Show us your Realistic (Radio Shack) stuff

[DeathOpie]

I recently picked up a pair of Nova-8B's. They're now awaiting the Videolady mod, but still sound very nice as is. I'm always amazed at how well the surrounds hold up on the Nova/Optimus line of speakers from the 70's.

Nice set up! Those stands are perfect. Are they store bought? I got a pair of Nova 8B's this weekend for $30. Have you done the mod on yours yet? The cabinets on mine could use a sanding and refinishing. The grills are intact though. Considering doing the mod.

In a separate transaction I got some Realistic freebees. A Clarinette II turntable with integrated amplifier, another turntable and a SA-102 mini amp. The turntables were both seized but I got them going. Need to finish testing them. Good units to learn about TT repair.

 

[DeathOpie]

Got this bad boy for free. Degreased and regreased. It has an integrated amplifier built in and sounds pretty good. Has RCA jacks on the speaker output.

 

[booted]

mach one

Got a set of mach ones this past Tuesday.and other realistic speakers had for about a month and a half. those are realistic optimus 27 speakers. and a realistic sta-2080 receiver.

 

[Gnesen]

Nice set up! Those stands are perfect. Are they store bought? I got a pair of Nova 8B's this weekend for $30. Have you done the mod on yours yet? The cabinets on mine could use a sanding and refinishing. The grills are intact though. Considering doing the mod.

In a separate transaction I got some Realistic freebees. A Clarinette II turntable with integrated amplifier, another turntable and a SA-102 mini amp. The turntables were both seized but I got them going. Need to finish testing them. Good units to learn about TT repair.

Thanks. I made the stands out of scrap mahogany one evening last year. And I did the VL mod a few months ago. This turned a pair of good speakers into outstanding ones. The best way to describe the change in sound is everything is much tighter and cleaner. Videolady made some measurements showing how flat the frequency response was with mod in place. From what I can tell s/he was spot on. For ~$100 in parts, this mod was well worth it. I wish VL was still around AK, but it sounds like there were some health issues at play (no idea what ultimately happened). Thank you VL, wherever you are.

 

[Gnesen]

Got a set of mach ones this past Tuesday.and other realistic speakers had for about a month and a half. those are realistic optimus 27 speakers. and a realistic sta-2080 receiver.

Nice set-up! Never heard of the Optimus-27, but they look nice. How do they sound?

I just sold my 2080 to a fellow AKer, so I'm down to my last two RS receivers -- my father's STA-82 and an STA-20. Come to think of it, those are the only two receivers I own. It was a difficult decision to let everything go, but I don't really miss all the extra gear, and now I'm free to focusion two good systems.

 

[Wolfe64]

A few weeks ago I went to a friend of the family's to buy some records and she gave me these T-100"s :thmbsp:
They needed a little work to get up and running.

Mark

 

[2011etec]

not the best pic but all I have for now of the sta-2100.its in line after my ca-1010 yammy for a full redo. deathopie ,show us a naked pic of the novas.boy they sure look like my Roberts speakers (akai) which are 4 ways with a 10 inch woofy.

 

[DeathOpie]

Here they are. The tops were pretty scratched up. Nothing deep, just from having stuff sit on them for years, so I'm sanding them down and refinishing. Then the VL crossover mod. There's about a 1/4" rip in the foam surround on the woofer on the one on the right. I don't think it effects the sound at all. As others have noted the foam they used on these things has held up remarkably well.

 

[frankosport4]

Realistic Transistorized Stereo Mic Mixer

Greetings ...

No doubt that many folks owned a basic type Realistic stereo mic mixer (see thumbnail image below) the early 1970s. I wonder however if any of you had the following described scenario when using it?

If you used the mixer in powered mode (with a 9-volt battery or DC power supply) perhaps there may have been unwanted fuzzy/scratchy noise. Most likely this was due to a poor connection (too long a cable or an impedance mis-match).

Perhaps at a certain point you may have disconnected the power source (battery or DC voltage supplier) but left the mixer unit itself turned on. If so, did you find that the noise was gone and yet there was good sound coming in from your input sources?

This very scenario happened to me, and I found I could make very good recordings without the need to power-up the Realistic mixer. It seems that all I needed was good strong input sources and well as highly sensitive tape unit inputs with the records volume levels set just right.

If you've never tried recording anything thru an unpowered Realistic basic stereo mixer, perhaps you should give it a try just to see what results you get.

Thanx-A-Lot, Frank

 

[booted]

realistic sta 180

Hello all, just got this receiver bulbs replaced on the selector buttons.Had this receiver for a few weeks but had to get the bulbs replace b-4 it came it out here to the living room.And this receiver seems to have more power than my 2080. This receiver is from 1972 http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1972-a/ pages 14-15.

 

[LAB3]

Hello all, just got this receiver bulbs replaced on the selector buttons.Had this receiver for a few weeks but had to get the bulbs replace b-4 it came it out here to the living room.And this receiver seems to have more power than my 2080. This receiver is from 1972 http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1972-a/ pages 14-15.

:thmbsp: Thanks for the link. I am looking for any and all info for a mint LAB 290 belt drive TT I was given from the original owner. From what I have read it was made by CEC in Japan and rebadged for several companies back then. I may have asked this before about this TT on this thread :scratch2: anyway Thanks again.
Louis

 

[chicks]

Realistic, Optimus... Meh, same thing, right?

 

[MER71]

Picked up a STA-84 for $30.

 

[Roboturner91]

Hello all, just got this receiver bulbs replaced on the selector buttons.Had this receiver for a few weeks but had to get the bulbs replace b-4 it came it out here to the living room.And this receiver seems to have more power than my 2080. This receiver is from 1972 http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1972-a/ pages 14-15.

That is one of the "Lab" pieces. Kinda rare I believe, they only made them one year. Supposed to be one of the best Realistic receivers made.

 

[jj20030]

ran across this thread and was wondering if any akers service realistic receivers? was looking for a sta-2100 already ready but incase i run across one that needs recap/replace stuff/clean up, etc,, anyone here that does the work?

 

[MER71]

Realistic Optimus 25's. $10 at a local thrift shop.

 

[Crnelsen1]

Anyone know the size of treble and bass knobs for the sta80? Or similiar


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[aabottom]

Anyone know the size of treble and bass knobs for the sta80? Or similiar


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I have a STA-80. What do you need to know?

 

[afewbricks]

Realistic, Optimus... Meh, same thing, right?

The optimus are same build as minimus. I used to have some 7's and those when I was a little squirt, we had a "scratch and dent" radio shack walking distance from out house, I went through quite a lot of the stuff they sold including genexxa.

 

[Raccoon1400]

Here's a few pictures from my vault.