Hi all,
I have had a somewhat strange experience with a pair of Castle Trent speakers I bought via eBay a while back.
My initial impressions were of an extremely harsh treble. The first thing to check was the wiring / polarity, so I reversed the connections from the crossover to the tweeter - a bit of an improvement, but still not great.
I had already noticed that the crossovers had a total of six spade terminals - the left two being used by the tweeter, the right two the woofer, and two remaining unused in the middle. Being an inveterate experimenter I moved the left hand tweeter wire along one to the right hand unused central terminal.
The result was an immediate dramatic improvement in treble sound quality - sweet and smooth rather than shrill and harsh.
So my question is this - does anybody know why there are six terminals on this crossover, what they each of them do etc. I presume that the middle two (previously unused) connectors are not simply for a mid-range driver because (a) these bespoke speakers are two-way and (b) connecting one tweeter wire to a tweeter output and the other to a mid-range output would presumably simply not work.
I have contacted the re-launched Castle company for the relevant information, so far no reply. In any case many thanks in advance for any help with this somewhat vague and technically illiterate query.
I have had a somewhat strange experience with a pair of Castle Trent speakers I bought via eBay a while back.
My initial impressions were of an extremely harsh treble. The first thing to check was the wiring / polarity, so I reversed the connections from the crossover to the tweeter - a bit of an improvement, but still not great.
I had already noticed that the crossovers had a total of six spade terminals - the left two being used by the tweeter, the right two the woofer, and two remaining unused in the middle. Being an inveterate experimenter I moved the left hand tweeter wire along one to the right hand unused central terminal.
The result was an immediate dramatic improvement in treble sound quality - sweet and smooth rather than shrill and harsh.
So my question is this - does anybody know why there are six terminals on this crossover, what they each of them do etc. I presume that the middle two (previously unused) connectors are not simply for a mid-range driver because (a) these bespoke speakers are two-way and (b) connecting one tweeter wire to a tweeter output and the other to a mid-range output would presumably simply not work.
I have contacted the re-launched Castle company for the relevant information, so far no reply. In any case many thanks in advance for any help with this somewhat vague and technically illiterate query.
Images of Castle Trent Posted
Hi Inductor,
Here is a picture of the Trent's crossover:
I made a mistake in my first posting, the tweeters were originally connected to the right hand two terminals, the woofer the left hand ones.
As you can see I have now moved the (reversed) left hand tweeter wire along one to the right-hand unused central connecting post, and also the right hand woofer wire along one to the left hand previously unused central connecting post.
The overall sound is dramatically improved, and again any information about the role of these six connecting terminals would be much appreciated.
Finally here is a picture of one of these beautifully finished, real wood veneer and hand-crafted driver equipped speakers:
Thanks again for the interest.
Hi Inductor,
Here is a picture of the Trent's crossover:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I made a mistake in my first posting, the tweeters were originally connected to the right hand two terminals, the woofer the left hand ones.
As you can see I have now moved the (reversed) left hand tweeter wire along one to the right-hand unused central connecting post, and also the right hand woofer wire along one to the left hand previously unused central connecting post.
The overall sound is dramatically improved, and again any information about the role of these six connecting terminals would be much appreciated.
Finally here is a picture of one of these beautifully finished, real wood veneer and hand-crafted driver equipped speakers:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Thanks again for the interest.
I don't know what they are, and I can't see from here, but it could be a factory predesign for xover bi-amp that was never used. Post if any other problem. You could, certainly, get better caps for the tweeter. I can only see/imagine the two polyswitch going one for the tweeter and one for the woofer. Difficult to guess more. Maybe also the tweeter caps are not working properly.
I'm very interested in knowing the reasons of all such difficulties and mystery you gave to NTS.
Hi Inductor,
There is nothing mysterious in my comments; it is purely that I need to access my archives / design data, which are now some 300 miles away tucked away in the loft.
Briefly the PCB has 6 spade terminals on, as the PCB was designed to accommodate all the smaller Castle range of Loudspeakers. The reason why there were 6 terminals is that the Castle Stirling had 2 x 15cm / 12 ohm bass units wired in parallel hence the 4 terminal on the left hand side and the 2 on the right hand side for the treble.
The reason why every PCB had 6 terminal fitted instead of 4 (which most of the models used) was for ease of production and more to the point a nice tag to solder thick 1.2mm wire on to without lifting the track due to heat and from a financial point, drilling extra holes costs money! This PCB board was produced in very large quantities which reduced the cost to production by over a third.
NTS has just moved the leads on effective common connections; I would need to look further as to the reason why there was an increase in audio output by moving the leads. There are some points to check, but I would rather give a full explanation later when I have all the facts in front of me.
I will supply more details later.
As regards Mordaunt-Short – not my speciality although Vic Sapsford who was the Sales Director of Mordaunt-Short owned Castle Acoustics Limited for a period of time.
My forte is Castle Acoustics limited from 1976 – 2004 as their Design Engineer / Service Engineer / Quality Control / Production / Historian etc, I am also well acquainted with all Wharfedale Loudspeaker product prior to 1980.
One of these years I will put the history together of Castle Acoustics Limited, how it was founded, the links between, Bill Escott- the original Managing Director of Castle (He was the Managing Director of Wharfedale Extension Loudspeakers before Rank purchased them) likewise Brother Phil Escott who was head of the Service Department at Wharfedale. Yes you have guessed he passed all the servicing of early Wharfedale Product to Castle as we were literally the only company who could build/rebuild units on a one off bassis. Indeed in the early stages of Castle history there was many a shared component due to joint purchasing by Castle and Wharfedale - although I am not so sure that the powers of be knew at Wharfedale!
There is nothing mysterious in my comments; it is purely that I need to access my archives / design data, which are now some 300 miles away tucked away in the loft.
Briefly the PCB has 6 spade terminals on, as the PCB was designed to accommodate all the smaller Castle range of Loudspeakers. The reason why there were 6 terminals is that the Castle Stirling had 2 x 15cm / 12 ohm bass units wired in parallel hence the 4 terminal on the left hand side and the 2 on the right hand side for the treble.
The reason why every PCB had 6 terminal fitted instead of 4 (which most of the models used) was for ease of production and more to the point a nice tag to solder thick 1.2mm wire on to without lifting the track due to heat and from a financial point, drilling extra holes costs money! This PCB board was produced in very large quantities which reduced the cost to production by over a third.
NTS has just moved the leads on effective common connections; I would need to look further as to the reason why there was an increase in audio output by moving the leads. There are some points to check, but I would rather give a full explanation later when I have all the facts in front of me.
I will supply more details later.
As regards Mordaunt-Short – not my speciality although Vic Sapsford who was the Sales Director of Mordaunt-Short owned Castle Acoustics Limited for a period of time.
My forte is Castle Acoustics limited from 1976 – 2004 as their Design Engineer / Service Engineer / Quality Control / Production / Historian etc, I am also well acquainted with all Wharfedale Loudspeaker product prior to 1980.
One of these years I will put the history together of Castle Acoustics Limited, how it was founded, the links between, Bill Escott- the original Managing Director of Castle (He was the Managing Director of Wharfedale Extension Loudspeakers before Rank purchased them) likewise Brother Phil Escott who was head of the Service Department at Wharfedale. Yes you have guessed he passed all the servicing of early Wharfedale Product to Castle as we were literally the only company who could build/rebuild units on a one off bassis. Indeed in the early stages of Castle history there was many a shared component due to joint purchasing by Castle and Wharfedale - although I am not so sure that the powers of be knew at Wharfedale!
Isn't that great?! I hope you come out with a Richmond 'signature edition' model speaker or something of that genre - nice wood/compounds included, and maybe a kit - and all the valuable information you talk about, in the future.
Calling Richmond on Richmonds
Hi,
I found this forum when searching for details on crossovers for Castle Richmonds, I have a pair but the bass driver foam has perished and I wanted to see if I could replace the drivers. I'd like to find out what the crossover frequency is and potentially build a bi-wire compatible crossover.
Nice to see that an original designer from Castle is a member of the forum and I hope he will be able to shed some light on the technical details.
Regards,
Hi,
I found this forum when searching for details on crossovers for Castle Richmonds, I have a pair but the bass driver foam has perished and I wanted to see if I could replace the drivers. I'd like to find out what the crossover frequency is and potentially build a bi-wire compatible crossover.
Nice to see that an original designer from Castle is a member of the forum and I hope he will be able to shed some light on the technical details.
Regards,
You can change the surrounds. I personally would use rubber, as I'm doing with Bose's foams but you have it all available here with instructions, you just have to measure the cone you need it for. The right glue is available.
I'm looking for solutions for Harlech's-S1 polypropylenes here
Last edited:
Asking for a help with Castle Durham 900 speakers
Hi Andy and all Audiomodders,
I tried to PM Andy (Richmond) but I cannot get hold of him, so I will try to ask you all for an advice and I hope Andy will notice this question and let me know if he has any suggestions.
You should know that I have changed the capacitors for Clarity Cap SA which changed things a lot. There is much more soundstage and the trebless are much brighter so I am realy happy with the upper end. I also added parallel Vishay MKP1840 0.01uF to the 4.7cap with Vishay the speakers sounds a bit better but cannot say in what, it gives just more natural sound in my opinion (did anyone fiddled with this ore similar small cap?).
I also tried to use biwire connection with an amplifier what give sharper trebbles but in my opinion it could be coused by phase shift. You should know that the cables used were 5mm Soundlab for bass and Belken 1mm silver-coated in teflon for trebbles. I lenght of this two cables differ to match the resistance. The sound is a bit too sharp now (may be even harsh) so I maybe get back to the original connection. There is also the gap at about 4kHz removed and the upper end went up a bit (I suppose the gap was caused by old elcaps in bass CO part).
What bothers me know is the bass that is getting low under 100Hz quite a lot. Do you thing it is wise to replace the bassreflex port? I changed the inside dumping from whole space stuffing to the two sheets of sound absorbant stuffing at the back and up and one at the bottom, I left the foam rubber on all the walls under the sound absorbant. The sound with changed dumping is more punchy but with original version the bass is more tight and focused so I suppose it was done with that purpose.
I still also need to figure out the TS parametrest for the Zobel and need a help with identifiyng the reason of using the "mystery" part (measuring it it was 1ohm and 72uF so I suppose it is a resistor - still wondering about the capacity measured).
Thank you all for any suggestions given - Peter
Hi Andy and all Audiomodders,
I tried to PM Andy (Richmond) but I cannot get hold of him, so I will try to ask you all for an advice and I hope Andy will notice this question and let me know if he has any suggestions.
You should know that I have changed the capacitors for Clarity Cap SA which changed things a lot. There is much more soundstage and the trebless are much brighter so I am realy happy with the upper end. I also added parallel Vishay MKP1840 0.01uF to the 4.7cap with Vishay the speakers sounds a bit better but cannot say in what, it gives just more natural sound in my opinion (did anyone fiddled with this ore similar small cap?).
I also tried to use biwire connection with an amplifier what give sharper trebbles but in my opinion it could be coused by phase shift. You should know that the cables used were 5mm Soundlab for bass and Belken 1mm silver-coated in teflon for trebbles. I lenght of this two cables differ to match the resistance. The sound is a bit too sharp now (may be even harsh) so I maybe get back to the original connection. There is also the gap at about 4kHz removed and the upper end went up a bit (I suppose the gap was caused by old elcaps in bass CO part).
What bothers me know is the bass that is getting low under 100Hz quite a lot. Do you thing it is wise to replace the bassreflex port? I changed the inside dumping from whole space stuffing to the two sheets of sound absorbant stuffing at the back and up and one at the bottom, I left the foam rubber on all the walls under the sound absorbant. The sound with changed dumping is more punchy but with original version the bass is more tight and focused so I suppose it was done with that purpose.
I still also need to figure out the TS parametrest for the Zobel and need a help with identifiyng the reason of using the "mystery" part (measuring it it was 1ohm and 72uF so I suppose it is a resistor - still wondering about the capacity measured).
Thank you all for any suggestions given - Peter
Welcome. If you have questions, or are not sure what's best post a list of what you are planning, so other members have an insight of your idea and can help you with similar experience. (Also it's nice to know if you use measuring equip. or not.)
What a find you are!
Hello Richmond
I have been trawling the net looking for an authority on Castle Speakers, and I eventually noted you.
I hope you are in good health and treating life well.
Your CV is impressive and interesting to me for several reasons.
a) I have been enjoying a pair of your Harlechs for fifteen years now - fabulous clear and refined sounds, mainly partnered with a Michell Gyrodec.
However, one of the front-facing Bass/Mid drivers has developed several radial cracks in the (White) cone, plus an inch of loose surround. not greatly affecting the sound at low levels, but Horrors! It will only get worse.
b) When I was a lad (1974), I studied up on speaker design and built a pair of 'Daline' speakers. (Damped Anti-resonant LINE - an HFN-published design) Flying in the face of accepted practice - you need a big cone to get bass - these used a Kef B110, a T27 & an STC4001G 'Super-tweeter'.
The sound was really spectacular, with bass extension AND great transient response. My mates at University could not believe them.
I kept them for ages, trying other speakers in shops up to well above my budget, but nothing short of a fortune would better my Dalines.
That was, until I auditioned a pair of Castle Pembrokes. Just what I needed to replace my worn-out boxes. Based on very similar principles.
I enjoyed them for a year, then heard the Harlechs; I part-exed the Pembrokes and went home a very happy chap!!
I am sure that you miss the Skipton company, as do all of us customers.
Without the spares, I am left with a few less than satisfactory options:
a) Try to find something equivalent from another manufacturer, within a budget. The Holy Grail might be an easier quest!
b) Fit Wilmslow Audio's proprietary units & hope they sound OK.
c) Buy a pair of Castles with the White drivers on EBay, and swap them in, hoping they last a bit longer.
d) Possibly buy a pair of Series 2 Castles with the carbon fibre drivers on EBay, and swap them in, hoping they are a reasonable match and sound as good as the originals. They would be younger and should last longer.
My preference is for c) or d) - naturally!! d) especially would be turning a disaster into an improvement.
My questions for you are:
How well will the carbon units fit into the sound spectrum?
Would the newer tweeters fit the same holes, and would they improve the sound?
If I fit new Carbon Bass units and new tweeters, what mods would I need to the crossovers to get the best/ Harlech 2 sound?
Which of the above would you recommend / do?
I realise that this is a marathon, and apologise if it is too time-consuming, but any light you can shed on this would be really appreciated.
Or, to paraphrase the immortal words of Princess Leia in Star Wars,
"Help me Obi-Wan Richmond - you are my only hope!!!"
Windswept.
Hello Richmond
I have been trawling the net looking for an authority on Castle Speakers, and I eventually noted you.
I hope you are in good health and treating life well.
Your CV is impressive and interesting to me for several reasons.
a) I have been enjoying a pair of your Harlechs for fifteen years now - fabulous clear and refined sounds, mainly partnered with a Michell Gyrodec.
However, one of the front-facing Bass/Mid drivers has developed several radial cracks in the (White) cone, plus an inch of loose surround. not greatly affecting the sound at low levels, but Horrors! It will only get worse.
b) When I was a lad (1974), I studied up on speaker design and built a pair of 'Daline' speakers. (Damped Anti-resonant LINE - an HFN-published design) Flying in the face of accepted practice - you need a big cone to get bass - these used a Kef B110, a T27 & an STC4001G 'Super-tweeter'.
The sound was really spectacular, with bass extension AND great transient response. My mates at University could not believe them.
I kept them for ages, trying other speakers in shops up to well above my budget, but nothing short of a fortune would better my Dalines.
That was, until I auditioned a pair of Castle Pembrokes. Just what I needed to replace my worn-out boxes. Based on very similar principles.
I enjoyed them for a year, then heard the Harlechs; I part-exed the Pembrokes and went home a very happy chap!!
I am sure that you miss the Skipton company, as do all of us customers.
Without the spares, I am left with a few less than satisfactory options:
a) Try to find something equivalent from another manufacturer, within a budget. The Holy Grail might be an easier quest!
b) Fit Wilmslow Audio's proprietary units & hope they sound OK.
c) Buy a pair of Castles with the White drivers on EBay, and swap them in, hoping they last a bit longer.
d) Possibly buy a pair of Series 2 Castles with the carbon fibre drivers on EBay, and swap them in, hoping they are a reasonable match and sound as good as the originals. They would be younger and should last longer.
My preference is for c) or d) - naturally!! d) especially would be turning a disaster into an improvement.
My questions for you are:
How well will the carbon units fit into the sound spectrum?
Would the newer tweeters fit the same holes, and would they improve the sound?
If I fit new Carbon Bass units and new tweeters, what mods would I need to the crossovers to get the best/ Harlech 2 sound?
Which of the above would you recommend / do?
I realise that this is a marathon, and apologise if it is too time-consuming, but any light you can shed on this would be really appreciated.
Or, to paraphrase the immortal words of Princess Leia in Star Wars,
"Help me Obi-Wan Richmond - you are my only hope!!!"
Windswept.
Hello Richmond
I have been trawling the net looking for an authority on Castle Speakers, and I eventually noted you.
I hope you are in good health and treating life well.
Your CV is impressive and interesting to me for several reasons.
a) I have been enjoying a pair of your Harlechs for fifteen years now - fabulous clear and refined sounds, mainly partnered with a Michell Gyrodec.
However, one of the front-facing Bass/Mid drivers has developed several radial cracks in the (White) cone, plus an inch of loose surround. not greatly affecting the sound at low levels, but Horrors! It will only get worse.
b) When I was a lad (1974), I studied up on speaker design and built a pair of 'Daline' speakers. (Damped Anti-resonant LINE - an HFN-published design) Flying in the face of accepted practice - you need a big cone to get bass - these used a Kef B110, a T27 & an STC4001G 'Super-tweeter'.
The sound was really spectacular, with bass extension AND great transient response. My mates at University could not believe them.
I kept them for ages, trying other speakers in shops up to well above my budget, but nothing short of a fortune would better my Dalines.
That was, until I auditioned a pair of Castle Pembrokes. Just what I needed to replace my worn-out boxes. Based on very similar principles.
I enjoyed them for a year, then heard the Harlechs; I part-exed the Pembrokes and went home a very happy chap!!
I am sure that you miss the Skipton company, as do all of us customers.
Without the spares, I am left with a few less than satisfactory options:
a) Try to find something equivalent from another manufacturer, within a budget. The Holy Grail might be an easier quest!
b) Fit Wilmslow Audio's proprietary units & hope they sound OK.
c) Buy a pair of Castles with the White drivers on EBay, and swap them in, hoping they last a bit longer.
d) Possibly buy a pair of Series 2 Castles with the carbon fibre drivers on EBay, and swap them in, hoping they are a reasonable match and sound as good as the originals. They would be younger and should last longer.
My preference is for c) or d) - naturally!! d) especially would be turning a disaster into an improvement.
My questions for you are:
How well will the carbon units fit into the sound spectrum?
Would the newer tweeters fit the same holes, and would they improve the sound?
If I fit new Carbon Bass units and new tweeters, what mods would I need to the crossovers to get the best/ Harlech 2 sound?
Which of the above would you recommend / do?
I realise that this is a marathon, and apologise if it is too time-consuming, but any light you can shed on this would be really appreciated.
Or, to paraphrase the immortal words of Princess Leia in Star Wars,
"Help me Obi-Wan Richmond - you are my only hope!!!"
Windswept.
Hi NTS & Richmond,
I am a big fan of Castle loudspeaker & Arcam equipments. I own Castle Warwick pair and later add Castle Trent 1 to my collection in early 200x. My Trent is similar to NTS's one, except the grid was glued to the front. Same as NTS, it was a bit too harsh for me if I listen to it only, and I found the way to enjoy it by direct both Castle pairs as my Arcam Delta 90 amp has two speakers output. Then luckily I found this thread. I did moved the woofer red wire to the next pin only as step by step mod (the next step could be swap wires of the tweeter as worrying of reverse pin). OMG now it voice became sweet, slight but good bass and treble, just like the Warwick brother as well as the other mini Castle (Isis, Richmond) I've heard. Great thanks to NTS! I hope you still keep this sweet mini monitor.
I am a big fan of Castle loudspeaker & Arcam equipments. I own Castle Warwick pair and later add Castle Trent 1 to my collection in early 200x. My Trent is similar to NTS's one, except the grid was glued to the front. Same as NTS, it was a bit too harsh for me if I listen to it only, and I found the way to enjoy it by direct both Castle pairs as my Arcam Delta 90 amp has two speakers output. Then luckily I found this thread. I did moved the woofer red wire to the next pin only as step by step mod (the next step could be swap wires of the tweeter as worrying of reverse pin). OMG now it voice became sweet, slight but good bass and treble, just like the Warwick brother as well as the other mini Castle (Isis, Richmond) I've heard. Great thanks to NTS! I hope you still keep this sweet mini monitor.
I'm also looking for help with recapping Trent's - the I's, with a single port, paper bass and not bi-wired. Both caps are Alcaps, one is a 6uF and the other is definitely an Alcap but it's either a weird one or a batch with very little ink.
I've done Trent II's, Clyde's and Pembroke's, also moving the c/o's externally, with astonishing results.
Anybody know what the other unmarked cap is? In the very similar Trent II it's a 6uF / 10uF pair. I can see me ending up buying an LC meter.
bdgdpc.
I've done Trent II's, Clyde's and Pembroke's, also moving the c/o's externally, with astonishing results.
Anybody know what the other unmarked cap is? In the very similar Trent II it's a 6uF / 10uF pair. I can see me ending up buying an LC meter.
bdgdpc.
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