What are the good Realistic Optimus speakers to look out for?

Wow I didn't know there was such a big following for them. A guy has some 90 miles from me and all he said is they were 15" Optimus.

Trying to get info out of him is impossible and he didn't seem very friendly. I don't know if it'd be worth it to drive 3 hours round trip??

What do you all think?
 
Mach One, Mach Two, and Mach Three are the ones I know of that have fifteen inch woofers. There are at least a few others. There was a two way with fifteen inch woofer and a horn in 1993 or thereabouts. In the late '80s there was the forgettable Optimus 1000 with a fifteen inch woofer. I think that there were some models that were sold in Canada that weren't available in the US. Of these I have heard (and owned) only the Mach Ones and Mach Twos.

I don't believe that any of these are generally considered to be within the best sounding three or four Radio Shack speakers. Included among the many Radio Shack speakers I've owned were the Nova 8Bs, Optimus 5s, Optimus 1s, and Optimus 1Bs, all of which I liked better than the fifteen inch models I've had.

You might be thinking about the Optimus 990 models. I have a set I use for rear surround. Nice 2 ways.
 
Wow I didn't know there was such a big following for them. A guy has some 90 miles from me and all he said is they were 15" Optimus.

Trying to get info out of him is impossible and he didn't seem very friendly. I don't know if it'd be worth it to drive 3 hours round trip??

What do you all think?

Depends. How much does he want? I got mine real cheap at the Goodwill and had to re-foam the woofers. So a re-foam will be in order and you need to add that to the cost.

I thought the Mach models are "Realistic" branded, not "Optimus" branded. I could be wrong but if they are Optimus, a model number would really help.
 
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In the '70s, all the Radio Shack speakers carried the brand name Realistic. There were also different named lines, including Optimus, Nova, and Minimus. In the early '90s they switched the brand name to Optimus so that all of their speakers were Optimus. They still made the Mach Two for at least one year after that so that there was an earlier Realistic Mach Two and a later Optimus Mach Two. The Mach Three was even later, so it would have been branded Optimus.

It's confusing that Optimus went from being the name of one line among several under the Realistic brand to being the brand itself. It'd be like the Ford name going away and all the cars at their dealerships being called the Mustang whatever.

To make it worse, Optimus didn't last too long before they started calling all their speakers RCA. Sometimes they didn't even change the product, just the name. It made for some nice clearance sales.

This wasn't limited to just speakers, either. I have a plasticky turntable branded Radio Shack that is identical to the previous year's RCA turntable that in turn was identical to a previous Optimus turntable.
 
Thanks for all the info on the Radio Shack brands Stereofanboy. I didn't keep up with the branding after my local store stopped giving out the catalogs. I have had the Realistic, Nova and Optimus brands all from RS. Thats also why at least if we knew a model number maybe we could help the OP.
 
Is die-cast a material? I always thought die-casting was something you did to a material, usually a metal.

Yeah, it's a process, like forging.

However, often the process was often done with plastic, pot-metal, and other materials, and was often known for producing low-quality items. For example, die-cast wrenches as opposed to drop-forged wrenches; the former often broke when used. This led many people to start referring to something of low-quality as "die-cast junk," which in turn made some think it was the material and not the process.
 
In the '70s, all the Radio Shack speakers carried the brand name Realistic. There were also different named lines, including Optimus, Nova, and Minimus. In the early '90s they switched the brand name to Optimus so that all of their speakers were Optimus. They still made the Mach Two for at least one year after that so that there was an earlier Realistic Mach Two and a later Optimus Mach Two. The Mach Three was even later, so it would have been branded Optimus.

It's confusing that Optimus went from being the name of one line among several under the Realistic brand to being the brand itself. It'd be like the Ford name going away and all the cars at their dealerships being called the Mustang whatever.

To make it worse, Optimus didn't last too long before they started calling all their speakers RCA. Sometimes they didn't even change the product, just the name. It made for some nice clearance sales.

This wasn't limited to just speakers, either. I have a plasticky turntable branded Radio Shack that is identical to the previous year's RCA turntable that in turn was identical to a previous Optimus turntable.
To add, Optimus WAS the higher end line for speakers at RS, mostly 80's and earlier. Sometimes there doesn't seem like much difference beyond looks, like the Optimus 5b and Nova 8b, the latter being the better and nicer in appearance and network but having the same dimensions AND the very same drivers as the Optimus 5b. This also seems to break the rule about Optimus/Nova convention. Not even RS was very consistent with lineage.
 
Wow I didn't know there was such a big following for them. A guy has some 90 miles from me and all he said is they were 15" Optimus.

Trying to get info out of him is impossible and he didn't seem very friendly. I don't know if it'd be worth it to drive 3 hours round trip??

What do you all think?

I'd say, forget it!
 
Wow I didn't know there was such a big following for them. A guy has some 90 miles from me and all he said is they were 15" Optimus.

Trying to get info out of him is impossible and he didn't seem very friendly. I don't know if it'd be worth it to drive 3 hours round trip??

What do you all think?
As readily available as RS speakers are, no point dealing with jerks, paying premiums or going out of your way. They're out there, and they show up frequently on eBay, CL, YS, GW, etc. Most of my acquisitions have been through friends, friends of friends, etc. And they're calling me now "hey yard sale, 3rd st, nice HPM speakers..." Seems I no longer have to buy the paper.
 
Wait....so Optimus was a re-branded RCA? I thought later during the early 90's, Optimus was just a rebranded Panasonic (or was it Pioneer?...I thought it started with a "P").

I can't seem to find a proper google on the history of Optimus.
 
Optimus was a Radio Shack house brand. They rebranded equipment made by other companies, including Pioneer (receivers) and ??? (speakers). Radio Shack did eventually retire the Optimus name and for a while marketed their receivers and speakers with RCA branding, but this was likely little more than a branding exercise (i.e. they apparently thought that the "RCA" label printed on the front panel had more cachet than the Optimus label).
 
I am quite fond of my Optimus 21's. They were made from 78-80. 10" woofer and 2- 3" tweeters
 
Apparently this guy doesn't like them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrtpyCMsiC8

Idiot for sure. Wow...you can destroy stuff that other people might pay a little cash for. Then you have to post it on Youtube to remove all doubt that you are a very small minded person. I agree that he can do with them as he wishes, but to me, it indicates more serious issues. I'd question this guys ability to respect property that belonged to other people as well.
 
I like the T-110's.. Wish I could find a pair....
I have a pair, but I believe I replaced the woofers. I still have one woofer, the other was fried. I'm still trying to locate an original driver, but not having much luck.
 
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