REALISTIC speaker opinions

[dnewma04]

I liked some of the lineaum based speakers. Didn't care much for my Nova 7Bs (although they were certainly in the class of some of the KLH/AR's middle of the road stuff), minimus 7s. Minimus 77s were a decent step up but fell well short of some inexpensive NHT superzeros. Machs give me nightmares, generally, but i have heard refurbed mach 2s outdoors as background music speakers and they were pretty good in that regard, without room reinforcement, the boom was much less pronounced. The electrostat tweeter models Hardy mentions had very nice mids/highs, no bass.

I'm going with Hardy on the fact that I haven't heard anything short of some of the tiny offerings (the little 4" full range driver), minimus 7/77, and the lineaum models do much of what I would call imaging or have real good clarity. I think the bass on the Nova 7b and 8b was pretty decent for the day. The little cone mids/tweeters left a lot to be desired and replacing at least the tweeter can make a remarkable improvement (at least it did on mine).

 

[angel17]

For the first time ever I got me some Realistic speakers Mach 1's to be exact,as soon as i got them I recapped them with Dayton caps and they sound super nice to my big ears. I'm driven them with tubes Sansui 1000a and a Dual 1219 with a Dynavector 20x cardtridge and listenig to my Jazz records collection and I love their sound. Percussion and cymballs are nice and detailed, they are keepers for sure.

 

[Copa1934]

For the first time ever I got me some Realistic speakers Mach 1's to be exact,as soon as i got them I recapped them with Dayton caps and they sound super nice to my big ears. I'm driven them with tubes Sansui 1000a and a Dual 1219 with a Dynavector 20x cardtridge and listenig to my Jazz records collection and I love their sound. Percussion and cymballs are nice and detailed, they are keepers for sure.

Only piece of equipment I once owned that I truly miss is my Dual 1237. Had a At96e and served me well. All my equipment was stolen while I was in classes in college. Took a long time to acquire nice equipment again. Hope to some day get another Dual TT. Just love the engineering. Simple, affordable, functional.

 

[Renzor213]

I liked some of the lineaum based speakers. Didn't care much for my Nova 7Bs (although they were certainly in the class of some of the KLH/AR's middle of the road stuff), minimus 7s. Minimus 77s were a decent step up but fell well short of some inexpensive NHT superzeros. Machs give me nightmares, generally, but i have heard refurbed mach 2s outdoors as background music speakers and they were pretty good in that regard, without room reinforcement, the boom was much less pronounced. The electrostat tweeter models Hardy mentions had very nice mids/highs, no bass.

I'm going with Hardy on the fact that I haven't heard anything short of some of the tiny offerings (the little 4" full range driver), minimus 7/77, and the lineaum models do much of what I would call imaging or have real good clarity. I think the bass on the Nova 7b and 8b was pretty decent for the day. The little cone mids/tweeters left a lot to be desired and replacing at least the tweeter can make a remarkable improvement (at least it did on mine).

Strange, as never really thought of the Mach series strength's, but think you nailed it pretty good for outdoor DJ function's. Not trying to start anything, but may be a decent low cost choice for someone doing parties. My younger brother had Nova 7B's(maybe still does put away), and never made any claim's about them, but served him well. Don't think I'd be bringing NHT into this post, as that's a whole different level.

 

[dnewma04]

The superzeros were low cost, I purchased 5 of them for 90.00 each when new. Which isn't much more than what Minimus 77s cost.

 

[mhardy6647]

Even the Minimus 7s are poor imitations of the Visonik David and the ads L-200/L-300 minispeakers which they were designed to look like.

 

[Live_Wire]

I have a pair of Mach Ones, Twos, Nova 10's and a few pairs of Minimus 7's. I have my Mach Twos on a Yamaha RX-397 and it sounds excellent. I have a pair of Minimus 7W's on a Realistic STA-2270 with a cassette deck and a turntable.

Overall, I like the sound of my Mach Twos. I have heard a few of the higher dollar speakers in the A/V stores and I didn't particularly care for being required to use a sub-woofer to get the sound I want. I love having the big 15" woofers and the nice large cabinets (the other thing I don't like about most new speakers).

 

[squarewave]

I kind of agree...

Even the Minimus 7s are poor imitations of the Visonik David and the ads L-200/L-300 minispeakers which they were designed to look like.

Yes, even upgraded, the 7s don't compare to the L-300s. I own a pair and they are the only minis I have heard, (mind you, I haven't heard as many as some here on AK), that didn't SOUND like minis...That being said you don't go to a hot dog stand and complain that they don't have Duck a l'Orange. I appreciate value as much as cost-is-no-object engineering. As a blue collar audiophile I love to see what can be done on a limited budget (e.g. Boston Acoustics A40s, anyone?), plus it's FUN to tweak!

 

[Copa1934]

Yes, even upgraded, the 7s don't compare to the L-300s. I own a pair and they are the only minis I have heard, (mind you, I haven't heard as many as some here on AK), that didn't SOUND like minis...That being said you don't go to a hot dog stand and complain that they don't have Duck a l'Orange. I appreciate value as much as cost-is-no-object engineering. As a blue collar audiophile I love to see what can be done on a limited budget (e.g. Boston Acoustics A40s, anyone?), plus it's FUN to tweak!

OK, this has been my point over and over and over again. Why oh why do people make comparisons like this? $100 (MSRP) RS speaker VS. $400 (street price) L300. My god if the L300 DIDN'T perform better wouldn't that be a David kicks Goliaths Butt story. I would love, just for once, a comparison of a TOTL RS speaker system compared to a "like price" any other brand, again at MSRP. And even better still make it like era, within say a couple years either direction. Hmmm, maybe I'll make that my next post.

Is there any common sense left out there? Anywhere?

This is why I take issue with comments degrading various brands of audio components. It's as if everyone on the planet had the same budget but only those "in the know" shop correctly. Geez what is with you people. Oh, let's just for fun compare a Fiat Spider to a Ferrari Dino Spider, heh same size vehicles eh?

 

[chip18sw]

Well I think RS is (was) clearly an underdog in the audio world. I have been a Klipsche fan for life.
But there is no law that says you have to have just one pair or brand of speakers for life!
RS makes made some pretty cool gear, just discovered the Mach Ones recently and I love them and I have a crap load of LX5's used with small subs and I love them to.

Certainly not the most accurate reproducers of music out there but for fun per dollar spent.. you can't beat them.

And "that's the name of that tune!" Ha couldn't resist!

 

[jancumps]

Lets be Realistic here. .

Fwiw I have 2 pairs of Realistic speakers. The Optimus 400's sound very good imho and the unmodified T100 sound decent also with both having very good veneer finishes.
The Forte's sound better and when I get the JBL L100T's sorted out I am sure they will also sound better but for a good cheap speaker they aren't bad.

I have the Optimi-4OOs too, and love them. Using them for 25 years now.
I also have several Minimi-7s for the bedrooms and a pair of Optimi-12s for the living room.

And I quite enjoy that Realistic was aiming at the masses. That is part of the fun.

 

[mhardy6647]

Radio Shack's prices for virtually all of their hifi gear were also very high in the 1970s - the local "Discount Joint" would happily sell you more receiver, amp, or speaker performance for considerably less coin... or one could visit the local "golden ears" emporium and buy far better stuff for similar prices to Radio Shack's house brand equipment.

The Minimus 7 family were a good value at the periodic "half price" sales Radio Shack used to have; I suspect very few sold at the regular price. The sealed box (original Minimus 7/ perforated metal grille) pair I have were bought at closeout in the very early 1990s for $19 a pop; which is about right.

 

[dnewma04]

Copa, no need to get worked up and be insulting. It seems if there is a general theme about minimus 7s, it's that they are proverbial giant killers. If they are such, they should be completing up class from their price point. IME, they perform right at their price point and compete very well in that class. I don't think anyone will diminish their ability to perform at their price level. They are rather like the best buy insignias, they are very cheap speakers that perform well for their price.

For the record, my disdain for the Mach 1 has nothing to do with the brand and everything to do with the sound. I have heard some realistics that were pretty competent speakers.

 

[mhardy6647]

One thing Radio Shack did offer, at one time, were some superior sounding component drivers for reasonable prices. I am not a big fan of the 40-1197 or the 40-1310 (both Fostex OEMs), but the 40-1354 5-1/4" twincone extended range driver and the 40-1375 planar tweeter (JVC knockoff or OEM) are both very, very good sounding drivers (even at their catalog prices).

Mr. Newman nailed the Minimus-7 price/performance paradigm (and rather more diplomatically than I) in the previous post.

 

[dnewma04]

The tweeters from the Mach 2s deserve some recognition, as well.

 

[princeoftides]

As I stated, some are very good, some not so good. None were top of the line speakers, but some approaced the KLH 5 and 6 models as well as the AR3 of their time and at a lower price that let a lot of people afford them. <.QUOTE


But Radio Shack sold the LS3 and KLH's under those respective names, not Radio Shack if you look at the old magazines at the radio shack catalog site. But they also sold their own as lesser priced alternatives for mere mortals of the time. So you'd expect that they wouldn't except by hit and miss, come up with many losers and a few winners. What's that RS driver that everyone raves about that they quit making. They did make some good drivers. Often the execution just wasn't good but I'm sure they had good and bad engineers, perhaps speaker design was an entry level position there in those days.

 

[mhardy6647]

The tweeters from the Mach 2s deserve some recognition, as well.

Good point; there are a pair of Mach 2s in the basement, come to think of it...

 

[boreas]

I've only ever owned 2 pair of RS speakers. The first pair I owned were Nova-7Bs. The only time I ever used them was when I swapped them for a pair of KLH Seventeens while I refinished them. I didn't really care for them. I thought they sounded a little "thin" so I redonated them to GW. The next pair were Nova-10s. I really liked them. They have a very nice cone tweeter which was what I liked most about them. Not a heck of a lot of bass but very balanced and musical, especially good for acoustic music, I think.

John

 

[heisoktoday]

Yes, even upgraded, the 7s don't compare to the L-300s. I own a pair and they are the only minis I have heard, (mind you, I haven't heard as many as some here on AK), that didn't SOUND like minis...That being said you don't go to a hot dog stand and complain that they don't have Duck a l'Orange. I appreciate value as much as cost-is-no-object engineering. As a blue collar audiophile I love to see what can be done on a limited budget (e.g. Boston Acoustics A40s, anyone?), plus it's FUN to tweak!

A comparison of upgraded Minimus 7's verses the ADS L200's not 300's would be a little closer enclosure size and sound wise I believe.

That being said 30 years ago my ADS L200's which hung in the back of my 69 Volkswagen van would never have been traded for my brothers Minimus 7's. Those ADS's got left in Hawaii 3 years ago. My brother still has the 7's here in town sitting amongst his other hoarded things.

The ADS L200's did not match the sound quality of the nearly new L300's, I picked up for $ 40 maybe 16 years ago at a garage sale. Could not believe my luck. They went off to Florida some years ago, but are back in town with another brother. Might get over there to give a listen.

Maybe if somebody wanted to barter in Northern California for some modified 7's, I could compare all 3 ? For that matter those L200's are probably in a friends garage. Maybe shipping from Hawaii would be worth it......

Denis

 

[Copa1934]

I've only ever owned 2 pair of RS speakers. The first pair I owned were Nova-7Bs. The only time I ever used them was when I swapped them for a pair of KLH Seventeens while I refinished them. I didn't really care for them. I thought they sounded a little "thin" so I redonated them to GW. The next pair were Nova-10s. I really liked them. They have a very nice cone tweeter which was what I liked most about them. Not a heck of a lot of bass but very balanced and musical, especially good for acoustic music, I think.

John

I remember those. Nice speakers. Definitely a steal during 2for1 sales.