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I'm in Radio Shack heaven

hatrack71

hatrack71

distracted by everything
I'll be honest. I kinda feel like an idiot for spending so much money on all this trick and vintage gear. Today I went to the thrift and what was sitting there in all their beat up glory- a pair of Optimus 25s. The tweeter and midrange were completely pushed in on one of them as well as a corner that was cracked I have now fixed. I super glued a toothpick to the mid dust cap and pulled it out the best I could. Satisfied enough to look at them a while, I hooked em up and my God I was not prepared at all for what I heard. These sound better than a lot of much more expensive speakers I have owned. I dare say they somewhat remind me of a Yamaha NS-690 without the heavy magnets. I obviously prefer the Yamahas but was kinda surprised that it was not by much. Has anyone else been surprised by this model. Wow!!! I would like to find replacement dust caps and grills for these as the originals are broken in about 4 different pieces each. Here are some pics. If anyone knows a source for these parts that would be great- even a mid and tweeter would be fine. Thanks
 

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Radio Shack had some nice speakers. I have a pair of large Optimus speakers that have 15" woofers that I purchased new about 12 years ago. I think that it was their last large speaker and they were discontiued shortly thereafter. I think that they are great and have served me well. I still use them daily as my main speakers. Radio Shack made some decent stuff, but you just have to be careful as they also sold a lot of stuff that IMHO is just utter garbage.
 
AAA3330 said:
Radio Shack had some nice speakers. I have a pair of large Optimus speakers that have 15" woofers that I purchased new about 12 years ago. I think that it was their last large speaker and they were discontiued shortly thereafter. I think that they are great and have served me well. I still use them daily as my main speakers. Radio Shack made some decent stuff, but you just have to be careful as they also sold a lot of stuff that IMHO is just utter garbage.
Click to expand...

It seems to me that I've come in contact with at least a dozen Radio Shack/Realistic products from the 80s that friends had. I must say, that stuff was pretty bad and was to shape my opinion of RS for many years to come. Fast forward to 6 months ago and stumbling on thread after thread of Realistic Mach Ones. Didn't think much of it but the info stayed in the back of my mind. About a month ago a buddy of mine said he found a pair of Mach Ones and offered them to me for a twenty. I had to see what all the hype was about. Man, these can really sing with the right electronics. Okay, so they made one decent pair of speakers I thought. Well, about 3 weeks later I found a pair of Minimus 25s for a fiver and had to try them after hearing/owning Mach Ones. Wow, these actually sound really good too. Uh oh, now I'm on the lookout for RS gear? What happened? I'll tell you what, I found a pair of Optimus 25s yesterday for 2 bucks and they sound great- even with one of the tweeter and mid dust caps pushed in. Obviously this era of speakers is not a time of junk for the Shack. All models have real Walnut veneer and are fairly heavy build quality. I am definitely re-thinking my opinion of RS gear. I would love to find a big old Realistic receiver- analog tuner- to hear how it sounds. A buddy has a Radio Shack MPA-200 power amp I am considering due to the quality of these speakers- should I buy it? Anyway, I know Radio Shack made some really cheapo/bad stuff but it appears they also made nice/bomber proof gear as well!
 
I couldn't agree more. Seems like for the most part their speakers were of good quality. I've never owned one of their receivers, but from what I've heard, some of them are excellent.

I used to consider Radio Shack an asset for a lot of things. Maybe it's because they are catering to the younger generation today, but I don't understand how they continue to stay in business. I don't think that they make any stereo equipment anymore. Seems they just sell other brands that can be found much cheaper elsewhere. They used to cater more to the "electronics hobbyist", but they just don't seem to have anything that I would have any interest in anymore. I go there once in a blue moon for something, but that's about it. I couldn't care less if they shut their doors tomorrow.:no:

I went there a few weeks ago to get a soldering iron tip. I paid in cash and they asked me for my email address. I'm thinking "yeah right", like I'm going to give you my email address so you can send me all kinds of spam.:nono:
 
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Cut my audio teeth on Realistic gear

I am the original owner of a STA-80 reciever and a set of Optimus-2B speakers. Last time I fired them up about 5 years ago, the speakers still put out decent sound. And they still look great in their real woodgrain walnut veneer. Not bad for $390 (in 1975 dollars, STA-80 + two Optimus-2B ). I bought a RS turntable too, but I gave it to my sister (can't remember the model number).

Here's great source of information on their vintage gear.

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html

STA-80: 1974 Catalog, page 8
Optimus-2B : 1975 Catalog, page 24

Unfortunately the STA-80 has some blown electronics.

I'm thinking about hooking up the Optimus-2B set to the "B" side of my new Yamaha RX-797 to see how they compare to my Klipsch RF-7 set.
 
aabottom said:
I am the original owner of a STA-80 reciever and a set of Optimus-2B speakers. Last time I fired them up about 5 years ago, the speakers still put out decent sound. And they still look great in their real woodgrain walnut veneer. Not bad for $390 (in 1975 dollars, STA-80 + two Optimus-2B ). I bought a RS turntable too, but I gave it to my sister (can't remember the model number).

Here's great source of information on their vintage gear.

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html

STA-80: 1974 Catalog, page 8
Optimus-2B : 1975 Catalog, page 24

Unfortunately the STA-80 has some blown electronics.

I'm thinking about hooking up the Optimus-2B set to the "B" side of my new Yamaha RX-797 to see how they compare to my Klipsch RF-7 set.
Click to expand...

You might be surprised on how much speaker they really are. I know that's how I feel about these Optimus 25s- really airy.
 
I have a set of Optimus 1's that I like very well. Back several years ago I had a set of Nova 8b's that were used on my main system
 
Recently restored my Optimus 1 cabinets and they're looking as good as they sound. Will do same for my Nova 7b's. Have always appreciated 1970's RS quality and value.
 
Maybe we should add Realistic/ Radio Shack to the "Audiokarma Manufacturers Forums".

Here's a search result using Manufacturers names as the keyword.

#hits/ keyword
814 Sansui
787 Kenwood
773 Marantz
770 Realistic
767 Pioneer
765 McIntosh
604 Linn

Realistic comes in 4th for the top six listed in "Audiokarma Manufacturers Forums". Some of us do have an effection for Realistic gear.

PS: The number of hits (#hits) do not match the post counts in "Audiokarma Manufacturers Forums". I suspect most posters do not use the Manufacturers names in their posts.

PS2: Radio Shack gets 781 hits.
 
God knows I luv reading these kind of posts....
The secret's getting out, damnit....next thing ya know, the vintage Shack stuff will friggin' skyrocket.

AudioKarma really oughtta include a Realistic sub-forum as they do for Pioneer, Sansui, Marantz and even Klipsch for God's Sake-
 
I always find myself amused when people discover that components whose parentage or design are "generally regarded" as inferior, discover--shock horror!--they actually can produce pleasing sound. It's about having an open mind in this regard. It seems that most companies were capable of, and often did, make/market solid performers. Let your ears be the judge.
 
Gotta say I randomly bought a pair of Realistic speakers for a second pair thinking "hey for $8 I really can't complain" I never hooked them up and ended up using them to set up my dad with speakers lo and behold they sound SIGNIFICANTLY better than my speakers...
 
Awesome fine mate! Enjoy them!

I have always enjoyed Realistic stuff, that's why I have 2 full stereo systems in my room :)

I have my Mach Ones and my Mach 5000s, both have an amazing sound.

+1 to the adding of a Realistic subforum!
 
-1 to the adding of a Realistic subforum.
I am a *huge* Realistic (and Tandy, as the shack was called over here) fan, but don't like separate forums.
Plus TEN for that Avatar too.
 
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In my opinion, having sub-forums decreases the chance of learning about different varieties of as one wouldn't visit a sub-forum if they didn't already have a piece of gear belonging to that forum. With the general all-purpose forum, chances of reading and educating yourself onto the different brands is increased.

-1
 
God Knows I'd luv to find a super nice pair of Optimus 1 or Nova 8.
Their oil-finished veneer was top flight, and the linen grill covers back then were smack of the old Advents.
 
I just won an STA-2300 on ebay today. $212.78 + 31.14 shipping. Looking forward to getting it.

other RS gear:
Sta-2000
Mach I's (40-4024)
Mach twos
Nova 8 (2 pr)
Nova 7b
 
Keith613 said:
I just won an STA-2300 on ebay today. $212.78 + 31.14 shipping. Looking forward to getting it.

other RS gear:
Sta-2000
Mach I's (40-4024)
Mach twos
Nova 8 (2 pr)
Nova 7b
Click to expand...

I was looking at that! I bought a STA 90 instead. Heard great things about it on AK and other forums.
 
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