Minimus 7 clones???

[willyrover]

The new Centrios ones I've seen are questionable at best. Every one of them that I've picked up in store has has something clunking around inside. Shielding magnet? Crossover? I don't know.

For the price, you're better off finding a pair of the originals.

 

[Stuart Pedaso]

Lafayette's Pip Speak was another very similar product from the 70's.

Radio Shack's iterations of the Minimus 7 spanned 3 brand labels and several different models. After RS dropped the Minimus label most models became ported -- probably for purely marketing reasons. Later models were magnetically shielded to leverage the growing PC sound and HT markets.
It's also interesting how published power handling specs crept steadily upward. Quite possibly more marketing voodoo.

A synopsis of the M-7 family line:

Minimus 7 / 7W (sealed)
cat# 40-2030 et al
40W (max.)

Optimus PRO-7 (ported)
cat# 40-2065/2066
50W (max.)

Optimus PRO 7AV (sealed & mag. shielded)
cat# 40-2048/2059
40W(RMS)/80W (maximum)

Optimus PRO-X44AV (ported & mag. shielded )
cat# 40-2080/2081
50W(RMS)/100W (maximum)

RCA PRO-X44AV (ported & mag. shielded)
cat# 40-5001/5002
50W(RMS)/100W (maximum)

The "Optimus" PRO-X44AV was merely re-badged as "RCA" though the speaker is otherwise identical.

I believe Zilch measured frequency response for various models and their curves were amazingly similar. Ported, sealed, shielded --- doesn't seem to make much difference.

 

[soundmotor]

Brian was right.The Realistic Minimus 7's,which were first manufactured in Japan and then Korea,were designed by Tandy Corp.(Radio Shack)in conjunction with a former ADS employee.The Minimus 7's are similiar to the ADS L200's and the Minimus 77's are close to the ADS L300's.The ADS(U.S.A.)bookshelf speakers were designed/came from Braun(Germany).ADS sold some components that were actually Braun,like the R1 receiver and C3 cassette deck,in addition to the L200/300 bookshelfs.

Do yo know who the employee was that worked with Tandy?

The ADS L200 & L300 are completely different from the Brauns carrying the same numbers. The Output C is closest to the ADS L200 & ADS L300 closest to the Braun L200. IIRC, the Braun L300 is a 3-way w/ tweeter over the woofer and dome midrange separate.

 

[lucid]

The new Centrios ones I've seen are questionable at best. Every one of them that I've picked up in store has has something clunking around inside. Shielding magnet? Crossover? I don't know.

I concur. A while back when these went on sale, I was going to pick up a pair just to see if they resembled the M7. I can tell through looking through the grill that the drivers are not the same as my Optimus branded M7. I'm assuming they changed for the worse.

 

[atrac]

I have a pair of Audiosource in wood that are exact replica's of the 7w's.

I just picked up a pair of these (LS-One's in Walnut) and they are pretty much exactly the same as the 7W's.

I have seen some other Audiosource models that are identical to the Minimus 7's in metal as well (although some were released as 4 ohms).

 

[rajoo]

FWIW, I have a pair of Recoton "Power Drive", made in Japan which an AK'er thought could be an M7 knock off though from a thread yesterday understand that Recoton is a big OEM player. Also have a pair badged "Staub" made in Korea from my FIL. Sorry no pix.