Kenwood Omni-7 Speaker Specifications

Good omnidirectional loudspeakers open up the stereo sound so much that you can almost "see" the music. This is because true omnis give you a "sweet spot" almost everywhere in the room, and if properly positioned, add just the right amount of reflected sound to the sound coming directly off the speakers to fill the room. The Kenwood Omni-7s are very small omnidirectional speakers, available mostly overseas.

The cabinet structure looks like a giant Hershey's kiss made out of injection-moulded plastic. The upper part of the structure is open with a flat top. Under the top is a partial hemisphere pointed down toward a 1-inch dome tweeter that faces up. The tweeter is mounted in a conically-shaped deflector that points down into the 4-inch woofer's face. The woofer is hidden by a dome-shaped stiff grill. Three evenly spaced flat plastic beams arising from the lower body support the tweeter structure and woofer deflector. The bottom of the speaker is flat. The binding posts and a screw adaptor for attaching optional speaker stands are recessed in the bottom. The speaker's diameter at the bottom is 8 2/3 inches. The speaker's height at the apex is 8 2/3 inches. Each speaker weighs about 2kg.

The Omni-7s are magnetically shielded for use near tube televisions. The bass design is port-vented bass-reflex, which gives it a bass bump at the low end of its rated 70 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Although venting increases efficiency, it also decreases bass extension and power handling, so the nominal wattage is 30 watts and its maximum input is 60 watts. The tweeter is rolled off at a relatively low 2.5 kHz. These speakers would work well as computer or rear surround speakers, especially when used with a subwoofer and a conventional centre channel. At 8 ohms, the impedance is designed for home applications. Despite its vent loading, the speaker is not terribly efficient, eking out 83 dB per watt at 1 meter.

The literature, translated from Japanese, declares the inclusion of two "pin-plug cords," each 6 meters or 19 feet, 8 inches long. Not included are the stands typically pictured attached to the bottom of the speakers. The stands are shaped like acute-angle boomerangs with a knurled attachment knob attached to the top of a flap-like appendage at the centre of the stand. This flap adjusts to allow use of the stand either on a flat surface or attached to a wall or ceiling.