RadioShack/Realistic/Optimus branded audio hardware: were there any gems in the bunch?

I'm talking strictly about audio components - not speakers. I don't know if it's true but I've heard that most of the RadioShack audio hardware was re-badged Pioneer product. Looking through old RadioShack catalogs, there was sure a lot of neat looking equipment available over the years. Are there any components worth picking up in a thrift store if the price is right?

 

I would think most would. You can pretty easily tell the difference between what was well built and what wasn't. I worked for Lafayette Radio, a competitor, in the late 70s, and they did the same thing in addition to carrying name brands. We had some really nice components.

 

There was a recent post about the Realistic LAB 440 turntable that was supposed to be good.

 

There was a Radio Shack portable CD player that was a "thing" in audiophile circles back in the day. Sam Tellig at Stereophile wrote it up at one point.

 

Yep - I recall that.

 

I worked at Rat Shack in the early 70s and that story was going around back then. Some of the receivers may have been built in the same factory as Pioneers, but we could never find an exact same version across the lines. They weren't that far apart in price, anyway - Realistic was fairly expensive. You said not speakers but probably the best Realistic hi-fi product was the Minimus 7 mini-speakers. The original SPL meter was a gem, too - Henry Kloss used them in his development lab.

 

My motto for Radio Shack
"Yesterday's technology at tomorrow's prices "

Their own brand of electronics was almost alway's rebadged products, or in many cases built to their specs. At one time they were on th cusp of being a major innovator in the home computer market. They launched some innovative computer gear for the time, but did not expand on improving it

 

AFAIK NONE of their stuff was rebadged, all of it was specific built for them, and none of their stuff was made by Pioneer, actually they had a lawsuit from Pioneer as they copied a patented toroidal power transformer in their killer 120 WPC 1979 STA 2100 and had to withdraw the model, it later appeared as the 2100D, with a typical iron transformer.










I have both a 1976 STA 90 45 WPC and a 1981 STA 2080 85 WPC Realistic receivers and both sound very good.

the STA 90 was dubbed The Sleeper in it's day as it blew is specifications way out of the water when tested.

Both have excellent build quality, and very versatile inputs available, & the fact they are still stock and running all these years later attests to their build quality.

I also have several Realistic speakers in some systems in my house:
1968 10" 3 way Optimus 1
1972 12" 3 way 4 speaker Nova 8
1974 6" 2 way Minimus 2
1975 10" 3 way Nova 7B
1976 10" 3 way Optimus 1B

They sound quite good IMO. As always YMMV.

 

STA2080:


STA90:

 

I yearn for the days when Radio Shack carried stuff like this... Must have been a sweet-sounding store in the '60's. All those great brands. HIGH-END brands. They had nice stuff back in those days.





The Fisher amps & receivers and Wharfedale speakers from that era fit together like a glove. That W60 combined with an X100B (packaged together at the bottom-left of the first page) is perfect for '60's jazz, Beatles, Sinatra, etc. That's a great combo. And Radio Shack also sold Acoustic Research, KLH, Scott, Harmon Kardon, EV, University, etc. (University was high-end... DECIDEDLY-so). Man, I can just picture it. Crankin' "Kind Of Blue" or something like that (on vinyl, no less) during the early afternoon lull when things slow down and there aren't any customers. Must've been a seriously-cool place to hang out in those days.

 

I think I still have three pairs of those Minimus 7s. I loved those darn things.

 

I still have at least two pairs. They were great!

 

I believe that Radio Shack stopped carrying "other brands" as well as ham radio equipment when they merged with Chicago's Allied Electronics in 1970 or 71. By 1975, it was all "Realistic" stuff. No more Dynaco, Fisher etc.

 

I remember hearing about that Radio Shack portable cd player too.
It had something to do with another, high end maker of cd players at the time.
But that was way back in the 1990's.
For a while they were going for big bucks after that review came out.

I also remember hearing about that LAB turntable from a high end shop that said it was pretty good, but also a certain Sanyo model was the same or better.

Overall, I don't understand the attraction to any of em.
Visually they just don't appeal to me, and with the plethora of wonderful sounding and looking vintage equipment available today, RS makes no sense to me.

 

Earlier than that, I kmow there was no foreign brands when I started which I think was 1973.

 

My version of their motto was "You've got questions? We've got batteries."

 

Well visual is an opinion, I think RS made some great looking/sounding receivers for a time, I have 2 of them pictured in this thread. They also had some very good speakers and some good turntables, Lab/Miracord.

"Wonderful sounding vintage equipment", well again that is obviously a matter of taste, but again, I have some RS stuff and it sounds great, and I've heard a lot of equipment in the last 40 years.

Was RS THE brand to go to to trust to always deliver the best sound and value? In retrospect for me certainly not, but that does not mean they didn't at times have their own branded equipment that not only sounded great but was fairly priced when purchased at their best haggled down prices, sales, bundles, and such. Frankly IMO that could sum up most vintage brands that are revered these days, I've seen and heard plenty of vintage Pioneer, Marantz and such that I wouldn't bother giving a second thought to.

What's the RS draw for me? I have a lot of other audio brands in my home, RS for me is first a nostalgia thing, as I suspect much of the desirable vintage equipment more or less often is. I grew up in an area where there was virtually NO other dedicated audio store, it was RS or nothing, unless you want to count the house brand trash in stores like Sears and such.

So as a young kid to a teen(When I finally discovered mail order audio like Illinois Audio, Madisound and such after reading Stereo Review back in the day) I was at RS A LOT, always talking to the sales guys, looking at stuff, listening to everything they had for a span from about 1969 to 1979 when we finally got an audio store in the mall that was a 20 mile drive away. And even that store only carried the typical mid fi stuff, no high end. And early on RS was still carrying other bigger name brands so I got to do a lot of cross brand comparison until they cut out that and went strictly RS brand.

There was one high end store I was aware of in my "area", many miles away, I only got to go there occasionally and they carried the big dollar stuff, McIntosh and such, Flanner and Hafsoos in Brookfield Wisc.

Finally a large home audio/furniture store opened near us, American TV Appliance and Furniture, they picked up on stuff like the Adcom line when it first was out and had some of the better upper mid fi available on display and a decent sized speaker room.

Now, I'm sure some of the highly revered vintage audio pieces earned and deserve their reverence, but I'd not be surprised if the bulk of it was simply being revered due to nostalgia. The fact is there was no secret super trick electronics back then, either you paid for the high end and hoped the dollar it cost netted superior audio, or you took your chances among the endless sea of mid fi brands and very similarly built and priced.

Huh, funny, sounds like today.

 

1969-70ish was a crossover period, by their 1972 catalog they had only a few items "made by Fisher" for Allied Radio Shack, receivers and speakers, by 1973 that was all ended and it was their house brand only IIRC.

 

Great post GuildX700.
I hear ya, and I get it.
I still have an appreciation for some Bang & Olufson components, even though they were certainly not the best sounding. An early turntable, with touch sensitive buttons - you didn't push them, you touched them - on display at The Museum Of Modern Art in the 1970's hooked me. You could touch the buttons and see it respond.

I'd like to know what RS components still stand up today - especially curious about that Lab (so it's Miracord?) turntable. Built in Germany? And idler wheel?
Very interesting thread here, started in 2011, and still going strong as of July 2016.
ELAC Miracord TT -share all about 'em | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums»

Radio Shack sold an idler turntable???
The Miracord turntable »

 

Lab series was separate from the Miracord series.
The Lab 400 direct drive from 1978 was very nice, for automatics the Miracord 46 from 1976 was nice too.

My 1975 Emipire 698 turntable has "touch" buttons for the up/down of the electronic solenoid cuing. I always liked that feature. Note lower right:

 

Enjoyable thread, my first "real" stereo as a kid (1974) was Radio Shack. Nothing like the old man's Heathkit, but hey, it was mine. An STA-80 system. Not fantastic, but not bad. I would impress friends with "Look how LOUD this gets.... with the volume control on TWO!" That system later went into the attic to run my pirate radio station, Bootleg 108. I fried the receiver modding it to try to get more power output.

But back in the early 70's, dedicated stereo shops didn't yet exist, so Radio Shack (back then, it was two words) and Lafayette was where you went. That was before places like Crazy Eddie's. And I always used Radio Shack "lifetime" 6L6's in my bass amp.

It was a good store in its day. It filled a niche. But as the years went by, that niche simply wasn't needed anymore.

 

This thread really brings back some memories. I've had a lot of Radio Shack stuff over the years.
I still have a pair of Minimus 7's as home theater surrounds and a pair of Mach II's. Those things would practically shake the house!
It was always the first place I'd go to pick up a cable or some other part.
Sad to see them go.

 

I have had and still have several pairs of Minimus 7s (which were fashioned after the incredible ADS 200s). They keep showing up at estate sales and thrift stores. I can't pass them up.

 

I always had a problem with their names. Let's start with calling your products "Realistic" - really? When they are entry-level? Who are you trying to fool? In response, I used to call the brand "Artificial". Then the product line names - "Lab", "Minimus", "Optimus", "Miracord", etc. - they all sounded strange, and kiddish. Selling this gear in a general electronics store reinforced that it was equipment that was sold to people who were not discerning about the quality. Plus that they sold lines which were very gimmicky - eg., the meters that displayed an output of the speaker signal. No-one who took music seriously would gain any credibility by having these brands in their hifi.

So I'm finding interesting discovering that in some cases those perceptions were false, and that Realistic actually made some quality units along with the average consumer gear. I appear to be growing wiser with age.