Castle Durham speakers - love them

[alechodgson]

Hi all,

A while ago on here I randomly picked up an old set of castle Durham speakers... I love them, and so do friends with some much more serious kit- I thought it might just be me!

They are in good Nick and came to under £100 with stands. I'm really impressed with these old school wooden boxes. Anyone know anything about them, or have you had a similar low priced purchase you are chuffed with?

Oh and I just managed to find another set for the second system!

Alec

[wee tam]

castle's are very good speakers just don't try and get led zep to sound good through them , but most other genres of music the castle's will work very well and sound very good considering their size , oh and they were not in the cheap end of things in their day circa £400 in the early noughties.

[Ian]

Similar experience over here Alec with a pair of Castle Richmonds. Beautiful cabinetry, lovely sound, not the best speakers I've owned but in terms of the entry fee at £60 they were a true bargain. Made me want to look for a system at a budget of £60 a box though I never did. This hobby is in no way all about high end/high cost. I think an under £200 well chosen second hand system could be a real eye opener.

A friend of mine has some huge standmount Castles, can't recall the name, feeds them with Naim, sound just beautiful.

[Injector]

I've got some Castle Conway IIs in the attic, all boxed up. Fab speakers and destined for a second system sometime.

[wee tam]

mine went to leigh (budgetblown) via the "spirit" and are destined for a budget priced system for scalford 2011

[Batty]

I'm running the Howards, they can sound really good, I also have a pair of Richmond3s for my PC setup

[cjr]

Castles are what set me off on my audiophile journey, remember adding a set of Clifton IIs to to a Sony mini system and that was me hooked (these are still going stong as my PC study system and sounding great). Went as far as I could with Richmond IIs and a Primare setup. Wonderful speakers, sold my Rich IIs to a friend with a Sony ES system and it still gives me goosebumps when I hear it. Standmount wise they bottomed out between £400-1000 when I was looking to upgrade. Shame the cabinetry and skill is second to none.

[Pianoman]

Our local (quaintly named) 'Gramophone Society' still uses a pair of Castle Edens, big-ish standmounts that still sound excellent via Quad pre-power and an old Arcam Alpha CD player.

[freefallrob]

I used to own some Castle Durham II's. Lovely speakers, drove them with a WAD KEL84 and EAR834P, vinyl front end, sounded fabulous, I remember Fleetwood Mac sounding especially good.

[Injector]

They sound especially good whilst munching on Bernard Matthew's frozen foods.

[peterh]

I have a pair of Richmond (the original Richmonds) which I bought 30 years. The foam has gone and I am aiming to get them re-foamed and use them in a second system. Like others Castle started me on my hi-fi journey. A real shame they went belly-up.

[Rapid 17]

I have a pair of Castle Avon floorstanders which I bought new in about 1996. No longer using them though as I bought Harbeth SHL5's earlier this year.

Geoff.

[Humpty was pushed]

Still loving my Castle Harlechs. They look fab, and sound great. Big shame Castle went bust.

[DeCameron]

My first speakers were Tynes- still have them 28 yrs later! Had them reconed by Castle about 7 years ago. Surprisingly efficient and nice sound apart from the hellish Castle tweeters with the squarish face plates (anyone know a drop in replacement for these?) Also had the monster 3 way ones 20 yrs ago.

[PerFlemming]

The best ever Castle I've heard was good old Chester
Also the new Richmond standmount was serious business for silly small $$$ - should not have sold these

[stebak]

I bought mine in the early 90's together with a Denon setup. My wife and I walked around High Wycombe for hours listening to all the medium / high quality speakers using a quirky song that we both liked for comparison. They had reasonable good high end loud but it was the low volume clarity and richness that sold us. The key was for me to be able to hear detail without turning up the volume so much that Lynda hated it.

This weekend someone let me take home a pair of Bose 301s that she is selling used for $200. I played and I think the sound quality is maybe a bit cleaner. They were better for running the TV sound thru but the sound isn't as rich. And they are ugly compared to my Castle Durhams.

Nice to hear other people like them too.

By the way, the quirky song is "Chicken Train" by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

[Mark H]

One of the first hi-fi comparisons I ever did was a pair of Durhams against Mordaunt Short MS25Tis. In a loud symphonic piece the difference was enormous. The Castles coped where the Mordaunts could only try bravely but unsuccessfully. I couldn't afford the Castles - I hadn't asked for the comparison - but it was instructive.