Castle Howard speakers

Cool Dude Ted

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Evening all
Tempted to have a go for a pair of Castle Howards (currently own Severns and Avons). Would like to run them against my Ditton 44s.
Some, but not lots, of info online.
Any fellow Wammers running a pair?
I’m particularly interested in what sort of room size you need to give them a reasonable chance of sounding their best.
I’ve read they don’t like to be too close to walls.
Thanks
 

Jules_S

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My father has owned a pair of Howard S2 for around 20-ish years. Lovely things. Runs them with a full suite of Alchemist amps - Freya pre and Genesis monos. He is fortunate to have a fairly large room to run them in, roughly 25 x 12ft so they have plenty of breathing space. I've never heard them close to walls I'm afraid so can't comment specifically about that placement, but gut feel says that they may sound a little constricted pushed hard back against boundaries
 

Cool Dude Ted

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Oct 13, 2020
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Stuart
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My father has owned a pair of Howard S2 for around 20-ish years. Lovely things. Runs them with a full suite of Alchemist amps - Freya pre and Genesis monos. He is fortunate to have a fairly large room to run them in, roughly 25 x 12ft so they have plenty of breathing space. I've never heard them close to walls I'm afraid so can't comment specifically about that placement, but gut feel says that they may sound a little constricted pushed hard back against boundaries
Hi Jules
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
As much as I’d like to give them a go, I have this sneaky feeling that they wouldn’t be the best in my 4.3*3.8 meter lounge. I could get them away from side walls, but the rear of the cabinets would have to be a max 12 inches from the rear walls.
I do love the Castle cabinet quality, though, and perhaps this is part of what’s driving me towards the Howards.
Stuart
 

Phil48

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Evening all
Tempted to have a go for a pair of Castle Howards (currently own Severns and Avons). Would like to run them against my Ditton 44s.
Some, but not lots, of info online.
Any fellow Wammers running a pair?
I’m particularly interested in what sort of room size you need to give them a reasonable chance of sounding their best.
I’ve read they don’t like to be too close to walls.
Thanks
hi, im using a pair of Howard S2s,love them, i have them positioned in a room 4m x 6m, they are about a foot from the rear wall, no problems they are transmission line speakers, you can take off, the plinths on the bottom of the speakers, and add or remove the shims to tune the bass to suit your room, i think they are factory set at about 3mm, i find that 2mm suits my room, they do take some man handling, they are quite substantial speakers, real wood weighing about 26kg, if i can help with advise or info pm me IMG_20220930_143314.jpg
 
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Cool Dude Ted

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hi, im using a pair of Howard S2s,love them, i have them positioned in a room 4m x 6m, they are about a foot from the rear wall, no problems they are transmission line speakers, you can take off, the plinths on the bottom of the speakers, and add or remove the shims to tune the bass to suit your room, i think they are factory set at about 3mm, i find that 2mm suits my room, they do take some man handling, they are quite substantial speakers, real wood weighing about 26kg, if i can help with advise or info pm me IMG_20220930_143314.jpg
Hi Phil
Many thanks for the reply.
I need to recheck the pair that I’m looking at because I don’t recall seeing the plinths.
Can I ask if you’ve had any need to replace tweeters and/or bass drivers? If you have, did you have difficulty sourcing them?
Thanks
Stuart
 

Jules_S

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The plinth is an integral part of the speaker as Phil says, the transmission-line terminates in a gap between it and the main speaker cabinetry. So if there's no plinth on the pair you're looking at, they are incomplete. Walk away. In Phil's photo it's not the very bottom part that touches the ground, it's the next bit up that's just slightly bigger than the main cabinet, that's the "plinth"

I did have a pair of Harlech S1 myself some time ago with the same arrangement. I think from memory I kept a 3mm gap with the shims and that seemed to work well for my room.
 
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Phil48

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Hi Phil
Many thanks for the reply.
I need to recheck the pair that I’m looking at because I don’t recall seeing the plinths.
Can I ask if you’ve had any need to replace tweeters and/or bass drivers? If you have, did you have difficulty sourcing them?
Thanks
Stuart
morning Stuart, i have had no problems with drivers or tweeters, i have seen that in the past some people have had problems with the glue holding the speakers, but it is an easy fix, you can also source new drivers or get repairs from the likes of Wilmslow audio or Anapeach speaker restoration, my speakers are sat on bespoke oak plinths ,to protect the floor, if you put the speakers on their side you will see 4 large Philips screws in the bottom of the speakers, these hold the bottom of the speaker, to the cabinet, they also hold the spacers that lets you adjust the gap at the bottom of the cabinets to tune the bass on these transmission line speakers, i have taken a picture of the bottom of the speaker, you can see the gap at the bottom of the speaker that can be adjusted, ignore the dog hair on the badge on the plinth, one of the joys of owning a long haired German shepherd, pHIL IMG_20221114_102201.jpg
 
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