Radioshack Realistic Minimus-7 Speaker Review

[@robotomo4249]

these speakers are great (i use them as my main speakers) they regulate the sound very well, and they have lots of bass

[@whatif9858]

They really do have a lot of bass I love mine

[@RWL2012]

"a lot of bass" umm no lol...

[@xxr99]

Good review.lve had these for over 36 years,and I'm still using them with a 2021 Sony tv.you know what tv speakers sound like ps really good bass!I even used them as main speakers in my home theater system.they were as good as my 2000.00 speakers

[@carlosedwardos]

when working on things from Japan, don't use a Phillips screwdriver, that is why they want to strip out - you want a Japanese JIS #2 screwdriver - a good one is the Vessel Megadora

[@COH2000]

Thanks - I see JIS screwdriver listed as #2 and also as +2. Are they the same?

[@martyjewell5683]

As for the Minimus 7's, I first heard them in the mid 1970's. The Minimus 11's were also very good for size/price and made the Tandy company (Realistic's/Radio Shack's parent company) a force with which to recon. I've experienced the Minimus 11's with a (Ohm N) subwoofer in an average size living room and blindfolded, the system sounded full sized. Very informative video, thanks mate.

[@bilgeratjim]

The holes in the back are for wall/ceiling mounting brackets- a $20 option back in the 80s. I bought my first pair in 1981 for $80. Picked up a pair 2 years ago at a thrift store for 5 bucks.

[@Nine-Signs]

Thank you for the vid, I picked up a pair of these for £5 ( I got lucky, they were in a charity shop). Been in storage for two years but downsizing from my large 1979 wharfedales so out they came. Heavy buggers!

[@bruceshivers4077]

I listen to mine every day. If you get the chance, don't hesitate.

[@TheTechGuyYT]

I agree . There a wolf in sheep’s clothes

[@igfoobar]

I'm watching this video on a computer that has Minimus-7's as its main speakers :)

[@TheTechGuyYT]

Art C there a truely great little speaker . Very impressive for what they are

[@drooghead]

Me too. I recently picked up a 25-40W pair from the reuse shop. When I saw them from a distance I immediately recognised them because I used to look at these in the Tandy shop but couldn't afford them. I coupled them with a cheap Chinese Lepy amplifier and a subwoofer from the reuse shop and now my computer sounds awesome.

[@TheTechGuyYT]

+Dave Rea there a awesome little set of speakers

[@igfoobar]

Nice. I've got a CheapChinese(tm) TDA7492p bluetooth amplifier driving mine. I don't call it "vintage radio shack speakers and a bluetooth amplifier" ... I call it "near field monitors with an outboard DAC" :)

[@SDsailor7]

I just bought a pair of M7 and they only cost me 15 bucks!Cheers

[@Scioneer]

If I'm not mistaken, the Woofer is a Fostex and the Tweeter is a Seas.

[@COVERTASSASSIN420]

Literally watching this while admiring my latest come up.

[@jeffyates4813]

The Minimus 7W was an all walnut cabinet which matched most of the premium Realistic speakers. The metal units came in three color Silver, Black, and White and there was an optional three piece wall bracket available which mounted to the four screw holes in the back of the cabinet. They only fit the metal cabinet not the Walnut. Radio Shack brand premium Stereo equipment of the eighties was their zenith until they went to Memorex brand.

[@jameslucas6589]

After watching this I am trashing my McIntosh system and getting a Realistic system too. Awesome video. How on earth did Radio Shack fail? I knew K-Mart should have bought them!

[@TheTechGuyYT]

Nooo u use the mac to power them . Or do d the realistic liniums

[@bikdav]

I have these. Wall mounting is no problem with a long enough screw.

[@professorjack2099]

I know this video is old but I just scored these same speakers at a goodwill for $8. Im very excited to test how they sound tonight. I'm very impressed with the look and feel. And size. Hold on, edit. I have the peasant korea version :(

[@larrymiller4819]

Your "review" of the Minimus 7 speakers, such as it is, has a LOT of wrong information and uniformed speculation. Why do you indulge in such unhelpful stuff? You clearly have no background for this. Let me give you and your readers some important corrections: 1. All M7s, regardless of the country of manufacture have identical internal circuits--all the way down to the coloring of the hookup wires. 2. All M7 woofers are identical in specs. And if you read the specs of the back of the woofer it lists a 5 watt RMS rating and a 10 watt musical rating--unlike your glib assertion that it will easily handle 20 watts of RMS. [And BTW this is for signals above the inbox Fs--at and below Fs, which is between 100 and 150 Hz) that rating drops even lower as the voice coil is force to jump out of the magnetic gap, leaving the cone to wobble uncontrollably and accumulate heat just before the insulating varnish of the wire melts and the woofer fails forever.] 3. Two more important points--(a) there is no crossover whatsoever on the woofer, thus saving the cost of another costly inductor with the manufacturer depended on the inherent inductance of the v.c. to do this, which it emphatically does not!!. The woofer has a TON of out-of-phase cancelling output/distortion the tweeter output as much as 3 octave above the tweeters crossover point. (b) the 4.7 uF NP electrolytic capacitor, regardless of color or mgrs. or radial or axial format is sonically dreadful. Utterly. It is always hissy and spitty due to the inherent high Dissipation factor A DF of usually 0.5 percent. It does the job of protecting the tweeter until it leaks, fails or drifts in value. Far better to replace it with a 4.7 uF plastic film type which will always have a DF of 0.005 or below and will be non polar by definition and will never fail. I know this personally since I have sold several thousand of kits on eBay as litekeys over the last decade with these characteristics; and all feedback has been 100 percent favorable and even glowing. I only take partial credit for the design, as I myself got inspiration from a 1988 Speaker Builder Magazine, while I made several significant improvements over the years...LM

[@TheTechGuyYT]

+Larry Miller thank you for your input .

[@jakomagog]

Is your litekeys kit still available?

[@alexferguson8893]

It doesn't say anything about their power ratings on the back of the woofer or the tweeter, at least not on mine (mine are the ones made in Malaysia). Also, thanks for the crossover advice.

[@mac11380]

@@jakomagog www.ebay.com/itm/Minimus-7-Crossover-upgrades-for-premium-Dayton-ND105-8-metal-cone-woofers/202901590439?hash=item2f3de091a7:g:iCsAAOSwanhbju33

[@rickg2492]

hey larry (litekeys) - I purchased a couple of your upgrade kit on ebay years ago. I have a silver, white, black and walnut (with a brown cloth speaker cover - all of them made in Japan) they did improve the sound :) thanks.

[@justmike2944]

I have the same set..good sound for the size...the wire between the cone and the soldier came unsoldered but it was an easy fix . mine are in silver . yard sale find . came with realistic amplifier sa-150 . i guess i got a good deal because it was the end of the day ..$10 for both..now i jam out in my garage ...... also they make nice truck speakers too

[@djijspeakerguy4628]

I have some Realistic Nova-5 speakers. 8 inch woofer, 2 inch tweeter, ported. Needed new foam. They have the lattice grills. They have good bass, but the treble is not the best. That could be something to do with old electrolytic capacitors though. Funny thing is, I think the 8 inch woofer on my nova-5s might have the same size magnet as these tiny minimus speakers. The performance is not bad for having a tiny magnet.

[@linkeddevices]

it's a sealed pressure vessel design... notice how you had to unstick everything that was all sealed down? a larger cabinet wouldn't really do much since it's meant to use internal vacuum to allow the woofer to be driven harder like a sealed (non ported) sub woofer.

[@dalewildey4102]

I had a pair back in the day. Installed them in my car. I was putting 32 watts through them. I also added a set of super tweeters from radio shack. Acdc never sounded better

[@todstiles4326]

Always fun to have a look inside Minimus-7 speakers. Your comments about the larger Minimus-77 are a bit confused though. It does not have a cone tweeter, but rather a dome tweeter very similar to that in Minimus-7. You're thinking of either Minimus-11 or Minimus-12 (or both), which have "horn loaded" cone tweeters and are predecessors to Minimus-77. Also, you suggest your "other pair" of Minimus 7 are made in Taiwan. May want to have another look. All Minimus 7 were made in Japan from inception to late 1990, when production moved to Korea for 1 year (except for the walnut 7W, which remained in Korea through end of its run). Production then moved to Malaysia for the remainder of Minimus-7 and all of the Optimus and RCA variants that followed. This doesn't include Centrios-7, which is merely an ersatz Minimus-7 abomination.

[@TheTechGuyYT]

My Minimus 7s says manufactured in korea

[@dlkirk1]

I'm still using my 1993 Optimus STAV 3000 with recommend Optimus Pro SW-12 inch stereo Sub-woofer and Optimus pro 77 speakers. Thinking about replacing everything but they still sound wonderful. I added two RCA 2-way Die-cast Mimni speakers back in 2003.

[@brotherbrian5625]

I just bought a pair of these on eBay in walnut. I have to pick them up after work!😄

[@pn2543]

I just got a pair off Ebay for 35$US, in good shape, to mate with a vintage 1982 System Eleven STA111 30 watt receiver, they make a cool looking combo and sound really nice in the near field as a desktop audio system. Mine are labeled Made in Japan, and the tweeters look a little different than the ones in this video, though I havent taken the grill off to look closely.

[@turbojoe2]

I use one of these for my alarm clock speaker. Nice to wake up to. And their freakin awesome!

[@RafaelLopeztattoos]

I used one for my doorbell

[@alexferguson8893]

Got a pair for 6 bucks at a thrift store and they definitely are keepers. Pairing them with a diy 8" subwoofer.

[@dannyverhamme7970]

I just bought a set for 35 Euro. ( 38,31 American Dollar ) I love them!

[@Stormmover]

From where?

[@dannyverhamme7970]

@@Stormmover What do you mean with from where?

[@Stormmover]

@@dannyverhamme7970store

[@Jellybeantiger]

I had these with an old Proton American am running at 20 watts a channel rms running from a Sony Playstation 1 lol.They sound fantastic especially for jazz.

[@Jellybeantiger]

The Proton had a very laid back sound which suited these speakers.

[@tee-jaythestereo-bargainph2120]

those were badass back when I was a teenager late80s early 90s they were expensive

[@markscott9259]

Great speakers! Truth is they don't even need subwoofers. They sound full with out them.

[@TheTechGuyYT]

I do agree they have a nice full sound

[@RWL2012]

no, the bass rolls off under like 100Hz

[@MichaelLivingston-me]

Bose used to have stores where they demonstrated their tiny cube speakers paired with their less than deep bass powered woofer. I can't refer to their Acoustimass woofer as a sub. It couldn't go much lower than 60 Hz. Pair these Minimus 7s with a Polk 10 inch subwoofer and the Sony STR-DH190 Stereo Receiver, or other modern and reasonable price AVR, and it sounds much better than the cheaply made cone speakers found in the Bose. If you have a Sony TV, you can use the one control for TV, receiver and Blu-ray player.

[@TheTechGuyYT]

The acoustimass 300 can reach downnnn to 26 hz

[@AdwareWatch1]

I have a white pair of these and absolutely love them

[@COH2000]

I wish that you had showed how to remove those grills without damaging them. Thanks for all the rest however.

[@mortlach186]

Did you attach both drivers in phase or out of phase ?

[@xray7908]

As I recall, the original Minimus 7s had acoustic suspension (sealed box) cabinets like yours. Later versions had a bass port in the rear like a pair that I own. Does anybody know what years were acoustic suspension and what years had ports? When they first came out, there was nothing like them in terms of bass for the size and overall sound for the price.

[@ciro589m]

Ahh I love these. Always wanted a pair :3

[@gustavoramirez-rangel5773]

These are AWESOME speakers!

[@jamesveach6918]

Those screw holes on the back of the speaker are for speaker stands they made speaker stands for them I have a pair of them that I use on mine

[@jamesveach6918]

The realistic minimus 7 was built by Braun if you look on KZbin and type in the wor Braun speakers you will see the exact same speaker because the minimus 7 are built by Braun

[@emotionalinvalid]

I remember Radio Shack selling a pair of speakers almost half that size in the late 1970s . They were heavy in weight and had metal exterior or "boxes", told they had heavy magnets behind the speakers inside for powerful sound . and that the actual speakers inside were fairly durable . First time i heard them at a stereo store they blew me away ! i mean those speakers filled the whole store with sound . only 40 bucks each back then . sigh....i wish i would have bought a pair . speakers made for laptops since the 21st century began suck . yeah i know everyone converges everything to a smartphone now, but i can't afford one . until a year ago i connected my 10 year old laptop to a 1990s sony boombox . the sound was great compared to speakers made for computers or smaller mobile devices . like everything made for obsolescence it went dead . i mean planned obsolescence has been around a long time , but in the early 1990s onwards they started making things like shit in a big way but nothing as bad as the shit you buy today. i got my audio output through a sony with cassette mono port radio , circa 1990s . like the radio i use a n analog portable stereo radio with feather light headphones no longer made by Phillips(for such light headphones they got a great sound and bass) and both receive audio from my laptop via a cheap fm transmitter . but in the flat , you go behind the fridge or something and it goes staticy because its a portable analog radio, and an fm transmitter is not powerful in distance terms, at all . the mono radio sounds ok for talk . but for music my cheap portable personal stereo radio and headphones not too bad for music....and so on and so forth....sorry for the ramble....peace

[@fever7033]

Absolutely awesome speaker's..!

[@SamB-fv6su]

Very good review

[@TheTechGuyYT]

+Sam B thank you glad you liked it

[@jameslucas6589]

Getting rid of my electro voice. These are amazing!

[@IKnewMickey]

Nova 8 was probably the third realistic speaker ppl remember

[@ivoted7199]

RMS 40 Watts @ 8 OHMS

[@alexferguson8893]

Just bought a pair for $6 at a resale store.

[@HDXFH]

Nice speakers

[@TheTechGuyYT]

Thank you i still have them .

[@emotionalinvalid]

how about a video with some music or other sound pumped out by these speakers - duh

[@TheTechGuyYT]

Maybe

[@johnshaw359]

A truly terrible speaker, really good-looking and tough but the sound is/was appalling.