RCA (Gulp) Speakers From Radio Shack?

[CharlieBee]

Radio Shack made a few good things over the years. I have a tiny pair of Realistic Solo-2's that are fine for the computer closet.

The Realistic Mach Two speakers with 15" woofers and walnut vineer cabinets are pretty fine speakers. They compare favorably with my Pioneer HPM 100's and JBL L-100's considered pretty good speakers by most. The bass on all three is about equal when powered with my Sansui 9090 and 9090db.

Of course the fact a lady at a garage sale forced me to buy them at her price $4!! makes them even better. Only problem is a cat used the grill cloth on one for a scratching post resulting in a few pulls.

Charlie

[Lensman]

I was saddened the day Radio Shack decided to discontinue selling the Minimus 7 for good a couple of years ago (it was last masquerading as the RCA Pro X44AV). These speakers were a cheap knockoff of the Visonik David, a German mini monitor designed to work with a sub long before subs became commonplace. Given what they were, they sounded surprisingly good, and easily surpass the surrounds that come with a lot of all-in-one HT systems these days. Once every year Radio Shack would put them on sale for $29.95 each and at that price, I always felt they were one of the best bargains in the audio world.

As Woochifer mentioned, Radio Shack did sell some decent stuff over years. Their Mach Ones are legendary party speakers. The Optimus LX speakers (with the Linaeum dipole and monopole tweeters) could be impressive, though the line suffered from consistency problems. Radio Shack was actually quite experimental over the years, selling speakers with all sorts of designs including horns, ribbons, passive radiators, and even electrostatic drivers. David Weems first speaker building book was sold at Radio Shack and featured designs using drivers they sold.

The day the Minimus 7 left the shelves was the last day Radio Shack sold anything distinctive or worth buying from its audio department. Fortunately advances in computer design and our in understanding of the mathematics of sonic reproduction and mechanical properties of materials has allowed many high-end vendors to step forward to fill the void with exceptional offerings at the same prices one could previously find only in places like Radio Shack.