions..first was the CS6i which was my first serious speaker then came the 1's then the F1's but I was always on the lookout for that one...the original SL6 that in a matter of seconds impressed me decades ago and turned my audio preferences 360 degrees. This is the speaker model that literally revolutionized and introduced the mini monitor segment to the HiFi community as a serious piece of gear. Back then the mini monitors that ruled the roost were the derivatives of the BBC designs like the LS/3 which are until now coveted by serious music lovers. Now that I'm all grown up and armed with the Internet I learned that when the SL6 was introduced back in the late 70's it is like no other in terms of design and technology. Handcrafted in Ipswich, England with all drivers and cabinetry in house engineered and produced, this model is arguably the first British speaker that was equipped with a metal dome tweeter which used Copper as the material of choice for that smooth top end but unfortunately Copper is very heavy so the speakers' sensitivity plummeted to the point that it demands the very best in amplification which was very expensive at that time. Woofer material is PVC which was unheard of back then when designers used paper or any of its derivatives as the material of choice. The cabinet itself is 23 pounds and is of the sealed box design. No wonder that it sounded that way decades ago in that Manila store that until now I can't recall its name anymore.
Celestion used every trick in their arsenal to develop this model including Laser Based Vibration measuring system for cone breakup analysis. This enabled the Celestion Engineers to use and develop drivers that deliver the goods on both ends of the frequency extreme without breakup due to distortion. Laser...back in 1979. With an SRP of 155,000 yen or $1600.00 during its release this speaker wasn't designed for the masses in mind. That is 1979 US Dollars which is around 3.5 times in 2013 USD.
A lot of reviews were made on this speaker. Some love it and some hate it....typical of Celestion audio gear.
Negatives were the ff:
- very little bass coming from the sealed box design
- frequency extreme too tamed
- very low sensitivity @82db as measured
- needs a big high current amp
Positives were the ff:
- imaging and soundstaging were spot on
- very musical
- non fatiguing
- if one gets to mate it with the right power amp and the right stand height the negatives of the speaker will be mostly gone.
Problem is that back then a high current amp that puts out in excess of 100 watts is very expensive. Many reviewers noticed that the load that the speaker gives to the amp goes way down that it was nicknamed as an Amp Killer.
Fast forward to 2013....this speaker was now forgotten by way of the Chinese invasion. Easy to drive units, easy on the pockets and provide a decent introduction to what a good monitor is all about. You have your Polks, PSB's, Wharfs and all the other usual suspects that is a concoction of a tweeter from supplier A mated to the woofer of supplier B then boxed up and can be obtained just by going to the nearest mall. We are inundated by cheap digital amps that up to now poses a big question when it comes to its reliability and most of all its sound quality. Why then pursue to obtain something thats long forgotten? Something that can't be easily obtained..something that's been replaced by technology seven times over? Something that demands so much in terms of its partnering gear? Probably i am one of the few that thinks newer isn't always better thats why during the course of my audio journey I was always on the lookout for this one...this one speaker that I heard decades ago that completely left an indelible impression on me. Someday...and that day turned out to be realized in 2013 thanks to Sir Nani who hand carried this pair all the way from Davao.
Mated to my Classe amp which is driven by Luxman Laboratory Series pre amplification and front ended by Cary Audio tube CD plus supported in the bottom end by REL Acoustics and all tied up by Van Den Hul, the SL6 is all that and more as I have heard it back then. The wait is well worth it....
Way too much time in my hands to write a post this long but to Celestion fans...enjoy your speakers. Our numbers may be few but we understand how it is to own these rare beauties.
