Its companion the Celestion Radio Gramophone comprised the above, but incorporated a completely screened radio unit with the latest H.F. valve for long or short wave, the radio being made available to the listener by means of a single switch.

    Such were the pleasures of 1930, when Celestion was moving in both spheres of the home entertainment industry, mechanical and electrical. These units were so popular that Celestion issued a separate booklet for Electric Gramophones, Reproducers and Band Repeater Equipment for ships. Produced with a fine vessel on the cover, steaming with porthole lights gleaming over a tranquil sea, one interesting item illustrated is the Type S/LSP loudspeaker which must surely be one of the first dual purpose Public Address loudspeakers. It seems difficult to appreciate the caption nowadays, that the loudspeaker unit could be bracketed to a bulk head, above or below deck "remote from the instrument"! 1931 the ‘C’ range had been supplemented by models D10, D12 and D50, the latter in oak retailing for £8.French and Eric Mackintosh both left Celestion in the early 1930s. The reasons for these changes are not clear, but there is evidence to suggest that Cyril French was a hard taskmaster.

    With the mass production of mains receiving sets, which overcame the disadvantages of batteries and accumulators, the demand for loudspeakers steadily grew and their styles became less ornate, the fretted front being replaced by a cloth or metal grille.

    Many ingenious ideas were incorporated in speaker designs in order to raise the quality of sound reproduction, such as during 1932 when Celestion brought out the Ppm Permanent Magnet Moving Coil Speaker which drew the following review from Wireless Trader:-

    "It handled 2 watts easily... its tone was very good indeed... bass generally was firm and clear and not booming. middle register was even and free from peaks, while upper register was well in evidence and clear and crisp. was natural."

    Other innovations at this time were the Celestion Reetone Dual and Reetone matched speaker units, where in the former large and small speakers were built into a fascia plate which covered a transformer, the theory being that the two units were so coupled that the treble was accepted by the treble unit and the bass by the bass unit, these working as a crossover-less splitting system. The latter incorporated two speakers of equal size with a transformer, but in this system the matched speakers were staggered. This staggering eliminated the tendency to ‘boom’, a failing in small moving coil speakers in which the bass had not been suppressed. The Kingston-upon-Thames factory was also involved with the manufacture of multi-ratio transformers for use in conjunction with the various speaker models available, and once again price is interesting as these were retailed from fifteen shillings to one pound five shillings.

    The Celestion catalogue for 1934 listed models ranging from a model P84, 18" of 40 watts at £25.4.0 less transformer to the now more streamlined walnut, oak and mahogany bookshelf cabinets, suitable for all receivers, fitted with volume control but without transformer at prices from £3.18.0 to £6.15.0. So the loudspeaker had not vanished entirely into the integral receivers, indeed many purchasers preferred their speaker to be separate from the receiver.

    The worldwide recession at this time hit Celestion badly. The first ‘boom’ era came to an abrupt end and an advertisement in The Broadcaster and Wireless Retailer of April 20th 1935 announced that Cyril French had resigned from the board of Celestion Ltd., leaving Billy Page as Managing Director. French returned to the old site at Hampton Wick to operate as sole wholesale and retail distributor of Celestion products in Great Britain., a few miles north of Kingston-upon-Thames another loudspeaker manufacturer was making similar product. This was the British Rola Company, an offshoot of the Rola Company of Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., which began in 1934 at Minerva Road, Park Royal, London NW10. The two companies were in competition for the home and export markets, and their products were influenced by changes in the wireless receiver market. As the receiver became more sophisticated and smaller, so the loudspeaker began to be housed within the receiver cabinet itself, thus dispensing with the separate speaker unit. To keep in line with this new development both Celestion and British Rola designed and produced a series of smaller speaker units, often to the receiver manufacturer’s specification, and so the market swung over to this new product.

    Prior to World War Two, radio accessories were manufactured by Celestion and these included such items as "MIP" (moulded in plate) radio valve holders. These were advertised thus: "the new Celestion - valve holders are the strongest holders in the world today, and yet are compact in size, modern and attractive in appearance and lower in price". Marketed in both English and American types they retailed at prices ranging from 5d to 10d. Alongside these were the Celestion Amphenol Microphone Connectors in a variety of types - all at prices highly competitive for the day.

    British Rola Limited was registered during 1938 as electrical and general engineers, toolmakers and stampers, and when World War Two broke out they opened up a dispersal factory at Bideford in Devon, in the former garage of Messrs Elliot and Sons. Production for the war effort grew apace with the manufacture of the R.A.F. B3 Vacuum Pump, several thousands of which were produced. These were followed into production by the Rotol Airscrew Feathering Pump, four of which were fitted to all British multi-engined bombers. The final product was the Integral Hydraulic Pump BH Mark IV, and all these items contributed in no small measure to the Forces’ need for reliable battle equipment.
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