Denon VS-170A (circa 1972)
The Denon VS-170A is a bookshelf-type, 3-way, 3-speaker bass reflex system from the early 1970s. It was originally priced at ¥20,500 per unit. Denon designed it with wide directivity for 4-channel playback, a format that was very much in vogue at the time. A 20 cm cone woofer handles the low end, and a 5 cm edgeless cone tweeter covers the highs. Denon used its own collagen-treated cone material to suppress resonance peaks and dips. The voice coil is heat-resistant aluminum with an aluminum alloy bobber, said to provide appropriate damping via electromagnetic braking.
The VS-170A plays back from 45 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Maximum allowable input is 30W (program source), average output sound pressure level is 92 dB/W/m, and impedance is 8 Ω. It measures 332 mm wide, 530 mm high and 250 mm deep, and weighs 11 kg. The source documentation lists the crossover frequency as 1850kHz. That is almost certainly a typo for 1850 Hz, but it is kept as stated since no conflicting data exists to resolve it.
Surviving documentation on this model is thin. Most of what is known comes from a Japanese audio database entry and a Vietnamese forum listing. The forum describes the speaker as a "very beautiful vintage speaker" with a veneer wood cabinet, still original and in extremely new condition. The database gives the production year as "around 1972," though a forum post claims 1971. No professional reviews, market pricing data or common maintenance information has surfaced.
Audio Database (accessed 2026) provides the bulk of the technical specifications cited above.
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