Realistic Radio Shack speakers Minimus-0.5 question
Mathieu Deziel
I need some information about a pair of speakers I have. (I just got them
from my grandmother). The brand is Realistic. The model is "Minimus -
0.5". In the back of them, it is written "Radio Shack" and "A Division of
Tandy Corporation". It is also written "Cat. No. 40-1995A". The impedance
is specified to be 8 ohms.
Nowhere on the speakers the maximum power in watts is specified. Does
anyone have this info about these speakers? Does anyone have detailed specs
about these? Anybody has an idea about the quality of this pair?
Thank you,
Mathieu
mdeziel...@infiniweb.ca.no_spam
Alan Maier
They were a nice little extension speaker from the early through late 1970s.
They were intended to be a nice match for some of the small amps and tuners
sold under the Realistic brand back then - where power was not high, but
they looked sharp. If you do a search on eBay for the TM-175 tuner or SA-175
amplifier - these were a nice match. Their single high compliance 4" speaker
is basically what one would find in a higher-end table radio of the era, and
they were "pleasing" to listen to - not loud, no real bass, but not total
crap either. Basically what people bought as extensions for their small
receivers or console stereos. Heck, at least they were real walnut, they are
sealed and have fiberglass stuffing in them. Taking them apart is almost a
secret ;) (screws are under the black grill cloth, which was glued with
contact cement - then the aluminum fronts come off).
They are up to the task of Dolby ProLogic surround, but not Dolby Digital.
Alan
"Mathieu Deziel" <mde...@infiniweb.ca> wrote in message
news:WJg39.250$HH2.1...@news20.bellglobal.com...
maf
any receiver or amplifier. Don't worry about any other specs (like maximum
watts) because they are not relevant. Obviously a speaker that small will
not play very loud or fill a room with bass. Also, they are not self powered
speakers like you would buy for a computer, portable CD player, etc.
These speakers do not compare in sound quality to a modern 3 piece speaker
system (small subwoofer and two satellite speakers) costing as little as
$100 (primarily because of the weak bass output of the Minimus). But they
are not totally worthless, unless you need self-powered speakers. They might
work OK as rear surround speakers if connected to a Dolby 5.1 receiver. But
realistically (sorry about that) they are not worth very much.
.
"Mathieu Deziel" <mde...@infiniweb.ca> wrote in message
news:WJg39.250$HH2.1...@news20.bellglobal.com...
Jeff
veneer cabinets; later ones were covered in vinyl instead. It uses a single
4" acoustic suspension driver, bolted to a cast metal baffle. Both in terms
of sound and quality, it was an average $15 speaker, but it looked nice:
Freshly oiled walnut veneer and the silver metal baffle looked good,
thought the cloth grilles never stayed put. It should be fine for
non-critical listening at low levels. As supplied by the factory, there is
a black plastic plug inserted into the RCA jack: It's important to plug up
the jack when it's not in use, else air leaks through the center hole, and
your voice coils will start hitting bottom (not a good thing).
Jeff
Mathieu Deziel
news:_un39.189$il2....@news.uswest.net...
> Don't worry about any other specs (like maximum
> watts) because they are not relevant.
Shocking statement! Why would they be irrelevant?
Mathieu.
Mikkel C. Simonsen
Because as long as the amp doesn't clip the speakers will be fine...
One of the magazines here once tested a 60W speaker with a 1200W amp.
They were unable to cause any damage to the speaker. As long as you play
music and the amp doesn't clip there will be no problems.
Best regards,
Mikkel C. Simonsen
> Mathieu.
Robert Casey
That makes no sense. Sorry, but it just doesn't. The voice coil in
a speaker can take only so much power before it overheats and
burns out. It doesn't matter if the amp is distorting or not.
Guitar amps routinely clip and distort, and their speakers don't
immediately fry......
Robert Casey
Well, you're just depending on the music to have wide dynamic range and
be mostly soft passages. Now tune the FM tuner to a heavily compressed
heavy metal music station and try again.
Mikkel C. Simonsen
>
> > > Shocking statement! Why would they be irrelevant?
> >
> > Because as long as the amp doesn't clip the speakers will be fine...
> >
> > One of the magazines here once tested a 60W speaker with a 1200W amp.
> > They were unable to cause any damage to the speaker. As long as you play
> > music and the amp doesn't clip there will be no problems.
>
> That makes no sense. Sorry, but it just doesn't. The voice coil in
> a speaker can take only so much power before it overheats and
> burns out. It doesn't matter if the amp is distorting or not.
Of course there is a maximum, but as the power level in music is usually
quite low with some higher level peaks, the standard power rating of
speakers doesn't make a lot of sense. If you play test tones from an
audio oscillator all day, it would be easier to find a power rating, but
most people don't.
And if you overload a speaker it will start sounding bad a long time
before it overheats.
> Guitar amps routinely clip and distort, and their speakers don't
> immediately fry......
No, but guitar amps usually (always?) use full-range speakers. In two-
or threeway speakers the tweeters and midrange speakers often blow when
the amp clips, because of the increased high-frequency contents of the
signal. It's much easier to blow speakers with small amps than with
large ones.
The total output power doesn't increase when the amp clips, so a
fullrange speaker won't have problems when the amp clips.
Mathieu Deziel
will certainly be more carefull with them if they are rated 10W speakers, as
opposed to if they were 60W rated. Knowing their max power gives you an
idea of what you can do with the speakers, and more importantly, what you
must not do.
Mathieu.
"Mikkel C. Simonsen" <m...@post5.tele.dk> wrote
maf
> > > > watts) because they are not relevant.
> > >
> > > Shocking statement! Why would they be irrelevant?
> >
> > Because as long as the amp doesn't clip the speakers will be fine...
> >
> > One of the magazines here once tested a 60W speaker with a 1200W amp.
> > They were unable to cause any damage to the speaker. As long as you play
> > music and the amp doesn't clip there will be no problems.
> >
>
> That makes no sense. Sorry, but it just doesn't. The voice coil in
> a speaker can take only so much power before it overheats and
> burns out. It doesn't matter if the amp is distorting or not.
> Guitar amps routinely clip and distort, and their speakers don't
> immediately fry......
>
So what. Does that mean that your speaker should be able to handle the
maximum output of the amp? No, and most speakers in high end sound systems
can't handle that much power either. It is better to have too much amplifier
power for your speakers than not enough. Just don't turn the volume all the
way up.