Another super cool speaker presented itself to me yesterday, the Akai SW7-ii speakers. These little gems from 1980 are super rare to find and pack a huge punch, they are great for tube amps as near field monitors.
Rated at 92db at 1 watt, they work exceptionally well with a single ended tube amp, which I am running them with. These speakers measure 9 inches high and about 5.75 inches wide and 5 inches deep with a 4.5 inch woofer and 1 inch dome tweeter, they do not do bass very deep but they are smooth throughout the mids and highs.
The white cone looks like the same as a Yamaha NS-10 where they cut a flat white paper cone curl and glue the edge together. I have had other Akai speakers that use Foster drivers, but I am not sure if these are Foster drivers.
They have a super cool look to them with the wire mesh and silver ring and they are mirror imaged, something that you do not see much in such a small speaker. I opened them up and added more insulation and the woofers have huge magnets.
There is little information on these on the internet and from what I see on the market the still command a decent premium and for good reason. The midrange vocals are crystal clear and they are super efficient so you get to hear everything.
Akai does not get very much acclaim in the vintage audio world and I have had a few of their products grace my blog, these speakers I think will be around for a bit in my collection, I really like what I am hearing from these Mini Speakers that pack a huge punch.
Super sweet little speakers.......
Sept, 7th.....A little update, I have been running these little speakers in a near field setting with a Single Ended tube amp and these speakers disappear, the sound stage is phenomenal, not deep on the bass but they are super smooth in the mids and highs. These are incredible little high efficiency speakers, I would love to match them with a sub woofer.
