Out with the old....

[Terryff]

I have a lovely old pair of Castle Pembroke stand mounted speakers (wooden stands, those were the days) that i think are just fantastic....but!

I noticed that the rubber at the edge of the bass drivers (does nobody called them woofers anymore?) are very very slightly starting to perish. Whilst this seems to not be affecting the sound, i think over time it will do.

Does anyone have a sensible idea what sort of speaker i could look at to give me the nice full sound that the Castle's do, whilst maintaining a reasonable budget. Looking to potentially purchase over the next couple of months with a budget of £2-300 new or second hand. 

I do have them fairly near to a wall and one is in a corner of the room, but about a foot out. The castle's are front ported, which i think is helping the bass to not be too boomy, though i do enjoy low bass.

 

 

[Tear Drop]

If you love them so much then surely you can just look for some suitable replacement woofers. Wilmslow Audio would be a good place to start looking.

 

[Terryff]

I do enjoy them, but....... i think something slightly newer by default would sound "better". Therein lies a debate all on it's own i guess.

 

[Crocodile]

There's a Dutch Ebayer selling replacement foam surrounds. Maybe worth checking if he has what you require?

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/good_hifi/

 

[plastic penguin]

Terryff:

I have a lovely old pair of Castle Pembroke stand mounted speakers (wooden stands, those were the days) that i think are just fantastic....but!

I noticed that the rubber at the edge of the bass drivers (does nobody called them woofers anymore?) are very very slightly starting to perish. Whilst this seems to not be affecting the sound, i think over time it will do.

Does anyone have a sensible idea what sort of speaker i could look at to give me the nice full sound that the Castle's do, whilst maintaining a reasonable budget. Looking to potentially purchase over the next couple of months with a budget of £2-300 new or second hand.

I do have them fairly near to a wall and one is in a corner of the room, but about a foot out. The castle's are front ported, which i think is helping the bass to not be too boomy, though i do enjoy low bass.

It sounds like you seem set on replacing them anyway. However, i know these castles were very good in their day and with the right electronics will sound comparable with modern-day equivalents.

I looked at getting my old Wharfedales re-coned about 3 years ago and to replace the woofer it would of cost me around [at the time] £80 per cone + carriage. So I think this more the issue. The cost compared with a decent £4-500 pair of new speakers, but if you still enjoy the looks and sound then replace the cone and not the speaker.

 

[Terryff]

difficult one, they are not "beatiful" on the eye...but they do sound lovely. I guess maybe i am falling prey to the whf madness, all those glossy pictures and glowing revues maybe turning my head.

 

[Anonymous]

Your castles are as good as anything else in that price range to-day. Re-cone without hesitation. Speakers and amps really haven't moved on that much if at all.