Castle Acoustics

Posted by: Bruce Woodhouse on 25 March 2002

I work within spitting distance of the Castle factory. I have tried to wangle a factory visit but never suceeded.

They employ a pretty small number of people now. Employees are always easy to identify as they have vast speakers at home connected to Kenwood midi-systems. Ultimate mullets!

My first 'customer' this morning turned out to be the man in charge of finishing and quality control there. He had a slightly disturbing health problem-he was deaf from birth! Does this explain anything to owners of Castle speakers?

Just amused me on a grey Monday morning.

Bruce

Posted on: 25 March 2002 by Mick P

Bruce

Mock ye not.

I purchased a set of Castle Chester speakers about 10 years ago and passed them onto my son when I bought the SBL's. The Chesters were serious competition for the Mission 753, which at the time was a best seller in the £700.00 price bracket.

The Castles are superbly finnished, so very high WAF. They also sound very good and are certainly in the upper quartile when it comes to quality.

Very good speakers.

Regards

Mick

Posted on: 25 March 2002 by Top Cat

Hi Bruce, Mick.

I've owned a pair of Harlechs in my time. Whilst never really getting to enjoy them as much as my current speakers, they are superbly built and a very capable speaker, but they are power hungry and do like a fast and capable amp - in other words, they don't sound good off a Nait-2, as I know only too well. However, with something a little more gruntworthy, they can be coaxed into life and they have a certain liquidity about their high frequencies which can be quite pleasant.

However, to the Naim-loving ear they would sound a little rolled-off, and they're probably not aggressive enough to suit the Kan fraternity, nor bassy enough to suit those acclimatised to the stygian depths that some bigger speakers offer.

So, great build, good sound, fussy about amp matching, and definitely one to impress the ladies (as Mick says).

TC '..'
"Girl, you thought he was a man, but he was a Muffin..."

Posted on: 25 March 2002 by Matt Gear

i've got a pair of castle avons, and they sound great on the end of my cdi / 72 / 180. i did a similar thing to mick, and compared them to the similarly priced missions (752's???) and the castles blew them away. they also look fantastic!

matt

Posted on: 25 March 2002 by Mike Hanson

My big problem with every (floorstanding) Castle that I heard was an extreme boom at a couple of frequencies. I wasn't the only one who noticed this. I was auditioning the Harlechs in my apartment, and everyone remarked that they were boomy, yet other speakers sited in the same position didn't have the problem.

I've also noticed this deficiency from the newer Inversion series. I suspect it has something to do with their double tuned porting system.

They also seemed rather slow to me. BTW, the sonic character is actually quite similar to ProAc, IMO.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Posted on: 25 March 2002 by pm

I have a pair of Howards. I'm more than happy with them. Certainly the kind of money that would be required to upgrade them would be better spent on further up the chain. As I dabbled with AV (see profile) I saw no reason not to stick with Castle, a decision I'm still happy with.

Small (firm) can be beautiful. I like DIY, and whenever I've had a query about the drive units , the crosssover or whatever, I've always had direct contact with the designer. Always friendly, always prepared to chat and always prepared to send literature and spec sheets if required! Great service!

Posted on: 25 March 2002 by Steve G

quote:
Originally posted by pm:
I have a pair of Howards.

One of the systems I listened to before buying my Naim kit had Castle Howards in it, driven by Marantz electronics (8000CD, 8000S & 8000P bi-amping) and it actually sounded pretty decent. I think the Howards would need a big room though.

Regards
Steve

Posted on: 25 March 2002 by Adrian Rodgers

I have Avons, demmed against Credos (4 years ago) which did not impress. I recently took them along to my local dealer for a CD5/112/150 dem and we tried the £1499 PMC's against them. The latter are better (especially for controlled bass) but are twice the price and 4 years newer. The Castles sound fantastic with 5 series now I've got them home. No changes planned.