Realistic (Optimus) Mach Two Restoration!

mikey3117

Victory is mine!
I haven't posted in a while. I'm the knucklehead that loves to refinish and restore vintage Radio Shack stuff...lol

I've restored 3 or 4 pairs of Mach Ones with varying degrees of success. I've kept the best pair which is basically a mint pair with refinished cabs (Tung Oil), and re-capped crossovers (Audyn Caps).

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=394464

I also restored a pair of beautiful Realistic Optimus T-300's. Gorgeous cabs (Tung Oil), re-capped (Solen) and new foam.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=472140

I've tried to restore 3 or 4 pairs of Mach Twos but the problem is that it's difficult to find decent examples. They are usually pretty beat up. I've tried to sand Mach Two cabs in the past to remove the previous finish but it turns out the walnut veneer on the Mach Twos is woefully thinner than what was applied to the Mach Ones. I was finally able to find an extremely clean pair locally, branded Optimus (1991) with perfect grilles. They've been torn apart, new Solen caps on order, and ready for some finish restoration (Howard's). I've got a friend that does all my refoaming. I'm thinking a couple weeks and I'll be able to add these to my Radio Shack Museum!
 

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I haven't posted in a while. I'm the knucklehead that loves to refinish and restore vintage Radio Shack stuff...lol

I've restored 3 or 4 pairs of Mach Ones with varying degrees of success. I've kept the best pair which is basically a mint pair with refinished cabs (Tung Oil), and re-capped crossovers (Audyn Caps).

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=394464

I also restored a pair of beautiful Realistic Optimus T-300's. Gorgeous cabs (Tung Oil), re-capped (Solen) and new foam.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=472140

I've tried to restore 3 or 4 pairs of Mach Twos but the problem is that it's difficult to find decent examples. They are usually pretty beat up. I've tried to sand Mach Two cabs in the past to remove the previous finish but it turns out the walnut veneer on the Mach Twos is woefully thinner than what was applied to the Mach Ones. I was finally able to find an extremely clean pair locally, branded Optimus (1991) with perfect grilles. They've been torn apart, new Solen caps on order, and ready for some finish restoration (Howard's). I've got a friend that does all my refoaming. I'm thinking a couple weeks and I'll be able to add these to my Radio Shack Museum!
Very cool. Nice looking cabs!

One thing of popularity is removing or bi-passing the lamps inside. I'm not keen to the idea, but I would venture to guess that with age they have more resistance and might explain why even after a recap Mach Two speakers just don't sound as "bright" as they should. I owned a pair new and I'm completely convinced they had a brighter sound as I had to turn down the contour to make them more listenable. Now turning them up, even after recap, they still don't come remotely close to other speakers, including my 2-pair of Mach One speakers.
 
I was never a big fan of the Mach Two. They sound good, but I will always prefer the Mach One, much more substantial build quality. I found the Mach Two to have a cheaper feel to the materials in comparison, and the 19lb weight difference between the two speakers tells a story too, considering the cabinets are basically the same size. :smoke:
 
I got a pair about a year ago. I was given a pair of Mach I and then the thread for the mod started. Some were starting to mention the Mach II and so I picked up a pair. I put some Dayton polys in the crossover and what a disappointment. I recently refoamed and recapped a pair of Optumus t-120 for a customer and he saw the Mach II and wants to buy them. Thank goodness. I have tried these on 4 different systems and up to 6" off the floor and they still sound bad to me. Boomy bass and those mids. Make my ears bleed. I hope I don't offend anybody but I have really tried with these speakers and for me they gotta go.
 
Haha. You can always count on AK for support!

Have fun with your project. It's always a blast reviving old speakers. No matter how they actually sound, they always sound great the first week or so. :) I refoamed a pair of Mach Ones last year and liked them a lot. I even liked them by week 3.
 
I got a pair about a year ago. I was given a pair of Mach I and then the thread for the mod started. Some were starting to mention the Mach II and so I picked up a pair. I put some Dayton polys in the crossover and what a disappointment. I recently refoamed and recapped a pair of Optumus t-120 for a customer and he saw the Mach II and wants to buy them. Thank goodness. I have tried these on 4 different systems and up to 6" off the floor and they still sound bad to me. Boomy bass and those mids. Make my ears bleed. I hope I don't offend anybody but I have really tried with these speakers and for me they gotta go.
For me the Mach Two make nice mains in a surround system. Go perfect with the type of reproduction expected from say and action movie. What I loved most was not having to run a sub. I remember watching near the end of Lethal Weapon 4 where "Briggs" is under water and you hear the thumping (presumably his heart beating), and the freaking windows were rattling. It was awesome.

Anyway, they are far from my favorite speaker, for the moment. But using info from other threads I think there is still potential. But certainly bracing will be needed as these cabinets are NOT near as stout as the Mach One cabinets. All one need do is remove the drivers from a Mach One and Mach Two and weigh them. Of course, neither come close to the weight of my HPM-100 cabs.
 
These aren't for critical listening. Although all my Realistic stuff gets rotated around in my second system. This is more about the enjoyment of the restoration process. Yes, the Mach One has a more robust build quality than the Mach Two but I have A/B'd many sets of Mach Ones and Twos and by far, the Mach Twos are the better sounding speaker. The Mach One has very boomy, inaccurate bass. I do like the sound of the horns but it's hard to get past the bass. I know VL has many mods but I don't mod speakers. I like restoring to originality, especially if they aren't for critical listening. My Mach Ones just basically sit in my listening room looking pretty. (And they ARE a pretty speaker!) The Mach Twos are flawed as well, we all know that but they are a good sounding speaker. They're also an attractive speaker. I sold these when I worked for RS back in the day... So, with all that being said, the project continues...

I'm used to completely sanding projects and applying new finishes but as I said earlier, the Mach Two's thin veneer doesn't allow that. I used Howard's Restore-A-Finish followed by Howard's Feed-N-Wax. Outstanding results. As I said before, I've tried to restore Mach Twos before but they have all been in lesser condition than these. Fortunately, my starting point is much higher on these. So with the cabs looking great, tonight I'll detail the front baffles, and clean the Lpad controls. This weekend the drivers get delivered to my refoam guy. Caps are on order, but we all know how long Parts Express takes to ship orders...
 

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These aren't for critical listening. Although all my Realistic stuff gets rotated around in my second system. This is more about the enjoyment of the restoration process. Yes, the Mach One has a more robust build quality than the Mach Two but I have A/B'd many sets of Mach Ones and Twos and by far, the Mach Twos are the better sounding speaker. The Mach One has very boomy, inaccurate bass. I do like the sound of the horns but it's hard to get past the bass. I know VL has many mods but I don't mod speakers. I like restoring to originality, especially if they aren't for critical listening. My Mach Ones just basically sit in my listening room looking pretty. (And they ARE a pretty speaker!) The Mach Twos are flawed as well, we all know that but they are a good sounding speaker. They're also an attractive speaker. I sold these when I worked for RS back in the day... So, with all that being said, the project continues...

I'm used to completely sanding projects and applying new finishes but as I said earlier, the Mach Two's thin veneer doesn't allow that. I used Howard's Restore-A-Finish followed by Howard's Feed-N-Wax. Outstanding results. As I said before, I've tried to restore Mach Twos before but they have all been in lesser condition than these. Fortunately, my starting point is much higher on these. So with the cabs looking great, tonight I'll detail the front baffles, and clean the Lpad controls. This weekend the drivers get delivered to my refoam guy. Caps are on order, but we all know how long Parts Express takes to ship orders...
I certainly don't fault your efforts. Personally, when I have good specimens to work with (and that does happen) I try to do what you do, restore them as closely as humanly and economically possible. Even if I don't enjoy them I know unquestionably someone else will. No doubt in my mind about that. But, when speakers are dinged pretty good, or in the case of a set of Pioneer CS-88a speakers, one dropping from a 12' high shelf onto concrete, well they get parted out or used as project speakers of a different nature.

I bought 4 Mach One speakers a couple years back. Images were pristine and I looked forward to refinishing them. When I say pristine I mean absent of physical damage. When they arrived they were anything but pristine. The damage was heart breaking. I picked the two best cabs and put them back to original, with the only mod being updated caps and resistors, oh and servicing the pots. The second set became guinea pigs for the VL treatment. These will later be torn down or whatever, but the learning experience was great and the sound improvement was worth every penny invested. From there new (larger) cabs will be constructed, but with additional mods.

Like you I have a number of speakers that I've restored, mostly RS speakers. Many I still have. A couple I've yet to work on. Some need drivers that are rather elusive but I'll figure out something. For those I gave up looking for OEM drivers I replaced with PE drivers that worked out great.

Until I've done a proper rehab of the Mach Two, I prefer a number of my other speakers better. For me the Two's are dull sounding in the mids, so I'll bypass the bulb/lamp to see what improvement I get from that. If sufficient I'll try a new lamp and see if that helps. If not, I know not what I'll do next. The Mach Two have nice cabs and grills and are in otherwise nice condition. They two have updated caps.
 
I certainly don't fault your efforts. Personally, when I have good specimens to work with (and that does happen) I try to do what you do, restore them as closely as humanly and economically possible. Even if I don't enjoy them I know unquestionably someone else will. No doubt in my mind about that. But, when speakers are dinged pretty good, or in the case of a set of Pioneer CS-88a speakers, one dropping from a 12' high shelf onto concrete, well they get parted out or used as project speakers of a different nature.

I bought 4 Mach One speakers a couple years back. Images were pristine and I looked forward to refinishing them. When I say pristine I mean absent of physical damage. When they arrived they were anything but pristine. The damage was heart breaking. I picked the two best cabs and put them back to original, with the only mod being updated caps and resistors, oh and servicing the pots. The second set became guinea pigs for the VL treatment. These will later be torn down or whatever, but the learning experience was great and the sound improvement was worth every penny invested. From there new (larger) cabs will be constructed, but with additional mods.

Like you I have a number of speakers that I've restored, mostly RS speakers. Many I still have. A couple I've yet to work on. Some need drivers that are rather elusive but I'll figure out something. For those I gave up looking for OEM drivers I replaced with PE drivers that worked out great.

Until I've done a proper rehab of the Mach Two, I prefer a number of my other speakers better. For me the Two's are dull sounding in the mids, so I'll bypass the bulb/lamp to see what improvement I get from that. If sufficient I'll try a new lamp and see if that helps. If not, I know not what I'll do next. The Mach Two have nice cabs and grills and are in otherwise nice condition. They two have updated caps.

I've certainly created sort of an RS museum of equipment. The goal was to restore and keep their best offerings from the golden era. I was the kid that drooled over the catalog back in the day, so it's fun to source these old pieces and then do my best to faithfully restore them.
 
T- 300s are nice. Foaming the mid is a pita, but they sound quite nice. I had no intention of keeping the pair I got, but once they were playing, I couldn't sell them. So my brother has them, powered by a CR 840 I restored as a wedding gift for him.

:music:

sent from the 2nd galaxy with tapatalk
 
T- 300s are nice. Foaming the mid is a pita, but they sound quite nice. I had no intention of keeping the pair I got, but once they were playing, I couldn't sell them. So my brother has them, powered by a CR 840 I restored as a wedding gift for him.

:music:

sent from the 2nd galaxy with tapatalk

Yep, I love my T-300's. I'm still amazed at how well they came out after I refinished them. I would consider the T-300 probably the best RS speaker ever offered. Solid build quality, beautiful veneer, and a "real" crossover. (The T-200 crossover was so simple that the woofers were straight input!) The T-300 is of course a copy of the JBL L150. It's nowhere near the JBL sonically, but for an RS offering, I consider it their best effort. Even the grain of the veneer wraps up and over the various sides. I haven't seen this on any other RS speaker. They do sound good, not as much bass as I'd like, but boosting the bass knob takes care of that...
 
I also forgot to add that the T-300's are about as rare as they come for an RS speaker. I was extremely fortunate to find mine locally in great condition. These rarely come up on ebay, not even parts...
 
I've certainly created sort of an RS museum of equipment. The goal was to restore and keep their best offerings from the golden era. I was the kid that drooled over the catalog back in the day, so it's fun to source these old pieces and then do my best to faithfully restore them.
I'm sure by now you know you are in good company. In Pairs: (2) 4024a, (1) 4029, (1) 4032, T-110, T-120, 5b, (2) 7b, Min-7, (2) Pro LX-5II, Pro LX-8 hmmm I think that's it.

T-300, last good speaker I remember selling at the shack. I too would love a pair of those. I remember when we opened our first set for display, couldn't wait to sell those buggers. Maybe some day. By that time RS wasn't selling the volume of speakers it did when I first started. Probably due to the huge selection and move to surround sound and smaller speakers. Some nights were fun. Doing inventory didn't hurt as much with the nice equipment at our disposal to listen to. Along with some pizza of course.
 
I also forgot to add that the T-300's are about as rare as they come for an RS speaker. I was extremely fortunate to find mine locally in great condition. These rarely come up on ebay, not even parts...

That's the truth. I blew a mid, and just missed a pair on eBay. Never saw another, had to go with substitutes - which are fine, just not original. My brother quite likes them - though getting & keeping the tone controls on them is proving challenging.
 
I've certainly created sort of an RS museum of equipment. The goal was to restore and keep their best offerings from the golden era. I was the kid that drooled over the catalog back in the day, so it's fun to source these old pieces and then do my best to faithfully restore them.

My town didn't have a stereo store anywhere near but we did have a Radio Shack. Damn I wanted a pair of Mach 2s back then. I have a pair today but like most examples found the cabs are so rough they have been relegated to garage duty. Too bad because the tweeters on these are some of the best sounding of any RS speakers I've heard.
 
This is what happens when you're waiting on parts and get bored...

The good news is that the caps showed up today!
 

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I've certainly created sort of an RS museum of equipment. The goal was to restore and keep their best offerings from the golden era. I was the kid that drooled over the catalog back in the day, so it's fun to source these old pieces and then do my best to faithfully restore them.

:ntwrthy:Thank you ......I am a RS fan...they are mostly underpriced and overlooked......so keep it down or someone will hear you and out the door goes our great deals!!
 
Last night I recapped one crossover. It turned out to be more of a challenge than originally thought. Most of the original electrolytics are mounted flush on the board so when they were removed, I didn't have any existing leads to work with plus the leads on the new caps weren't long enough to mount in the same fashion. So, I turned over the crossover and soldered some lead wire to each connection underneath. I originally was going to use a second board for the new caps and mount inside the cabinet but ultimately decided against it. I just arranged them on the existing crossover and brought my leads up over the top. Not the prettiest but... Tonight I'll recap the other and I'm just waiting on refoamed drivers.
 

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i have a pair of 4032's i dug out of storage a few weeks ago and refoamed the 15's
where do they fall in the pecking order?
 
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