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Not Minimus 7, Vanco Compac-50

R

rusomon

Well-Known Member
At first I thought they were Minimus 7s. My inclination was to leave them where they sat. (Table, rummage sale.) But then I came closer. (Always a mistake.) Long story short, I now own a pair of Vanco Compac-50s. Do I need Vanco Compac-50s? I do not. But still and all they're pretty nice sounding little speakers, better even, I think, than Minimus 7s. By a pretty wide margin. (Yes, I did compare them.)

Not trying to start a thing here, my opinion is just my opinion. Just throwing it out there and whatnot.

I'm thinking that since these are 4ohm speakers, slightly bigger, and definitely heavier than Minimus 7s they are likely closer to being clones of the Visonik David 50s than to being yet another iteration of Minimus 7s. No way to be certain, of course.

Anybody know anything about these?

Thanks.
 
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Vanco had a line of less expensive stuff in the accessories and such side of the audio business back in the day. I have a pair of Vanco 3-ways sitting somewhere around here. Used em with their brackets in the back of my Rx-7 for a number of years.
 
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No offense, but they look like the sort of speakers they used to sell in discount stores, along with the Kraco car stereos. Are they three way?
 
Aren't all those small metal-cabinet speakers simply cheaper copies of the A/d/s Braun speakers of the 70s?
 
No offense taken. I'm not saying these are anything other than what they are, a cheap copy of something else. (Keep in mind I'm comparing them to Minimus 7s, another cheap copy of something else.) I just think they sound better than Minimus 7s, that's all.

More information: they're made in Japan; they have reverse roll fabric surround woofers with aluminum dustcaps; the tweeter looks to be a direct copy of Visonik David tweeters; they have spring terminals that you push down, not in, unlike Minimus 7s, an improvement--in my book-- on speakers this small.

Swechsler, I think I know why you asked if these are three way. I've seen the sort of speakers you probably have in mind. Shiny dustcaps, three way, light, flimsy, unquestionably crap. These aren't those.

What would be interesting would be to compare these directly to the Visonik David 50s and the little Braun/ADS speakers. Unfortunately, I can't do that.
 
OK then. The shiny dustcap was what made me suspect them.

Personally, while I own several pairs, I'm not a huge fan of the sound of Minimus 7s, particularly the top end, which to me sounds muffled (are they due for recapping, maybe?). I may be the only one, but I feel the newer (Optimus) version improved it somewhat.
 
rusomon said:
I'm thinking that since these are 4ohm speakers, slightly bigger, and definitely heavier than Minimus 7s they are likely closer to being clones of the Visonik David 50s than to being yet another iteration of Minimus 7s.
Click to expand...

Cool find.

Shelly d posted favorable impressions of a pair he picked up a while back. Includes pics and further discussion.
 
Thanks for the link. Lots of interesting info over there, a lot of it yours. Who would've guessed this would be such a complex history?
 
This thread sure brought me back, purchased a pair of these in the late 70's for my car. I've owned dozens of Minimus 7's and the Vancos are heads above. Paired these with a Pioneer KP-88G component system for some awesome mobile audio for the day. Later installed this in a work van, the van was broken into in 1985 and it was all stolen.

You have some awesome little speakers there, nice find.
 
I had a pair of these Vanco 50s in my 1979 Jeep CJ7 mounted to the rear wheel wells. All debating aside, if they were good speakers, anybody who got into my jeep immediately turned to kook at what speakers I was running. A typical comment was, "Wow! Those sound like a nice house stereo!" Sold the Jeep and my only regret was not removing those big little steel shelled speakers. Would buy another pair in a heartbeat, if I ever came across a set. Try as I ca I cannot recall where I bought them from. I have a pair of Minimus 7 speakers and they are good, but do not have the depth those Vanco speakers could. I do recall I went thru 3 other speaker brands and configs before settling on these were best I could find for the Jeep. And that they were more monet than the name brand car tripower3d car speakers of the day.
 
hjames said:
Aren't all those small metal-cabinet speakers simply cheaper copies of the A/d/s Braun speakers of the 70s?
Click to expand...

Not at all, these little babies were $120/pair back in 1976, the ONLY speaker of their size that outperform them are the Canton Plus S, all others are just pretenders.
 
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