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Vintage Radio Shack/Realistic Speakers?

Pmsummer, a couple of other guys skirted this explanation, but didn't say it straight out. Radio Shack probably did beat the other guys msrp to msrp. You didn't even have to pay full price if you were willing to wait. Sometime soon that item you had your eye on would be on sale with a hefty discount. If it wasn't the right part of the cycle, it was full price or wait. With the other brands, msrp didn't really matter, as your item was sure to be on sale somewhere nearby, or cheap by mail order all the time. There were some brands that didn't go in much for this pricing scheme like maybe Yamaha, but others were in it big time like Pioneer. Ten months out of the year, those RS items were full price, twelve months out of the year Pioneer was on sale.
 
stereofanboy said:
Pmsummer, a couple of other guys skirted this explanation, but didn't say it straight out. Radio Shack probably did beat the other guys msrp to msrp. You didn't even have to pay full price if you were willing to wait. Sometime soon that item you had your eye on would be on sale with a hefty discount. If it wasn't the right part of the cycle, it was full price or wait. With the other brands, msrp didn't really matter, as your item was sure to be on sale somewhere nearby, or cheap by mail order all the time. There were some brands that didn't go in much for this pricing scheme like maybe Yamaha, but others were in it big time like Pioneer. Ten months out of the year, those RS items were full price, twelve months out of the year Pioneer was on sale.
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That is exactly how I saw it. And how pissed were you, when the receiver you paid full price for, went on sale at $75 off the next month.

I drooled about Yamaha, but in Northern Virginia (1979), you could only get it at a few places (Audio Associates). It was never discounted. I paid $395 for a Yamaha CR-640 (and it broke 15 years ago) Wish I had invested it on a Pioneer SX-880/980
 
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Little know thing about Radioshack ;
A lot of thier drivers where mad eunder contract for them by ......YEs you already know Fostex !!!.
The Fe-103 4" full is a good example , and to my knowledge the longest run production speaker in history .
I bought my first pair back in 74 and they had been in production since 67 or 68 .
The minimus 7 is a great little speaker using good quality Japanese components .
If you find anything decent first thing is change out the crappy wire and use a high strand count 12 GA (yes I said 12 Gauge) Oxygen free copper . Then use puzzle coat to coat the cones (woofer and Mid) then use higher quality capacitors in the X-over, then liberally damp the cabinet itself and the magnet backs with Dynamat (used for damping car interiors)
If the speaker frames are stamped steel and not cast , then use some Dynamat on the frames as well.
And they will sound unbelievable for a small investment.
Cheers...Rich
 
DrFET would this go for my 4029's as well?
Someone in here said it earlier...this is a hobby...its supposed to be fun maybe challenging but with no real requirement of being rational.
 
Mach 1's , where were they made ? Hmmm

Hi gyrene;
I hostly believe that a sub division of Fostex possibly made the 4029's
And I think I've seen Fostex stamps on some those drivers , but can't be sure as I have no detail.
Another company that did a lot of 3rd party speaker build's in the day was Forgings acoustic's in Tiawan, being sucontacted by Japanese companies.
But the Japanese have some interesting history about who made what.
A lot of later 70's Japanese stereo and televisions had numerous components made often by competing companies . Ie SOny amps with Hitachi parts or Hitchi amps with JVC parts , or Sansui with Hitachi and mistubishi parts.
So with speakers its hard to know all of the second source suppliers in Japan during that time as many of them didn't label anything other than production numbers.
Cheers...Rich

gyrene said:
DrFET would this go for my 4029's as well?
Someone in here said it earlier...this is a hobby...its supposed to be fun maybe challenging but with no real requirement of being rational.
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It looks like all the RS guys are watching this thread. Can anyone direct me to a source where I can find an Optimus 1 woofer, new(good luck!) or used?
 
A friend's father is using them, now, but I had a set of Optimus Mach Threes that combined the horn drivers of the Mach One with the ported woofer of the Mach Two.

I purchased them in college (early 1990's?) and used them for many, many years with great results, until I scored some Klispch Cornwalls for an unheard of price.

I threw power at them and they were efficient, indestructible, filled any space that I had (apartment, duplex, house, etc.) with quality sound and were worth every penny paid.

To me, that's high praise for any speaker. "Good stuff."
 
geiman said:
It looks like all the RS guys are watching this thread. Can anyone direct me to a source where I can find an Optimus 1 woofer, new(good luck!) or used?
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I'd check and see if parts express had something that would work. I couple of friends have found replacement drivers for older Radio Shack speakers there.
 
optimus

marc mc said:
I have had some time between projects and this allowed me to work on the Optimus 7 Cabs. They are not done but they are getting there.

op7.jpg


You can't beat real wood. The early 70's really was the Golden Age of audio both in sound and construction. We have all been duped.

marc mc
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marc ,man thats a nice finish on those ! ,they had a few nice formal furniture speakers!
maybe i can get my minimus 2's to look that grand
 
I have a pair of Nova 10's and they sound pretty good through some of my lower wpc receivers. I bought them and a pair of Nova 5's from an elderly couple who were selling off their old Realistic stereo. They has an early 80's digital receiver for sale as well and an old Realistic LAB woodgrain looking turntable. I passed on that stuff but kind of regretted since not scooping up the turntable. It was all completely mint - looked hardly used.
 
cornwallguy said:
marc ,man thats a nice finish on those ! ,they had a few nice formal furniture speakers!
maybe i can get my minimus 2's to look that grand
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The Optimus 7's are fantastic speakers. My wife used them for a long time in our livingroom and loved them. She now uses my McIntosh XRT 18's. I will never sell the optimus's so they now are end tables in our bedroom. I love them.

I have had lots of RS speakers and I can't stress enough just how good these speakers sound. The Mach's are the Cerwin Vega's and these are their Tannoy's.

speakersss002.jpg


marc mc
 
pmsummer said:
I'm still looking for a clean (and CHEAP) pair of these. Optimus-1. Compared very favorably with the KLH 17. I enjoyed a pair for years, but I left them behind while moving a long, long time ago.

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pms,

I have a pair of them, actually they're the 1b's (which IMO sound better). They happen to be at a friends house right now, he's checking them out because he was in dis belief how good they sound. They are in solid shape, but could use a refinish. I will be moving to Texas in a couple of weeks, and I would be glad to bring them with me for you. I too could not believe how good they sounded. I was just going to leave them with my friend, but I would be happy to give them to you. I also have a pair of Optimus 900's that I don't know what I'm going to do with, and they are re foamed.

As you can tell..... I'm a big fan of vintage shack speakers.

Ron
 
Thanks to Balifly, I'm listening to a pair of rescued and refoamed Optimus 900's right now. Booker T & the M.G's "Melting Pot". Bass is well behaved, good imaging and lots of detail in the upper registers. These sold for $150 back in 1987. They didn't have the same wow factor as the 5B's when I got them, but I'll be listening to these for a while trying to decide if they replace the KLH's in the bedroom system.
I also tried out some MC-1000's and Minimum 26's this week. The MC-1000's were crap, and the Minimus 26's were not as good as I remember Minimus 7's to be.
 
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minimus.jpg

I just hooked up this pair of silver Minimus 7's this morning, thanks to Andyman for fixing me up with a new tweeter for one. I have another pair in Walnut, both have modded crossovers and sound wonderful. You can see these are truly a bookshelf speaker as they are on a bookshelf.

This thread has inspired me to check out some bigger Realistic speakers.
 
You'll see on several forums that the 70s-80s Radio Shack stuff is quietly coming into demand and a different tune is being played on the opinions of the older Shacks.
Minimus 7 is very tough to beat...and for what they are, I don't believe one can beat'em....
 
spideyjack said:
minimus.jpg

I just hooked up this pair of silver Minimus 7's this morning, thanks to Andyman for fixing me up with a new tweeter for one. I have another pair in Walnut, both have modded crossovers and sound wonderful. You can see these are truly a bookshelf speaker as they are on a bookshelf.

This thread has inspired me to check out some bigger Realistic speakers.
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What are the details of these mods? I have a few pairs and am willing to sacrifice at least one pair to the gods of alteration.

It seems that Radio Shack copied at least the appearance of several popular speakers in the '70s. I've had a lot Radio Shack speakers, so I know that even if they just copied someone else's looks they put their own effort into the sound to good result. The Optimus 1B is nice and of course don't overlook the Mach One and Two.

Off topic, good taste in books. I've read six or seven of those Preston/Childs books and really enjoyed them all.
 
stereofanboy said:
What are the details of these mods? I have a few pairs and am willing to sacrifice at least one pair to the gods of alteration.

It seems that Radio Shack copied at least the appearance of several popular speakers in the '70s. I've had a lot Radio Shack speakers, so I know that even if they just copied someone else's looks they put their own effort into the sound to good result. The Optimus 1B is nice and of course don't overlook the Mach One and Two.

Off topic, good taste in books. I've read six or seven of those Preston/Childs books and really enjoyed them all.
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I used the mod that is sold on ebay, there is a really long thread here by Zilch (I think,that's right) about crossover points that is way beyond my comprehension. For my limited skills the ebay one is good casue it is just snip, snip, solder,solder screw and done.

as for the books, mrs. spideyjack is the one with good taste, the Mad paperback is mine. :yes:
 
spideyjack said:
I used the mod that is sold on ebay, there is a really long thread here by Zilch (I think,that's right) about crossover points that is way beyond my comprehension. For my limited skills the ebay one is good casue it is just snip, snip, solder,solder screw and done.

as for the books, mrs. spideyjack is the one with good taste, the Mad paperback is mine. :yes:
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You must have bought the one I was watching... :D
 
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