Vintage Radio Shack/Realistic Speakers?
- Thread starter tvpierce
- Start date
pliskin
Active Member
I've owned more Realistic speakers than any other brand. They seem to be plentiful. Some sound good some not so good. Some have quality drivers that seem to never need new foam (unlike many more expensive brands). If fact yesterday I grabbed a really nice pair of Nova 6 that look new inside and out. They sound nice as well. Currently I have 3pair of Minimus 7, Nova 6, Mach 2, T-100 and a couple other pair of ones I've forgotten. I've sold 3 or 4 other pair over the years. For the most part you can't go wrong with RS imo.
Poultrygeist
Lunatic Member
Rear firing Realistic super tweeters balance nicely with the front firing tweeters in this OB system.
Nova 4s any good?
A good looking pair locally but the 4s are a RS speaker I’ve not heard anything about.
A good looking pair locally but the 4s are a RS speaker I’ve not heard anything about.
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I had a set. SUPER bright tweeter that I did not like. They had super bass for their size but I would pass if I were you. Aim for Nova 6s for an awesome 8in two way speaker.
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I agree. I have those speakers now.
nast shouty little things they are. The bass was good, but unless your into having someone stand next to you shouting into your ear, these are not the speaker for you. The Nova 6's or Optimus 2B's are a much better choise.What would y’all recommend for RS large bookshelves in a medium size (I think) sitting room?
It’s for my father for XMas. I’m the (slight) brains and my little bro is the brawn.
He does woodworking as a hobby and can spiff up the cabs on whatever I find.
I’m thinking of putting together an all RS setup.
STA-240 receiver ?
Lab 400 turntable ?
Speakers I have least clue of all of it
It’s for my father for XMas. I’m the (slight) brains and my little bro is the brawn.
He does woodworking as a hobby and can spiff up the cabs on whatever I find.
I’m thinking of putting together an all RS setup.
STA-240 receiver ?
Lab 400 turntable ?
Speakers I have least clue of all of it
Lavane
Lunatic Member
The LAB 400 is a nice turntable. One of Realistic's better models. Its made by CEC, they made turntables for alot of brands. I bought one for my son and really wanted to keep it. He likes it as well. The larger RS book shelf speakers to look for are the Optimus 1B's or Nova 7's, 10" woofers, same speaker, different cosmetics. Or the Optimus 5B, or Nova 8B, 12" woofers, again, same speaker different cosmetics, lattice grills for the 8's, cloth grill for the 5's. I had a pair of the 1B's years ago. The smaller Optimus 2B, or Nova 6 with 8" woofers each don't sound bas either. I still have a pair of the Optimus 2B's in my garage system. The STA 240 receiver is 60wpc, it should drive any of those speakers nicely. Made in '78, or '79? Going by having both another and digital tuning dials.
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I bet you say everything that Harbor Freight sells is no good too, right?
Not as vintage but I already have a pair of Optimus Pro LX8s. I obviously forgot I even had them! Haha
I remember them sounding really good when I last listened to them. I remember the girl I bought them from said they were her late father’s and said they’d been in storage for something like 15 years. I believed it, too, based on the like new cosmetics.
I wonder if these might be a good choice? Especially given the like new condition of these suckas!
I agree. I have those speakers now.
God they were awful!
I thought you gave them away.....
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I tried.
I tried.
I have no idea what they were trying to do with them. Maybe in a huge room and one was far away from them they might sound better.......but I doubt it.
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I barrowed a pair of Realistic Optimus 27's rom @Bodyblue to see what they sounded like. They acually sound pretty good. The top end and midrange are clear with some decent detail.
Being that they have a passive radiator the low end is tighter than a ported speaker, but still there. Later I separated them out further and they imaged well also. I had tried them with a smaller tube amp originally. Today I used a Tube preamp I built with a 120wpc Kenwood power amp. These speakers can get really loud. Without any EQ the midrange was a bit hot at high volumes, but when I hooked them up to a SS preamp with a midrange tone control I was able to tame the midrange and they sounded great. At lower volumes I didn't notice this though. Overall a nice sounding speaker that can image well.
Being that they have a passive radiator the low end is tighter than a ported speaker, but still there. Later I separated them out further and they imaged well also. I had tried them with a smaller tube amp originally. Today I used a Tube preamp I built with a 120wpc Kenwood power amp. These speakers can get really loud. Without any EQ the midrange was a bit hot at high volumes, but when I hooked them up to a SS preamp with a midrange tone control I was able to tame the midrange and they sounded great. At lower volumes I didn't notice this though. Overall a nice sounding speaker that can image well.
Attachments
I have Nova 8s that the original drivers seem to be in very nice condition but the boxes badly need refinished so they’re just wasting away getting worse in my non climate controlled storage area sadly
I have Nova 8s that the original drivers seem to be in very nice condition but the boxes badly need refinished so they’re just wasting away getting worse in my non climate controlled storage area sadly
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Nice! I have the Optimus 5s which are the same speaker in a slightly different grill.
They are the dumbest looking things but the first time I hooked them up to my front system, even before recapping them, and my wife and I started laughing our asses off. How in the hell can these skinny, ugly boxes sound so good? Recapping them made a small, but noticeable difference. They are not the best speakers I have ever heard but they are really nice sounding for any speaker and exceptional for their funky size. I absolutely love the dumb things.
And they were a snap to change the caps on. The drivers are held in by three clamps, they just pop off and since the cabinets are so shallow, the crossover is just a few inches away and they are just screwed onto the back of the cabinets. And with your usual help with picking the caps, the project took about three days to get the caps and about 35 minutes to actually do the work. It is funny that the mids get so hot at high volume since this is a two way speaker. It is probably by design so they sounded smoother at lower volumes.
I recently overhauled a pair of the model down , the Nova 7/Optimus 1. The surrounds on the woofers were very stiff from the hardened coating. If you find the same with your Nova 8's, I was able to clean then to bare cloth and recoat with the sealer that RoyC sells. I used acetone. I painted it on with an acid brush and wiped with acetone on paper towels. A soft toothbrush also helped. It took 7 or 8 episodes to get all of the old coating off. I let them dry between each episode so I could measure the Fs. It started around 75Hz and ended up in the high 30's before the new coating. With the new flexible coating they ended up around 37-39Hz as I remember. Much better bass.
John