The Celestion (suh-lest-on) company’s speakers are divided into four types: Hi-Fi/home theater, guitar speaker, bass guitar speaker and pro audio. Each has its own line of application-specific products, but the company is probably best known for making performance-grade gear for the live musician.

Celestion has been making speakers since the early 1920s. They released the first diaphragm speaker and were instrumental in developing the metal dome tweeter, among other notable innovations. The company focuses on supplying live sound for musicians, as well. High-end Marshall, Vox and Trace Elliot amps use Celestion speakers.

Four years ago, before I invested in Mackie Actives, I was using Peavey speakers as mains for live bands. I blew out one of the 15” woofers and swapped it with a new Celestion I picked up at Guitar Center. The new Celestion made the original sound like it had a speech impediment. Still today, permanently mounted in my studio, the cabinet with the Celestion sounds crystal clear compared to the cabinet with the original speaker.

Decent instrument speaker for guitar or bass start around $40 and go up to over $300. Home audio systems vary, but you could get a 5.1 surround sound speaker package for about $335. Musicians should check out SweetWater.com or go to a Guitar Center. Home audio consumers can find bookshelf speakers, towers, surround sound systems and more at Amazon.com or the better-priced Buy.com.