A common question we receive on almost a daily basis is ''Are
Celestion speaker still Made in the UK?'' For those looking for a quick yes or no, the answer is
yes, but for those who want to dig a little deeper and clarify what is classed as Made in the UK here are a few facts worth noting.
- Celestion's R&D (research and development) is done at their purpose built headquarters in Ipswich UK.
- Design, Measurement & Testing is all done at the Celestion Professional Division in Ipswich
- Manufacture of the low volume and premium products is also done in Ipswich
- Celestion has their own factory based in China for mass produced lines to ensure competitive pricing
So to summarize the above points, the Made in UK term can be applied across the whole range when relating to the Design and Testing of speakers. Depending on the cost/volume of the speaker it is then either assembled in Ipswich if it is 1 of their premium products, or assembled in China if it is a mass produced item to keep costs low. Unfortunately a list of what is classed as premium or mass produced is not provided!
This information can be found and verified on Celestions website
here.
Whilst searching the web for a customer as few months ago I came across a great post on a
music forum. The customer in question wanted to know if the sound quality of the older models (made pre 2000) where as good as or had any differences to the new models produced. Please note we take no responsibility for the accuracy of this information found.
I have two pair of V30: a pair of new Chinese, and a pair of NOS/NIB Ipswitch that have never been mounted, and sat in their the original single-unit brown corrugated paper boxes for a great many years.
If you read the various guitar-oriented boards on the web, you'll hear all sorts of stories and opinions about UK vs. Chinese Celestions. Most A/B comparisons have been impaired by the fact that people were typically trying to compare used UK speakers to new China speakers. Because I just back-burnered one of my speaker projects for way too long, I ended up with a unique opportunity to compare original, never mounted, NOS and still-in-the-sealed-box UK V30 to new Chinese production V30. Here's how we did the test:
Both sets of V30 were mounted in identical 2x12 cabs that were purchased from Avatar at the same time. Both sets of speakers were broken-in with pre-recorded programming at ear-splitting SPL for 48 continuous hours; both cabs were attached to a mono HiFi amp that played each of the following CDs for 12 hours each: Led Zeppelin's BBC sessions, Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers, RHCP's Blood Surgar Sex Magik, and AC/DC's Back in Black. After 48 hours of hammering in "the booth," the speakers were considered "broken-in" and we performed "live" testing with guitars and amps.
The test guitars included a Teles, Strats, and LPs equipped with P-90s and Burstbuckers. Amps included a Mesa Mk IV, a vintage Plexi, a 5F6 bassman clone, and several other miscellaneous amps including various Champs, Deluxes and whatnot. While one person played, someone else used an A/B switch to switch the cabs back and forth between the speakers so that the identity of the speakers wasn't known to the player.
None of the players was able to tell the speakers apart using blinded tests. The UK and China V30 were indistinguishable at every volume level, with every amp and guitar combination we tried. Doing blinded A/B tests, no player has ever been able to reliably discern between the two. The only thing about the UK/Chinese speakers that appears different is a subtle change in the label (Ipswitch England is present on the UK speakers vs. absent on the Chinese), and the box they came in.
That's the result of our littke A/B experiment that we did with the old and new V30. We controlled as many variables as we could (including the speakers' playing history) and found that when they've been broken in the same way, the speakers were sonically indistinguishable. (This was part of a bigger test that also compared some of the Eminence Red Coats to Celestions, and we noticed some definite differences there. I only mention this to show that I'm not totally tone-deaf and that I can hear differences in some speakers!)
I don't sell speakers, so I don't have anything to gain by telling stories that aren't true. The good news from our little experiement is that anyone who's interested in a V30 doesn't have to spend their time and money trying to find the UK version. The China speaker is the same speaker. The only difference is that it doesn't say Ipswitch England on the label.