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Hitachi NS330 metal cone speakers - any good?

sealy

sealy

Addicted Member
I came upon a set of Hitachi NS330 3-way speakers recently at a local Flea Market. All the drivers are cones, constructed of some kind of aluminium composite. There are knobs on the front of the speakers to facilitate adjustment of tweeter and midrange output. They are in pristine condition. Build quality appears excellent. I tried to research them but have had no success. Nothing turns up on the Web. Anyone have any info on these speakers?
George
 
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Hitachispeakers.jpg
 
I have said that on more than one occasion!

At least we know speaker pic,s will be added when required. :yes:
 
I have been looking for a pair of those for years -- I'm dying to know how the metal cone/gathered edge suspension works and sounds. Pictures and impressions please!
 
Bozak used aluminum cones in there tweeters and mid ranges starting in the early 1960's, ending in the mid 1980's. The 12 inch Bozak wool, paper blend woofer with variable density/thickness from edge to center addressed the same concerns as the ad mentions.
Wonder if Mr. Hitachi had a pair ?
 
I listened to them briefly at the Flea Market, connected to a fairly low power Technics receiver. The rheostats controllng the tweeter need a thorough cleaning as there is a bit of noise when adjusting tweeter output, and the tweeter on one speaker occasionally goes off and on. I am hoping that this is nothing major to be concerned about. They seem very efficient. Hard to make any other judgments in that type of listening environment. I was surprised to observe that they are not strident in the least. The cabinets are quite heavy, and look well constructed. I made the fellow an offer, and hope to hear from him today.
George.
 
Check that the cones/surrounds haven't sagged. When I did a search on these types, that is what cropped up the most. Turn the woofers upside down once in a while.
 
Shel-e-bean said:
Check that the cones/surrounds haven't sagged. When I did a search on these types, that is what cropped up the most. Turn the woofers upside down once in a while.
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Thanks, I will take a close look at the surrounds. When you mention sagging, are you referring to the woofer surround collapsing slightly on one side?
George
 
sealy said:
Thanks, I will take a close look at the surrounds. When you mention sagging, are you referring to the woofer surround collapsing slightly on one side?
George
Click to expand...

I did a search looking for the source and I can't find it. I may be confusing them with the Technics flat drivers I saw the other day. Sorry! :dunno:
 
Interesting last post. I have just purchased the speakers and a Technics SA 340 receiver in mint condition for a total of 50 bucks. The speakers are also mint. Surprisingly the Hitachis are a sealed-box design. Specs are as follows:
Woofer: 9 in. Mid: 2 5/8 in. Tweeter: 1 1/2 in. Enclosure 22 1/2 in tall x 12 in. wide depth: 11 in. Weight: Approx 26 lbs. per speaker.

Listening impressions: Using the Technics receiver with 35 w/ch, I felt that the speakers sounded a bit constricted. They sounded clear, but for wont of a better term, the sound was thin. Bass was not impressive, even with the speakers placed directly on the floor. Driving them with higher quality amplification - my Sony TAN55 ES amp at 110W/ch, the sound opened up considerably, as did the bass response. Initially, the mid sounded a little too dominant, but with some judicious tweaking of the mid control, the sound became more balanced. The tweeter seemed best with the control set at 0. The highs surprisingly lacked the ssss...sibilance that I have heard with many metal dome tweeters(give me a good silk dome tweeter anyday). I must comment though, that the metal cones in this tweeter showed no sign of harshness.
Playing my Eva Cassidy cd, I found the sound of her voice more upfront than she sounded with the Mission 751's, which have a slightly reticent mid-range. My Elacs sounded best with this cd, with a beautifully balanced midrange lacking any sign of harshness.
My overall impression of the Hitachis is that they sound "big" for their size. They may be some what akin to the Klipsch Heresys in this respect in that greater the volume, the larger the soundstage. I agree with Array that they probably have an upper midrange peak, which accounts for the forwardness of the sound. But with some tweaks, the peak can be tamed to a degree. With my musical preferences, it doesn't seem to be too noticeable. I also agree that the box should be larger. Having played the violin for years, I have developed an acute sense of tonal accuracy. All in all, I quite enjoyed listening to the room-filling sound the Hitachis produced, and I was once again impressed with the superb sound of the Elacs.
George
 
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That peak in the upper end is the pitfall of all metal drivers -- the stiffer and more pistonic the cone (and thats a good thing), the sharper and larger the resonant peak (and that's a bad thing -- the sharper the peak, the more complicated it is to design a circuit to tame it, and the more likely that the cure is worse than the disease). Bozak dealt with that peak in their midranges, tweeters and small woofers with a neoprene coating, which seems to me, at least, to have worked very well, but any extra step in the manufacturing process adds to the cost, and especially a step that requires human involvement, so coatings and doapings are always going to be found in expensive for their configuration speakers. Even Bozak (which operated at a time when audio equipment was a luxury item, not a commodity) used felted wool (or some such) for their woofers.
There are speakers using metal cones that are well behaved, but they are not cheap. I think the Hitachis are relatively rare because they were expensive relative to their specs, but don't know if they tamed the peaks.
 
The perceived bass response I thought was emanating from the Hitachis, was in fact coming from my PSB sub, which I neglected to turn off during testing. In fact, deep bass was lacking altogether. Combined with the sub, however, overall response was quite respectable. Cymbals, winds and strings were reproduced well, and with the help of the sub, percussion had nice weight. The speakers would accept a large dose of amp input, and would respond with a correspondingly large sound. They were unforgiving of program source, and some recordings evidenced some harshness in the upper registers. Oh, for the days of half-speed masters and direct-to-disc vinyl albums! I remember paying $35 for such products 30 years back. When connected to a good turntable with a Dynavector moving-coil cartridge, I considered the results well worth the expense, putting to shame the sound quality of the cds of today.
 
chiming in to this old thread since i recently scored a B- condition pair of these speakers some weeks ago and have been enjoying them since. i agree that they are relatively unforgiving of source material due to their low-distortion, detailed sound. but i am not so sure about any upper mid peak, they sound pretty balanced overall to my ears and in my system. opening them up reveals a fairly complex crossover with 9 electrolytic caps that are slated to be replaced with Audyn Q4s, each to be bypassed with Vishay MKP 1837 (will contemplate Caddock resistors after cap upgrade). also, to me, the cabinets are relatively thin and resonant, so damping and mass-loading is on the to-do list also. overall, these are keepers that i am hopeful will be significantly improved with upgrades
 
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