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Panasonic Thrusters: How bad are they? Let's find out!

MRX37

MRX37

Super Member
I had a lot of fun testing those Electro Voice EVS 16b speakers awhile back, though apparently I made the error of stating that they were "high end" speakers, when they were closer to average quality for the time.

Well I think you'd agree with me that the EVS 16b's are high end when compared to Panasonic Thrusters.

I made a video about the Thruster SB-1100's that I found, and compared them to some other options for listening to music, in order to find out where they stand as far as reproducing sound goes.

 
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Put in some more damping material. Pull that crappy tweeter and replace it with a cheap dome tweeter from Parts Express. Then it might sound decent... And while you are at it replace that single capacitor with a new one.

But yeah they don't sound good at all.
 
This sort of investigation is one of the best features of AK. One of the draws of vintage audio is, or at least used to be, finding overlooked and underpriced items. I had no illusions about 'Thrusters' but to have them go head to head with a smart phone and a bluetooth rig is informative to those of us with morbid curiosity. Thank you for the time and effort.
 
pete1729 said:
This sort of investigation is one of the best features of AK. One of the draws of vintage audio is, or at least used to be, finding overlooked and underpriced items. I had no illusions about 'Thrusters' but to have them go head to head with a smart phone and a bluetooth rig is informative to those of us with morbid curiosity. Thank you for the time and effort.
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Thank you for your comment.


spicer said:
None of those speakers sounded good and the Thrusters sounded better than most of them. They are all irritating, some more some less.
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Hee hee, never said any of them sounded "good". I did say the Sharp towers were adequate. With an equalizer you could make them work for a budget system.

Thing is many people would think that Bluetooth speaker sounded good, and would give it 5 stars on Amazon.
 
MRX37 said:
Thank you for your comment.




Hee hee, never said any of them sounded "good". I did say the Sharp towers were adequate. With an equalizer you could make them work for a budget system.

Thing is many people would think that Bluetooth speaker sounded good, and would give it 5 stars on Amazon.
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I had the same cringe thought that many would think the Bluetooth sounded good, given no other comparison experience or otherwise they might think the Thrusters are high end. The Sharp speakers... I'm thinking Sharp had the Thrusters market in mind when they came out with those... better, yes, but they have easily identifiable Thruster sound. We laugh but everybody has heard of Thrusters, they sold a ton of them and many survive to this day... Panasonic knew something about what they were doing marketing those. Now we have Bluetooth, sound bars, ear buds, cell phone audio... worse than Thrusters. Hmmmm....
 
spicer said:
We laugh but everybody has heard of Thrusters, they sold a ton of them and many survive to this day...
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Yeah. I noted this in my video, but I am pretty sure the foam surrounds are original. Original 40+ year old foam surrounds, no signs of foam rot.

Ironic.
 
Probably good enough for garage or patio use. Add a $10 used receiver ( or $25 chip amp) and a phone or tablet for a source.

I don't understand why some folks get bent out of shape over using low budget gear when appropriate :beerchug:
 
homebrew said:
Are you sure the tweeters were working on the Panasonics?
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Yeah. They were working. How well they were working is up for debate, but yes they were working.


donprice said:
Probably good enough for garage or patio use. Add a $10 used receiver ( or $25 chip amp) and a phone or tablet for a source.

I don't understand why some folks get bent out of shape over using low budget gear when appropriate :beerchug:
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Yeah. I mean I got them for free, so I can't complain. They've already been entertaining for me to mess with.

Speakers like these actually fill a niche. That being a place where you want sound but don't want to risk anything valuable. Or if you're a newbie learning the basic idea of how a speaker works and don;t want to tear up something desirable.

Or you can hack and modify them to your heart's content. I actually have 2 pairs of these SB 1100's. I showed off the pair that's in better condition. I might modify the other pair. Try other drivers, maybe add ports. I don't know yet, but they're there if I get inspired.
 
When I was a kid I thought they sounded awesome. It's all based on your reference, guess mine was quite low.....
 
Gibsonian said:
When I was a kid I thought they sounded awesome. It's all based on your reference, guess mine was quite low.....
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Funny, I had a pair also and thought they sounded pretty good. Then I got a pair of RS towers and thought I was in heaven............then I got high, then I got high ,then I got high..................Sorry, couldn't resist. :smoke: :rockon:
 
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