Remember those Radio Shack catalogs?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by soundboy, Dec 8, 2008.

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  1. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I remember those giant-ass receivers they sold. Sounded pretty good as I recall...
     
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  2. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    They had a lot of junk for receivers, but they did have several very good ones over the years. I think the STA 90 I have is their best sounding SS one they made.

    The most sought after collectible one is the 1979 STA 2100, 120 WPC & it had some special toroidal power transformer, there was some legal issues with Pioneer over it IIRC and the transformer was replaced with a different one the next model year. Personally I did not like it's sound.

    [​IMG]


    Boy I have to question the amount of heat sink and caps for 120 WPC there.
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    Last edited: Oct 24, 2014
  3. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I remember that receiver. Its FM stereo I thought sounded really, really good - but then, it was also probably the best receiver I'd been around up to that point in my life. This would have been '81 or so, a couple of years before I visited my first dedicated hi-fi shop...
     
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  4. Burt

    Burt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kirkwood, MO
    That big can is a funny looking toroid: maybe it's wound on stacked cores or is actually two transformers in one can.

    I don't recall any Radio Shack stereo receiver being particularly good but I haven't carefully evaluated them all.

    I do remember they had one little bookshelf speaker in the late eighties a lot of high end reviewers thought was astonishingly good for its price. They also sold a portable AM/FM radio that was essentially a repackaged GE Superradio and a couple of fairly decent shortwave receivers. I seriously doubt there is any thing in the stores today any knowledgeable person would want as a gift....they don't even have the old standby tuner cleaner anymore, although the EPA is to blame for that.
     
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  5. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I know Pioneer had some legal issue with them with that specific transformer design.
     
  6. Burt

    Burt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kirkwood, MO
    His copy was great. His products not so much.
     
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  7. Burt

    Burt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kirkwood, MO
    I'd buy them all at that price in 2014 dollars, as many as I could. In 1965 dollars they were not particularly bargains.

    The tube Mc tuners, as I recall, were of entirely conventional design and no better (but no worse) than Fisher's or HH Scott's. Mc's tuner innovation was in its first digital tuner, which was no big deal performancewise, and the MR78 which was the best performing FM tuner ever built, pretty much.

    The stock AR table wasn't "all that" untill Merrill at Underground Sound started modifying them in the late 70s.
     
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  8. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    The Minimus speaker, right?

    [​IMG]

    Die-cast aluminium if memory serves. I always thought they sounded great for the price, but then as it turns out I'm hyper-sensitive to cabinet resonances...

    Article about them here:
    http://www.retrothing.com/2011/06/minimus-speaker.html
     
  9. Burt

    Burt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kirkwood, MO
    I think those are them. This was around the time everyone out here was building flue tile speakers, similar concept. I still have a pair of flue tile homebrews with two way SEAS components from madisound, but one flue tile cab has cracked. I epoxied it with Brownells Acraglas but it still buzzes a little so needs to be recabineted.
     
  10. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Heard them, I prefer the vintage Minimus 2 model over those modern ones.
     
  11. T'mershi Duween

    T'mershi Duween Forum Resident

    Location:
    Y'allywood
    :righton:Wow! You found my first "big boy" stereo!!! This was what I rocked during high school. It was a great sounding receiver. I used it to power a pair of Advents. I always felt a little insecure that it was a Realistic and not a swanky Kenwood or Yamaha or Sansui or Marantz... I forgot the actual model until you posted this photo. So cool to see this old gear...


     
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  12. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Honestly, it really is an outstanding receiver, one of the few home runs for their brand it easily beat it's published specs by a factor of ten in bench tests. At one point it was labeled "the sleeper", as being a surprisingly great unit. It quite possibly was built by Pioneer. It has very versatile taping facilities and a great sounding phono stage too. Mine is still running strong.
     
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  13. Kevin Farley

    Kevin Farley Senior Member

    Location:
    Fairfield, Iowa
    dcottrell6, sberger, Vidiot and 2 others like this.
  14. I have some of the test equipment machines from that era. They still work too.
     
  15. JamesD1957

    JamesD1957 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cypress, Texas
    Thanks for posting. What a great trip down memory lane! First impulse was how great the prices looked, but then again, those were 1961 dollars! This was fun!
     
  16. Jay_S

    Jay_S Well-Known Member

    All of the 1960s RS catalogs are pure entertainment for me.
     
  17. Madlove

    Madlove Hare Hunter Field

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    Very cool, thanks for posting.
     
  18. Sam

    Sam Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    britt2001b and forthlin like this.
  19. FLEMKE

    FLEMKE Senior Member

    Location:
    CROOK COUNTY IL
    Embryo, 2,4,8,16,32,64.......
     
  20. Sam

    Sam Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    forthlin likes this.
  21. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    First grade
     
  22. forthlin

    forthlin Member Chris & Vickie Cyber Support Team

    Time travel can't get here soon enough.
     
  23. Muzyck

    Muzyck Pardon my scruffy hospitality

    Location:
    Long Island
    I wasn't or as my Mother would say "A twinkle in your Father's eye".
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2015
  24. MadMelMon

    MadMelMon Forum Resident

    As yet unconceived, and hanging around in my parents' high school.
     
  25. RiCat

    RiCat Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT, USA
    High School North Miami Beach Fla.
     
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