Realistic Optimus 25 speakers

[GGFanatic]

Howdy folks!
Picked up these speakers from a friend of mine. Weird thing is that the + in on the left - on the right.
Looked them up on Radio Shack catalog 1979 edition, it states that these have a 12" woofer
I measured the woofer in mine and they were 10"

Anyway they sound like absolute S&^% and seem to be power hungry. Hardly any 'Bottom' End
at all.. Any idea what the problem could be? Maybe its trouble with the crossover.
I removed one of the 10" drivers and inspected it close paying close attention to the spiders
( Ive ran across several speakers at this age with cracked or brittle spiders.)
They seem to be okay..

Any advice?

Thanks GGFanatic

 

[Sharpstik]

I had the 21s and the 23s . I have the 45s. All had a 10 inch. But they weren’t bad speakers. Yours retailed for 129. For one. Not junk. BTW , the catalog says 10, not 12.

 

[Slosh MaGee]

I believe those speaker wire inputs were engineered to be positive on the left and negative on the right. You might possibly have an issue with the mid and hi frequency switches at the rear speaker wire inputs, or an issue with the crossovers. Regardless, I've heard a few sets Optimus speakers and I wasn't impressed much. I'm also not a big fan of unported speakers either. Just my experience. Good luck, have a good day.

 

[Ed240]

Picked up these speakers from a friend of mine. Weird thing is that the + in on the left - on the right.
Looked them up on Radio Shack catalog 1979 edition, it states that these have a 12" woofer
I measured the woofer in mine and they were 10"

The 1979 catalog lists the woofer as 12", the 80 & 81 say 10". I recall they were 12" woofers, as they replaced the 12" 3-way Optimus-5B. Could you post measurements of the outside dimensions? FWIW the Opti-25 is the Shack's most underrated loudspeaker, and far better than what it replaced. They can be had for short money, are easy to repair or even reload with new drivers. The veneer is gorgeous after refinishing. Ed

 

[Mark in NJ]

Howdy folks!
Picked up these speakers from a friend of mine. Weird thing is that the + in on the left - on the right.
Looked them up on Radio Shack catalog 1979 edition, it states that these have a 12" woofer
I measured the woofer in mine and they were 10"

Anyway they sound like absolute S&^% and seem to be power hungry. Hardly any 'Bottom' End
at all.. Any idea what the problem could be? Maybe its trouble with the crossover.
I removed one of the 10" drivers and inspected it close paying close attention to the spiders
( Ive ran across several speakers at this age with cracked or brittle spiders.)
They seem to be okay..

Any advice?

Thanks GGFanatic

I was a Radio Shack store manager in the mid-1970s. I compared every speaker in the store and (naturally) I liked to Mach One best. But they were too expensive. Number two favorite was the Optimus 25 because they were the clearest sounding speaker we sold. And I am still using them 47 years later. They have not been repaired or modified. And they sound great. Nor has the foam deteriorated.

 

[CatCam]

I have a set of Optimus 25's that I bought in 1981 with my grass cutting money - amazing that they are still in great shape and the foam on the woofers look like they did when they were new! They actually sound pretty good, as Mark in NJ stated, they are clear sounding speakers. I contemplated changing the caps on the crossover...but decided not to mess with them because they sound great. Not bad for 45 years!!!
I have them hooked to a QSC 1500A amp and a Carver Preamp, my garage rocks!

 

[Area man]

Those woofers are 10" to the edges of the foam - I have measured them. The Rat Shack catalog and specs say they are 12", but they are most certainly not, unless you are measuring to the outside corners of the basket! Which is probably what they did. Anyway, those are the same size woofers as the Nova 8B/Optimus 5B, but they have different dust caps, so I'm not sure they're the same thing.

The specs rate the 8b as going much lower (20Hz for the 8b (probably another exaggeration) vs. 45Hz. on the 25s, and higher suggested power handling for what that's worth. Presumably it's the crossover, and/or maybe the drivers are less robust than the 8b's. Owner reviews indicate that the performance of the 25s is inferior to the 8b, but I've only heard the latter. They look like they should sound very similar, but consensus says they don't.