Kenwood LS-330 (1984)
The Kenwood LS-330 is a 3-way bookshelf speaker system from 1984. In Japan it sold under the TRIO/KENWOOD name at ¥37,000 per unit. It's a bass-reflex design with a 21 cm cone woofer, a 7.5 cm semi-dome squawker and a 2.5 cm dome tweeter, all in a cabinet measuring just 280 × 510 × 261 mm and weighing 11 kg. Rated input is 110W, with a maximum allowable input of 170W (EIAJ). Impedance is 6Ω and frequency response is 35 Hz to 40 kHz.
The interesting engineering is in the tweeter. Kenwood introduced ion plating (IP) technology for the first time in the world on this diaphragm. Titanium nitride is ionized, accelerated in a plasma state and deposited on the titanium surface, which gives a diaphragm with hardness more than six times that of raw titanium. The woofer uses a high-rigidity lightweight cone with a special impregnation material. The midrange gets an aluminum dome with an oxide-ceramic hardened surface. The crossover network is split across three independent printed circuit boards - one each for woofer, squawker and tweeter - which Kenwood claims reduces crosstalk to −80 dB from woofer to tweeter and −100 dB from woofer to squawker. The enclosure uses a baffle-to-side-plate connection that Kenwood says increases strength by roughly 40% over a simple hozo/mizo joint. It is bonded with a vinyl-acetate resin adhesive harder than epoxy.
Surviving documentation is thin beyond the spec sheet. A German resale listing described the LS-330 as “very cleanly and robustly manufactured, with powerful sound, clear highs, strong performance and solid Japanese engineering,” and a Bulgarian seller noted “solid workmanship for its size” and “musical speakers with solid bass in minimal dimensions.” Those are seller descriptions, not independent reviews. They do line up with the design: a high-efficiency bookshelf speaker (92 dB/W/m) built to deliver real low end from a compact cabinet.
Known specifications:
- 3-way, 3-speaker, bass-reflex, bookshelf type
- 21 cm cone woofer, 7.5 cm semi-dome midrange, 2.5 cm ion-plated titanium dome tweeter
- Frequency response: 35 Hz – 40 kHz
- Rated input: 110W; max allowable input: 170W (EIAJ)
- Impedance: 6Ω; sensitivity: 92 dB/W/m
- Crossover frequencies: 900 Hz, 4.5 kHz
- Dimensions: 280 × 510 × 261 mm; weight: 11 kg
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