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Realistic Minimus 7 ID Thread

Illusions said:
Alrighty, Thanks...lol wasn't expecting that lol! but still I love them :)
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The second largest thread for a single model speaker is the Minimus 7 thread. Pretty cool stuff. It's a different thread from this one. I believe a link is posted in this thread somewhere.
 
Good ol M7's, will they ever die, will people ever forget them?
I have an original set I bought around 1978, with the screw terminals. They've done duty over the span of 34 years in my cars, on my outside deck, on my night table, and now as my back surround speakers. The woofers are shot, and replaced with something else so the sound is not original. Tweeters are beat up but still work. I did replace one of the tweeters years ago with an original I bought thru the Shack.

This week I picked up another black pair for $10. Perfect condition but they are the type with the spring connectors. I was very happy to find these, and to be the first one to show up with the $10.
 
I have just got a pair of genexa pro 7s exactly the same as the minimus 7s only these have a small 20mm port at the rear, everything else exactly the same.

I remember genexxa in my local tandy store many years ago.
 
Just got a pair of the rear-ported Optimus Pro-7s. Already have five of the 7Ws, but couldn't leave them there for $5...
 
Hey, let's keep this thread alive!

This is my first post on this forum. Great information guys!

I was digging around in my basement and found a pair of M7s that I had forgot all about.
I'm hoping that someone could help me identify the version and approximate year. Unfortunately the labels had been peeled off the backs when they were repainted white in the early 90s.
They are a complete set of black ones including the optional bracket set. Pretty much identical to the ones shown by Stuart Pedaso in post #40 http://mail.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3782899&postcount=40 except they were originally black. Same tweeters (metal face plate), black coned woofers and crossover parts. All the drivers made in Japan. Same yellow fiberglass stuffing and spring clip wire terminals. The only thing that is different is that the woffers have foam surrounds and instead of rubber. This is the first time I have seen this.

Anyone have a pair that matches my description?

If you do please let me know what the model number is and if you can, take a photo of the rear label and post it. I plan of restoring these back to original condition and have access to a print shop that can make me new stick on vinyl labels.

Cheers,
Glen.
 
Id

Barkly said:
Hey, let's keep this thread alive!

This is my first post on this forum. Great information guys!

I was digging around in my basement and found a pair of M7s that I had forgot all about.
I'm hoping that someone could help me identify the version and approximate year. Unfortunately the labels had been peeled off the backs when they were repainted white in the early 90s.
They are a complete set of black ones including the optional bracket set. Pretty much identical to the ones shown by Stuart Pedaso in post #40 http://mail.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3782899&postcount=40 except they were originally black. Same tweeters (metal face plate), black coned woofers and crossover parts. All the drivers made in Japan. Same yellow fiberglass stuffing and spring clip wire terminals. The only thing that is different is that the woffers have foam surrounds and instead of rubber. This is the first time I have seen this.

Anyone have a pair that matches my description?

If you do please let me know what the model number is and if you can, take a photo of the rear label and post it. I plan of restoring these back to original condition and have access to a print shop that can make me new stick on vinyl labels.

Cheers,
Glen.
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Did you look at post#22 by kfa888? It may be that you possess the M77s which have a foam surround woofer; Note the relative difference in size between the M7s and the M77s... what specific size are the cabinets (HxWxL)? Ditto to keeping the thread active!:music:
 
The cabinets are 7 x 4.5 x 4 (HxWxD)
The woofers are 4".
They are definitely M7.
I hate to admit it but I'm the fool who removed the the labels when my wife asked me to paint them white to blend in with the room.
 
Hmmm...

Barkly said:
The cabinets are 7 x 4.5 x 4 (HxWxD)
The woofers are 4".
They are definitely M7.
I hate to admit it but I'm the fool who removed the the labels when my wife asked me to paint them white to blend in with the room.
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:scratch2:I honestly don't know whether The Minimus-7s ever were offered w/foam surrounds, but I have owned many pairs over the years and have never seen anything other than rubber: maybe someone more knowledgeable about them can chime in?
P.S. I just recently purchased some NOS woofers on eBay for a pair of m7s I accidentally blew up (lost one woofer and one channel of the reciever when I shorted a Pioneer SX-450...one bloody conductor of the speaker wire came loose and grounded on the chassis! Amp was beyond my capability to repair, so I'm waiting to have enough $ to have someone else look at it.) Anyway, the woofer replacements were rubber-surrounds, too. Post pics of the woofer, maybe an end user replacement was done and someone can ID 'em?
Good Luck!:thmbsp:
 
Barkly said:
I'm hoping that someone could help me identify the version and approximate year. Unfortunately the labels had been peeled off the backs when they were repainted white in the early 90s.
They are a complete set of black ones including the optional bracket set. Pretty much identical to the ones shown by Stuart Pedaso in post #40 http://mail.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3782899&postcount=40 except they were originally black. Same tweeters (metal face plate), black coned woofers and crossover parts. All the drivers made in Japan. Same yellow fiberglass stuffing and spring clip wire terminals. The only thing that is different is that the woffers have foam surrounds and instead of rubber.
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The earliest Black M7's with spring clip terminals is 40-2030A which began production late 1979 and featured in the 1980 catalog. It was made for 2 years then replaced by 40-2030B.

40-2030B ran to about 1988. Both 40-2030 A and B had smooth metal tweeter face-plates, the same spring clip terminals and mounting bracket, and all were made in Japan. Except for product label, they appear outwardly identical.

40-2030A certainly had the internal round-bobbin crossover inductor that you describe. 40-2030B may have gone to the squarish plastic bobbin. I haven't been able to confirm this, and I have doubts -- the Silver 40-2034(no suffix) still used the round inductor during the same time frame Black 40-2030B was being manufactured.

You certainly don't have 40-2030C, which switched to the plastic tweeter faceplate (and could be from Japan, Korea or Malaysia, depending on when they were made).

Without knowing what subtle internal detail(s) might differentiate A from B suffix, you might try checking for date codes on the drivers for clues. If they're later than 40-2030A time frame, then you have 40-2030B. If they're earlier than B ... well, you probably have 40-2030A, unless there was a large enough early stock to bleed over into 40-2030B assemblies. :dunno:
 
So....
The mystery of the foam surround has been solved. These M7s had previously been owned by my brother who just informed me that he had swapped them out with a pair of woofers from some JVC S-M3 speakers that look virtually identical (except or the surrounds). The good news is that he still had the original woofers. He sent me a pic of the woofer label.
Here is a set of pics from both the woofer and tweeter labels. I don't know if any of the numbers listed are date codes.
 

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Barkly said:
Here is a set of pics from both the woofer and tweeter labels. I don't know if any of the numbers listed are date codes.
Click to expand...

Ooh ... look at all that text on those labels! Those are early.

Leaner text appears on later M7 drivers (as with drivers from other Radio Shack lines such as Nova and Optimus during the same period). Compare against my Silver 40-2034 drivers from '86 for later, less detailed labeling.

This raises the odds that yours are 40-2030A. Might still be early 40-2030B though. I have a Silver 40-2034 from as late as November '83 with similarly detailed labels:
83M7woof.JPG

This is contemporary to early 40-2030B.
Note that this driver has the same style date code as printed on the speaker cabinet:
40-2034.JPG

I haven't cracked the longer character string style codes yet. Maybe someone else has ... ?
 
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Thanks for all the great feedback Stuart.

The one number on the woofer 412180 intrigues me because the other woofer's label had 412179 on it. Could this be that one woofer is dated 1979 and the other 1980??

Other than a bit of minor wrinkling on on the tweeter domes, the drivers could be brand new.
The woofers have nice shiny rubber surrounds that are still soft and supple and the cones are medium grey and crisp but not brittle. Tomorrow I'm going to source out the parts for the Zilch crossovers then its off to paint and assembly.
 
I received the parts for my crossovers on Friday and got one built today.

Check it out.....
 

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