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Realistic mach one. Just over hyped?

I owned them. They did benefit considerably from new capacitors. Yes the bass doesn't go as deep as it would if the giant drives had a larger cabinet, and yes the mid horn does add some "sonic signature", but they do go loud, and if you hit them with lots of power, they do produce a sort of concert PA sound, which smaller speakers, and those without midrange horns cannot do, which makes you feel as though you're at a live show.

If you're not the sort of person who assigns fond memories to coming home at 1am from concerts, with your ears ringing and a smile on your face, I would say definitely pass on these. If on the other hand that's your thing, you may want to try harder with placement and associated equipment.

I moved on, because they aren't neutral enough for classical music, and I have no real use for a one trick horse. If you want Metallica to have a concert in your basement whenever you set down the needle though, they will have no problem obliging to let Metallica kick ass!
 
Mach Ones were advertised (look at the catalogs through the years) as speakers designed to get LOUD and for playing rock music. They sounded fine for that kind of music for the day. One needs a big room and a powerful amp to get the most out of them. I FAR prefer the Nova series and the similar Optimus series.

While for a time in the 70s the MO was the most expensive it really was not the TOTL and by 79 the Optimus T 200 was more expensive and was being sold as the best sounding RS speaker. The MO was being billed like it always was; a speaker with huge bass that will get really freaking loud.

The Mach Ones were, IMO, a speaker designed with marketing in mind, not the best sound quality. A very good example of this the Marantz Imperial 6 and 7 series. The 6s were by far better sounding but the 7s had the specs that people wanted to see (bigger woofer, 3 way etc) and sold FAR better. There are always those that hate any and all speakers from RS even though they actually made some very nice units in several different styles. That was the cool thing about RS back then, they did not have a corporate identity in the design of their speakers, they had a lot of different styles at all price points.
 
Also consider those speakers were made right in the middle of the Disco era.

Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I can see these speakers doing a wonderful job of blasting out the disco bass line, making the vocals cut though the air like a knife, and making absolutely sure that you can't actually talk to the people you're dancing with!

Actually speaking of that, these would be a great speaker for club music of all sorts. I would imagine that a fan of 90s house music would be very satisfied, for example.

Jazz at the pawnshop on the other hand, yeah, I don't think so! And definitely not classical unless it's Switched on Bach.

One thing I found funny in the ad is the claim of theatre like sound.. Yeah right, these are no large format Altecs! Not even close.
 
Tom Brennan said:
There is no gear so wretched as to not have enthusiastic followers on AK. Note the enthusiasm here for brittle sounding early SS receivers, old New England speakers that sound like they're covered with a blanket and some American and Japanese speakers that should be covered with one. I think a great many AKers have little experience with a wide range of gear or with high quality gear.
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Tom, you always hit the nail on the head with an oversized hammer. A pleasure to read and a reminder that I'm still a comparative poor-assed hillbilly at this "audiophile" thing.
 
I had a pair nothing great, did the full meal deal mods ala VideoLady on them and it did improve them exponentially. Its ok to mod speakers, people love to mod speakers to get out any imperfections or create some. Look around and you will see the biggest baddest JBL, Altec high dollar monitors modded, to Lowthers, Fostexs, Tannoy's, you name it, there is no perfect speaker for everyone regardless of price and making modifications can be fun especially if the information is from people who have the equipment to give actual measurements on what they have done. Replace a redesigned diaphragm or upgrade crossover components you've modded your speakers. Add felt or Dynomat, a little fill, you've modded. If they are not taking up valuable space make sure the drivers are ok, research the progress posters have made and play around with them, you may end up with something fun or still hate them and pass them on to someone who loves the sound. I sold mine and the buyer is tickled with them.
 
I bought a pair 2 years ago, from the clist cause the price was right. Got them home so excited because that was the speaker I drooled at looking in the Radio shack windows when I was a kid. Mind you I've had mostly Infinity speakers since getting serious about audio.

Man did they sound like crap, horrible. I went straight to Lowes and bought some 3/4 inch mdf, built new cabinets exactly to the original, did most of the mods recommended in the big thread here, nothing worked they still sounded like crap to me. Well end story, I got a bit tipsey one weekend and removed the drivers Took a sledge hammer and destroyed my Beatiful cabinets I worked so hard on and sold the rest on eBay.

Nothing sounded good on them, nothing.
 
Great for the patio or pool parties. Had a pair for about two months and my wife who has a good ear said one day "Honey a guy wants them and they sold!". Lol.
Bless her.:D
Then I came home with the Klipsch Belle's. THAT she really liked. If you want horns go BIG.
 
RS Steve, I really like the aluminum plates that hold the tweeters & trim pots, also very nicely done on the cabinets. You've done an excellent job upgrading the Machs. Still I'd port the cab, the woofer seems capable of handling a port with large foam surround & large stiff spider.
 
I had a pair of the 4024a series Mach Ones about a year ago. A guy from work gave them to me for free.....wanted them out of his basement. They needed a recap, which I did, but even after I was not a fan of them. Shrill highs and honky mid range that just shouted at you. Plus they weighed a ton for what they were, nearly blew out my back moving the things! I sold them on ebay to a local buyer. The guy loved them! To each is own I guess. I went back to using a pair of Realistic Optimus-1 speakers at the time, but have since moved on to a pair of original Large Advents. Henry got those right, just like he did the KLH Six. No "blanket" on these New England speakers if you ask me as another poster said above.
 
I had a pair, I am pretty sure they are the only 15" sealed cabinet classic speaker???

Anyways I thought they lacked DEEP bass as well. I used them outside for a birthday party and they were good at filling a backyard with sound.

I think they needed a bigger cabinet or something.
 
CKDC said:
Radio Shack called them a "Sound Sensation." Not nice or pleasant or wonderful or whatever. Just a "Sound Sensation."

It seems to me at $400.00 a pair, they were pretty expensive too.
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Often promoted during sales at a "buy one, get one free" loss leader.
 
Well, I like mine.

That being said, when I had a huge listening room at my old house, they sounded much better than they do in my new smaller room. I still like them though.
 
Soundjunky said:
Still I'd port the cab, the woofer seems capable of handling a port with large foam surround & large stiff spider.
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The small magnet and high Qts of .56 indicate the woofer is intended for a sealed box. I suspect that modeling would show a very high F3 in a vented box but a larger sealed box might show an improvement in F3 over stock.
 
botrytis said:
I have tweeters that have bigger magnets then the Mach 1 ones. The Mach 1's were a cheap price point design and that is all they were designed to be.
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Uhhhh not really. They were designed with marketing in mind......."Look a 15 in Woofer AND Horns that can get really loud" type of speaker. The MOs were not cheap at all (in price) for the time.
 
If you think the Mach woofer has a small magnet, you must have not seen many late-90s consumer-grade woofers... This is a Pioneer 15" woofer from a CS-G403:

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