Akai SW-7ii Speakers

 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.

Unitron Speakers

Unitron speakers? Huh? An easy thrift store pass by..... It is what is in the box that the treasures can be found.

This pair caught my eye as the cabinets are in pretty good shape and made of real wood veneer, they do need a bit of sanding and new polish, that is easy work.

I opened these up and found a 10" Coral woofer and Coral Alnico tweeter, I figure the cabinets and the drivers were well worth the low low asking price.

My plan was to find a new home for some 10" Foster Alnico woofers and a tweeter of some sort, these boxes would fit the bill.

 I got these home and listed to them with the Coral's in them, boomy, boxy sound was all I heard. The Q's are too high from the woofer for this box. I pulled them out and inserted the Foster 10" Alnico woofer and a Radio Shack 4" Alnico full range speaker, crossed over with a simple 22uf cap around 900hz. Now these speakers sound delightful, like amazingly delightful.

 

Like amazingly delightful, I am going to do more finishing work on them but I have them up and running and I like what I hear.

I mounted the Corals on a spare baffle board that I had around and gave these a listen....OMG these on a baffle are a completely different speaker. Super efficient, the high Q's add beautiful sounding bass for its size of the woofer and the mids and highs are dreamy delicious. Just as I suspected.

New baffles will be made for these and I will offer them up for sale in the near future.

Realistic Minimus 1 Speakers

Another pair of speakers that I picked up today is this set of Realistic Minimus 1. Realistic used really nice Foster/Fostex driver in the early days. This pair uses a 5"alnico full range driver and a nice cone tweeter.

This pair will be cannibalized for their driver and put into an open baffle system.

Akai/Foster Open Baffles

Last week I picked up this pair of Akai SW-135 speakers that has Akai branded Foster driver in them.
In the original box these speakers are not much to listen to, in fact they are boxy and not to open on the sound stage.

I promptly removed the drivers and went down to Makers Lab to start my project.

This is the finished product and I think this forth rendition of my open baffle experiment turned out really well.

Once again with open baffles there is a really open sound stage, the three drivers are all designed to work together with minimal crossover which is a 16uf cap for the mid range and a 2.2uf cap for the tweeter.

Bass is exceptionally strong, tight and articulate in these speakers, mid range is nice and smooth and the highs are perfect for a cone tweeter, not as strong as in the horn tweeters.

Best suited with a single ended tube amp versus the push pull tube amp. I am going to keep an eye out for the vintage Akai speakers as they can be had for next to nothing and they have really good alnico drivers in them.

Next open baffle project Akai SW-135 Speakers

Just picked up this pair of Akai SW-135 speakers for the next open baffle project. These seem to have Foster or Coral Alnico drivers, perfect for open baffles.

The cabinets have been gutted and speakers are in perfect condition.