Celestion Rocket 50. - WTF?!

Dodge

So I'm the recent owner of a Hayden 2 watt amp which is lots of fun, and I've just auditioned a second one as I fancy a little low volume stereo rig for home use.  This second one was made within 2 weeks of the first but has a different speaker - a Celestion Rocket 50.

So I fire up the amp, and it's clearly broken.  The thing is half the volume of mine and doesn't have a good tone in it whatsoever.  Turns out it's not a broken amp, but a broken speaker.

The thing is, it's not broken - it's just shit!  I mean properly shit, easily the worst speaker I've ever heard.  I've just checked out the specs, and it's 3 db less sensitive than the boringly average Seventy 80 that's in mine.  That would explain the difference in volume alright.  It has this weird congestion in the midrange, no bass and no clarity at all.  It has an almost whiney quality about it that just grates (think Alan Carr).

We confirmed this by swapping the chassis over between the cabinets and the Rocket 50 was a very weak link.

What a piece of junk - why on earth do Celestion make this speaker?!  Talk about not fit for purpose.

ecc83

Yes, they are almost universally regarded as crap but, you can never tell! SOMEBODY will love it! (have one here somewhere....)

Dave.

ICBM

AKA the 'tin frisbee', on the grounds that it's what you want to do with it...

I'm normally a fan of Celestions, but it's actually the worst 12" speaker I can think of, by any manufacturer. That whiney metallic "tone" and complete lack of bottom end is normal for them.

I don't actually throw them away when I've replaced them, I use them for absolutely minimum-cost repairs in things like old Carlsbro and Laney solid-state amps where low cost and at least reasonably good power handling are needed, and you don't care what it sounds like as long as it works.

About the only good thing I can say about them is that they aren't very heavy.

martinw

Total junk.
Perhaps they did it as some sort of 'defining the parameters' thing?
"Spend some money you cheapskate, otherwise we'll give you this!"

Voxman

My Laney Cub12R came with one - absolute SHITE - first thing I did was bin it and put in a Vintage 30.  Chalk & cheese difference. 

RiftAmps

The Rocket 50 is Celestion’s best speaker










...for easily demonstrating how much difference a good speaker upgrade can make

Funkfingers

Anyone got any theories on exactly what it is about the Rocket 50 that is responsible for its (hopefully) unique sound? The diaphragm? The magnet? The coil? All three? 

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

Anyone got any theories on exactly what it is about the Rocket 50 that is responsible for its (hopefully) unique sound? The diaphragm? The magnet? The coil? All three? 

Probably everything apart from the frame. It's a bizarre-sounding thing - it has no bottom end, not much top, and yet is oddly hollow and lacking in mids as well. It's like a sort of sonic black hole where electricity goes in and nothing comes out.

kreggs

I suppose it could make a pretty decent sized ashtray for a house party

midlifecrisis

its quite light so you can wear it as a hat