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Realistic Fans

TAGO MAGO

TAGO MAGO

Super Member
While my heart is definitely with vintage audio by Pioneer, Sansui, Technics, Nakamichi and other brands of the like I have always had a bit of a soft spot for Realistic gear. I know some of it is not great. In fact quite a lot of it is not great but they have always had interesting gear and every now and again (as with the Minimus 7 speakers) they come out with a real gem. My father bought some of their mini components for his office in the mid 80's which is actually sitting on my desk at work now and when ever I see a small Realistic piece at the thrifts I just have to have it. Take a look at this piece I have pictured here. Yes, while it will never replace my Nakamichi LX-3 or my Technics RS-M 45 you have to admit it is rather cute.
 

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I have an affliction for RS gear also,I guess its from working at a Radio Shack store back in the late 70's,collecting all the catalogs till they stopped printing them,buying and enjoying their audio gear,and finally collecting it and having it now in the mancave.I'll be posting some photos of my audio room later on with some RS bookshelf speakers incorporated into the mix with namebrand gear. Rob
 
The only piece of Realistic gear I have is a 2-channel + mic mixer. I like it a lot - this thing is incredibly heavy and is very well made. It's made from thick steel, doubled over on the front panel. The slider resistors are bolted directly to the chassis, not just the PCB...it was made to last.

I'm looking for a pair of Minimus 7's, but can't find any at a good price.
 
MunkeyQ said:
I'm looking for a pair of Minimus 7's, but can't find any at a good price.
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They often show up on eBay for an okay price, although ages ago I bought a pair of speakers from a thrift that looked identical to the Minimus 7 in every way but they had the name "PipSpeak" on the front and were distributed by Lafayette Radio Electronics. I take it that this would have been in their final days before their doors closed. Unfortunately I gave them away with this decent Panasonic mini-system from the 80's along with my Quadraflex turntable to a friend that had an excellent record collection (Sandy Bull, The Pentangle, Fairport Convention, John Fahey, etc.) but no turntable.
 
I have no receivers or the likes of that, but I have 2 sets of Realistic speakers. The Mach II and a set of Optimus T-120. I love them.
I would like to pick up a nice Realistic receiver someday but the funds are earmarked for a few other things right now.
 
of all things it was my cousins hand-me-down realistic stereo that his uncle gave him that put me on the course of stereo gear and whatnots. this was '78 ish. I don't even recall what the amp or receiver looked like but that wood cab belt drive turntable rocked us a many friday night sleepovers and the little speakers were enough as well.

He only had that unit for a year until he got a modern blackface sharp setup for christmas, tho i seem to recall he kept the turntable.

if not for reaslistic, i might be enjoying a Bose Wave radio right now and never know any better.
 
My main setup is my dads Realistic STA-85 receiver he bought new in '83. It has been in use almost continuously since then, only spending two years in storage. It has also never had any major service (needed a switch replaced a long time ago and I recently tightened the transformer mount because it was humming.). That runs my main speakers, a pair of Optimus Pro 7 AV's (same as the mini 7's). Great sounding system. One of the things that I think is funny on the receiver though is the "Auto Magic". It keeps the tunner from drifting.

Other RatShack things we still own and that still work are an old Tandy computer with a 386 in it and an old TRS-80 pocket computer. I know we have some more arround but I can't remember what.
 
vinyldavid said:
I want their little tiny integrated amps, just to have them! They look so cute!
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While they are nothing to set the world on fire, they are definitely cool for an office or cubicle system. My only real gripe with at least the ones I have owned is the fact that they have RCA jacks for the speakers. My father has one with a matching tuner and tape deck in the den of his house hooked to an early 70's pair of Jensen speakers and it sounds good for what it is.
 
I've always loved the little Realistic separates. And not necessarily for being any "better" in any respect that any other piece of gear. It's just that when I turned 14 in 1970 I fell in love with music and worked hard mowing lawns to graduate from a mono record player and buy my first stereo gear- the SA-100B (barely pictured on the far left). The following year, I bought the SA-175C and TM-175 which is pictured here.

I remember not being impressed with the difference in power between the 175 and the 100. Of course, we're talking about 24w and 10w, respectively (peak). The SA-100 was $29.95 in 1970 and the SA-175 was $59.95 in 1971. It didn't seem worth the difference. It was with this amps that I learned how much more wattage you had to have to make a difference.

It seems like you never knew WHAT kind of speaker jacks you would get with these separates. Screws on the 100, RCA's on the 175... Many, like the SA-500 and 900 had both RCA's and push-clamps.

But it was better equipment than what the drug stores were peddling and it filled the void until the late 70's when I moved up and over the wattage limitations of Radio Shack's equipment.

Brian

20080311 Realistic TM175 SA175C.jpg
 
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I don't have any experience with Realistic gear, but I recently picked up some from the thrift store. A Lab440 TT and a pair of Optimus-5 speakers both in pretty good shape and seem to be well built. Haven't had the chance to audition the speakers yet, hope they sound good.
 

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Cool! The Shack had some very nice items at reasonable prices. Today they don't sell items under their Realistic name brand, but you can still get some nice buys there. For Christmas I picked up a Shack/Sherwood receiver for $80 that I'm using in my study as I write this. Very nice sound for the money. I still have my minimus 7's somewhere in my basement.

I like that SA-175C and TM-175 combo. Wow, it even has a phono stage.

Very nice!
 
This is an STA-2080. I just got it from Goodwill, what a score!
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last year picked up my first RS rec'r a STA 2200 mint at a GW mint for $5 Nice mosfet design still in use she sounds great!
 
Being Realistic

Minimus 7's; T-100's; STA 430 [cue-t-pie!]; STA 2300 (not as cute - but a 'beaut'!) :music:
 
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