Info wanted on these old celef monitors

[pete the bus]

Hi everyone.
New here so not sure what to expect!
I came across this forum after googling for "CELEF" and came upon a thread about PROAC.
I have been trying for a while to get some info on a seemingly rare pair of CELEF Professional Monitors designed by Stuart Tyler in England. Apparently you have a poster on here who knows him - Merlin.
I have been told the only person who might be able to enlighten me on these particular monitors is Stuart Tyler himself. Maybe Merlin, or someone else might be able to throw some light on them.
Pics to be found here:-

http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h8...20%20Speakers/

With best wishes
Peter

[SEAWOLF97]

"celef has become proac. they may help you out. celef stood for celestion and kef, the speakers they used in their designs. "

lots of hits

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...eakers&spell=1

[pete the bus]

"celef has become proac. they may help you out. celef stood for celestion and kef, the speakers they used in their designs. "

lots of hits

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...eakers&spell=1

Thanks for the reply SEAWOLF
I have contacted Proac - they can only tell me the makes of the individual units that were employed...
A lot of those "hits" are also references to this very search!!! I have been trying everywhere and for ages to find someone who might remember them, or who can put me in touch with Stuart Tyler himself...
the search goes on...
best wishes
peter

[mech986]

Thanks for the reply SEAWOLF
I have contacted Proac - they can only tell me the makes of the individual units that were employed...
A lot of those "hits" are also references to this very search!!! I have been trying everywhere and for ages to find someone who might remember them, or who can put me in touch with Stuart Tyler himself...
the search goes on...
best wishes
peter

On inspection, it looks like the main top woofer is a Sonaudax 8 inch Bextrene unit (personal experience with the "Tabor" DIY design) and the rectangular tweeter is the ubiquitous Sonaudax HD12x9D25 silk dome that was used by several British makers to good effect. (Always loved that tweeter, very smooth, easy to listen to). No idea of the small, seemingly cone shaped tweeter (?) aside the Sonaudax.

The bottom array looks for all the world as 4 x KEF B110's (SP1003) versions with the neoprene surrounds. However, Audax and Dalesford did make some very decent bextrene cone units of similar size and shape and maybe appearance, at least superficially. However, my bet would be they are KEF's.

Have you taken the speakers out to inspect them and document them?

I would assume somewhere there may be a review of them in the early 80's British Hi-Fi press unless these were more like custom built (and low number produced) for studio work as the name implies.

You might try posting similar queries at Audiokarma.org, Hifiloudspeakers.info forum (KEF enthusiasts) and maybe the Yahoo! LS3/5a forum since they use the same KEF drivers. There are many members at each who may have seen or heard about these Celefs in their heyday.

Regards,

Bart
LS3/5a group moderator

[pete the bus]

Thanks for the reply Bart...
Have posted on many forums, including the Kef enthusiasts one, PFM, AV Forums, forgotten the others...
Your knowledge of speakers is pretty good to be able to identify them just from photos!
Indeed, the four units at the bottom are KEF B110's (SP1003) (they act as one bass unit!), the Tweeter is an Audax HD12x9D25. The Tweeter next to the Audax is a Motorola "super tweeter", and the Unit at the Top (Mid-Range) is an ATC, although I dont know the type yet...

I suspect you may be right in saying these may have been a "limited" run intended for studio use...certainly they seem very accurate and "open" sounding, maybe not "HiFi" enough for some people, but I LOVE THEM!
Am powering them with a modified Naim NAP 42.5 with home built Hi-Cap, and Quad 306 power Amp. They are very efficient, and work really well at low volumes (which, due to family considerations, is how I do the bulk of my listening).
with best wishes
peter