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ORIGINAL REALISTIC MACH ONE SERIES:

BOUXY

BOUXY

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  1. MACH ONES FEB 2022.JPG
  2. 4024 – Originals, made by Tandy in 1976-77. Woofer has rubber surround that doesn’t rot (originals are still great in 2014). L-plate on the front uses 10 screws. Came with a lifetime warranty.
  3. 4024a – Same as the 4024, except made from 1978-81. Came with a 5-year warranty.
  4. 4029 – “Junk” according to 4024/4024a purists. Made by Optimus from 1982 to 1984. Uses different components. Woofer has a foam surround that needs replacement. L-plate on the front uses 6 screws. The “VL mods” (see “Modifications” below) only apply to this model. The resale on the 4029s is lower than 4024/4024a, and most people say that the 4029s do not sound as good as the original 4024/4024a speakers.

    How many Members here have actually heard the 4024 Speakers?
    I have seen many bash the sound of Mach Ones but what model did you have or hear?
    I have two sets of the originals powered by an STA-2300 Receiver and they still in 2022 sound just excellent!I bought them when they came out with a Lifetime Warranty and they have certainly lived up to it and still do! Bought a set of 4029's in 1982 and within 10 yrs had Foam and Tweeter troubles.4024 was 20 to 25,000 hz / 100 Watts and the 4029 and was 20 to 20,000 hz / 160 Watts :)
 
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I worked part time after school for RS back in the mid 70's. The store was at the end of a long hall in the local Mall. When things were slow, we would haul a pair of Mach 1's out into the main hallway and blast music down it. It would draw a few people down to our end of the building.
 
Thanks, I love irony.
The mere fact that you're so defensive about people slamming Realistic Mach 1's and yet in your own post slam the 4029 just because you own the 4024 is amusing. (I have a set of both ... only here to work on for resale)
Any make and model of any speaker that were sold in good quantities will always have people to expound on both the positive and negative qualities.
Heck, I would love to have others hate what I love ... it would produce the effect of having lower prices. I wish more people would hate on Speakerlab 30's, etc. :)
 
Lavane said:
I worked part time after school for RS back in the mid 70's. The store was at the end of a long hall in the local Mall. When things were slow, we would haul a pair of Mach 1's out into the main hallway and blast music down it. It would draw a few people down to our end of the building.
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To Lavane .... love the visual ... who did you play that drew in the most people? (and what part of the country?) I just know being from the Boston in the 70's more people would gravitate to certain things.
 
GetBusyLivin said:
Thanks, I love irony.
The mere fact that you're so defensive about people slamming Realistic Mach 1's and yet in your own post slam the 4029 just because you own the 4024 is amusing. (I have a set of both ... only here to work on for resale)
Any make and model of any speaker that were sold in good quantities will always have people to expound on both the positive and negative qualities.
Heck, I would love to have others hate what I love ... it would produce the effect of having lower prices. I wish more people would hate on Speakerlab 30's, etc. :)
Click to expand...
While what you say is true to some extent I didn't slam the 4029's,someone else did that! I don't care about lower prices mine have been here and are here for my lifetime period,and as you said to Lavane who cares what they played and by whom?
 
GetBusyLivin said:
To Lavane .... love the visual ... who did you play that drew in the most people? (and what part of the country?) I just know being from the Boston in the 70's more people would gravitate to certain things.
Click to expand...
It was in the northern end of the Cali. central vally, near Sacramento. We only did it on slow days when not many people were in the Mall. It did usually draw a few more customers though. We played some Rolling Stones, some Frampton, Steve Miller, etc. I would play some Zappa sometimes. It think people.were jus5 curious as to what that "noise" was. :D
 
I was working in a RS store in my senior year of college (spring,1975) when the first pair of Mach Ones were drop shipped in with no advance notice. We had no idea what they were until a preview copy of the 1976 catalog came in the mail a few weeks later.

My recollection of my listening first impression is that the bass was prodigious, but for overall sound I preferred the recently discontinued Nova 9. My taste in tweeters always leaned more toward domes than horns.
 
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Looks like a fun setup with the lava lamps and all those ornaments. I like the edge detail on the cabinet holding the tape decks too.

I had a pair of 4024, they were lots of fun. It isn't really fair to compare them to audiophile speakers, they're their own thing.
 
I bought an original pair(4024) from the original owner. They were in pristine condition. I didn’t like the sound at all. The lack of low bass. I was going to do the mod where you drill hoIes behind the mid horn to increase the volume that the woofer sees but I decided not to and sold them after a couple of months.
 
AudioGMan said:
I bought an original pair(4024) from the original owner. They were in pristine condition. I didn’t like the sound at all. The lack of low bass. I was going to do the mod where you drill hoIes behind the mid horn to increase the volume that the woofer sees but I decided not to and sold them after a couple of months.
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The one thing that DOES work well with them. Although what you say is true, the lack of deep bass, they can easily be equalized to have truly great deep bass.

The store I worked in, had them set up with the 12 band equalizer with the 32hz band all the way up, and it literally shook the store playing some truly deep bass notes at high volume. We played that Heartbeat thing on the beginning of DSOTM, and it was unreal how much deep bass you could "provoke" out of them.

The woofers had a huge excursion ability and combined with the monster 120 Watt receiver back then, would really rumble. (with deep bass boosted of course)
 
No speaker should have to be boosted with an equalizer to that extreme. An equalizer should be used to attenuate frequencies more than boost them.. At the time I owned the Mach One I also owned a pair of Klipsch KG3.5 and the single 8” in the Klipsch blew the Mach One woofer out of the water in terms of low bass output and quality. And that’s with tone controls set flat. That’s the only way I listen to speakers. With the “Pure Direct” button on. Any speaker can be made to sound however you want with an equalizer. But a speaker that doesn’t need any equalization to sound good s what I prefer.
 
gkimeng said:
I was working in a RS store in my senior year of college (spring,1975) when the first pair of Mach Ones were drop shipped in with no advance notice. We had no idea what they were until a preview copy of the 1976 catalog came in the mail a few weeks later.

My recollection of my listening first impression is that the bass was prodigious, but for overall sound I preferred the recently discontinued Nova 9. My taste in tweeters always leaned more toward domes than horns.
Click to expand...

I got the Nova 9's. And the 4024's. The 9's are better. In a sound race they beat the 4024's by many buses.
 
BOUXY said:

  1. View attachment 2498732
  2. 4024 – Originals, made by Tandy in 1976-77. Woofer has rubber surround that doesn’t rot (originals are still great in 2014). L-plate on the front uses 10 screws. Came with a lifetime warranty.
  3. 4024a – Same as the 4024, except made from 1978-81. Came with a 5-year warranty.
  4. 4029 – “Junk” according to 4024/4024a purists. Made by Optimus from 1982 to 1984. Uses different components. Woofer has a foam surround that needs replacement. L-plate on the front uses 6 screws. The “VL mods” (see “Modifications” below) only apply to this model. The resale on the 4029s is lower than 4024/4024a, and most people say that the 4029s do not sound as good as the original 4024/4024a speakers.

    How many Members here have actually heard the 4024 Speakers?
    I have seen many bash the sound of Mach Ones but what model did you have or hear?
    I have two sets of the originals powered by an STA-2300 Receiver and they still in 2022 sound just excellent!I bought them when they came out with a Lifetime Warranty and they have certainly lived up to it and still do! Bought a set of 4029's in 1982 and within 10 yrs had Foam and Tweeter troubles.4024 was 20 to 25,000 hz / 100 Watts and the 4029 and was 20 to 20,000 hz / 160 Watts :)
Click to expand...

My 4024's don't have rubber surrounds. No it don't rot, don't know what it is, but it ain't rubber.
The 4024a can handle more power than the 4024.
Got to drive them hard to get them to perform, both of them.
 
AudioGMan said:
No speaker should have to be boosted with an equalizer to that extreme. An equalizer should be used to attenuate frequencies more than boost them.. At the time I owned the Mach One I also owned a pair of Klipsch KG3.5 and the single 8” in the Klipsch blew the Mach One woofer out of the water in terms of low bass output and quality. And that’s with tone controls set flat. That’s the only way I listen to speakers. With the “Pure Direct” button on. Any speaker can be made to sound however you want with an equalizer. But a speaker that doesn’t need any equalization to sound good s what I prefer.
Click to expand...


Well of course what you say is true, but the Mach one is a fairly compact box with a long excursion 15" woofer. They Made it small and sacrificed deep bass, but it could handle huge power and still had the excursion.

The Mach ones SHOULD have been in a far larger box and they would have had great deep bass.
 
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The 4024 and 4024A have a rubber impregnated surround that doesn't rot like the 4029 model. The 4024 and 4024A have a control / tweeter plate that uses tapered screws to attach it and more screws than the 4029. The tapered head screws cause pressure at the holes making the plastic plate more crack prone over time. The 4029's have flat seating screws that do not promote cracking, and they have fewer screws. The VL mods were originally designed for the 4029, but VL also listed how to mod the 4024 and 4024A to create the same results. The 4029 has a better crossover design that takes less mods to make it better and has better binding posts. The large thread on the Mach 1's have all the information needed if you have the time to read through it all.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...4-4024a-4029-information-and-upgrades.261425/
 
maxhifi said:
Looks like a fun setup with the lava lamps and all those ornaments. I like the edge detail on the cabinet holding the tape decks too.

I had a pair of 4024, they were lots of fun. It isn't really fair to compare them to audiophile speakers, they're their own thing.
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Thanks,I built that Cabinet,super strong ! It also matches our Hutch detailed edges:)
 
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kevintomb said:
Well of course what you say is true, but the Mach one is a fairly compact box with a long excursion 15" woofer. They Made it small and sacrificed deep bass, but it could handle huge power and still had the excursion.

The Mach ones SHOULD have been in a far larger box and they would have had great deep bass.
Click to expand...
I totally agree. The box is way undersized. Makes the bass too boomy. I bet 3 cubic feet of internal volume would produce some nice bass.
 
AudioGMan said:
I totally agree. The box is way undersized. Makes the bass too boomy. I bet 3 cubic feet of internal volume would produce some nice bass.
Click to expand...

I had a friend (many years ago) that took a Mach one Woofer and components, from a water/physically damaged cabinet, and installed it in an old large speaker cabinet from the 1960s that had no drivers.

It was a very Home made looking thing, but the volume of the "new" speaker cabinet was maybe 4 times that of the Original Mach one speaker cabinet. (Best Guess, more like about 6 cuft total)

The deep bass it made, was VERY much improved over the small original radio shack box.

Like a couple magnitudes better! He eventually sold the drivers off on Ebay, but it was an amazing experiment. He only had ONE set of drivers and one huge cabinet, so more of a fun project, but never an actual stereo pair.

I think a box about double the size of the original might work "fine", but in a very large box, they are unreal.
 
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