Old Realistic speakers.

Paul in Canada

I have these Realistic speakers that must be over 30 years old. I don't know much about speakers but I was wondering if it would make any sense to try and restore these speakers. The cabnet isn't in to bad of shape but drivers are torn and have holes in them. Could I buy some new drivers and replace them or should I just let them die.

madmax

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust...
madmax

aaharvel

Si.

Le ceneri alle ceneri, la polvere di spolverare...

:cool:

jcaut

Do you have a model number? Or what are the driver sizes and configuration? I'm just interested to know which ones you've got. It's not likely that they're "worth" anything, so unless you just want to keep them and/or slavage the cabinets for use on another project.... Probably not worth spending much effort on, IMO.

Despite the cheesy reputation they have earned nowadays, some of the older Radio Shack stuff wasn't bad. Back in the '70's and into the early 80's they had some pieces that were worthy competition for some of the name brands.

Paul in Canada

The speakers are Optimus 10's model# 40-2028. There are two drivers, one measures 8" and the other is 10". I was hoping that I could just replace the drivers, but I have no idea what that would cost or what kind of driver to look at. I thought if I could save them I would hook them up in the basement as a second system. Keep in mind that I really don't know much about speakers and I do appreciate everyone's input.

Thanks,
Paul

aaharvel

Probably not worth fixing Paul. Welcome to the Jungle! Grab some Polk rti's and enjoy! :cool:

nadams

Only thing I could find- http://support.radioshack.com/support_tutorials/audio_video/afq-4002028.htm

Paul in Canada

These speakers are just old speakers that were sitting in my parents basement not being used. I remeber when I was in my teens and listening to old scratchy records on these speakers I thought they sounded pretty good. When I pick up my old records at moms I also picked up these speakers and old turntable so I thought I might set up a system in the basement that I could listen to these old records on. Of course I don't want spend a whole lot of time or money fixing them up but I thought it might be fun to try. The speakers do work, they just sound like crap.

I do have a system in the family room that consist of RTi 8's, a Denon 2805, Paragidm surrounds and center.(No Sub Yet) Thanks again for everyones input.

nadams

Are these holes just in the foam surround around the woofer, or is the actual cone torn? If it's just the surrounds, you can buy refoaming kits.

To everyone else- I wouldn't discredit these speakers so quickly. Radioshack/Optimus/Realistic had some interesting offerings back in the day. I have a pair of RatShack Nova-6 speakers that I was very surprised by, and a friend of mine has two pair of the mighty Mach 1 speakers that were top of the line for awhile.

Some are more musical than others... some are just Cerwin-Vega class DJ speakers.

Paul in Canada

The holes are just in the foam. When I touch the foam it just falls apart. Where could I buy a refoaming kit and would that be something that a rookie could do himself?
Thanks a lot in advance Nadams. It would be nice to get these things singing again.

nadams

http://www.simplyspeakers.com/2doityourself.htm

is one place. Do a search on google for refoaming kits. You're likely going to be looking for just a generic kit for your size woofer. It's quite common for foam surrounds to dryrot and just crumble away. I have a whole box of old drivers waiting to be refoamed, but I haven't had the time/spare money to attempt any of them. You'll note that all but the very earliest of Polk Audio's speakers have used rubber surrounds for durability!

jcaut

PartsExpress sells re-foam kits. Here's a link: http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&SO=2&DID=7&CATID=30&ObjectGroup_ID=373

Somewhere there you can also find a link to a "How-To" article, and instructions about how to measure to get the right surround kit. There are other places that sell them too, but that's the only one I have in mind at the moment. There might be a better source for you in Canada.... Solen, maybe?

It's not particularly hard to do: I have done a few myself and except for making a bit of a mess with excess glue, the first one I did worked pretty well.

Your call, as to whether or not it would be worth it.

Paul in Canada

This is great Nadams. It looks easy to repair and it will feel good to save these speakers. I hope to get around to repairing them in the next couple of weeks and I'll let you know how it went. Thanks again Nadams. Thank you too jcaut.

Rockman

New here, but have some helpful info...

Paul in Canada - What you have (Optimus 10) are some very decent speakers, considering when they were manufactured. I have, and still enjoy, a set of Optimus 10 speakers that I purchased new in 1978.

Realistic Optimus 10 speakers have a poly dome tweeter, an 8" driver and a 10" passive radiator. The largest "speaker" in your unit actually has no electrical connection, it "radiates" sound waves from the driver located above it because the cabinet is fully enclosed. The speakers will produce "rock-solid" base frequencies down to 42 Hz without a subwoofer. They have a SPL rating of 91 (if my memory serves me correctly).

By todays standards you may be saying "so what," but remember, these speakers were made in the late 70's. I purchased them based on the reviews that were conducted at the time by "Stereo Review" magazine which gave them very high marks.

I replaced the 8" drivers about 10 years ago with equivalent units. I matched up the replacements based on info I had in the paperwork that came with the speakers. The foam around the passive radiators is now failing and I'll probably have them rebuilt professionally so I can keep listening to the speakers.

Your units are probably still good, they just need a little attention. Besides, it's fun to see the look on people's faces when the see and HEAR the speakers! I say - fix 'em!

phono2

I'd recommend do-it-yourself refoaming on speakers that aren't very valuable. If nothing else, it's a mini-education on speaker construction. If you aren't already, you become familiar with terms like "voice coil", "pole piece", "spider", "surrounds", "basket", etc., sometimes based on bitter experience.

And you learn to appreciate cloth surrounds.

mhardy6647

The design is basically R/S's homage to the original Polk Monitor 7, y'know :-)


Refoaming most drivers is actually quite easy. Only some drivers with really small VC gaps may be tricky. If you go with a PartsExpress kit, you'll get everything you need, although at a premium price.

Steve Deckert has a tutorial of sorts on his website... but he makes it look a bit harder than necessary, since he is in the reconing and refoaming business, too!
http://www.decware.com/newsite/refoam.htm

Home Theatre

Paul in Canada wrote:

These speakers are just old speakers that were sitting in my parents basement not being used. I remeber when I was in my teens and listening to old scratchy records on these speakers I thought they sounded pretty good. When I pick up my old records at moms I also picked up these speakers and old turntable so I thought I might set up a system in the basement that I could listen to these old records on. Of course I don't want spend a whole lot of time or money fixing them up but I thought it might be fun to try. The speakers do work, they just sound like crap.

I do have a system in the family room that consist of RTi 8's, a Denon 2805, Paragidm surrounds and center.(No Sub Yet) Thanks again for everyones input.

Just buy a new turntable and listen to the records on that awesome stereo you have now.

Paul in Canada

Thanks for the information guys. I still have not done anything these speakers. I hope to try refoaming them sometime this winter. Maybe Santa will get me the refoaming kits for X-mas. I remember these speakers sounding quite good, all most twenty years ago, and would love to fix them up. When I do get around to refoaming them I will be sure to report back on how they sound. Thanks again.

Rick from Ohio

I have had these old speakers in my workshop which were given to me by a friend at work.They have been there for 7 yrs.The drivers had foam rot and the tweeters had the domes pushed in....totally shot!However,the cabinets were in beautiful condition,real walnut veneer,solid construction.Being retired I decided to bring new life into these 30+ yr old speakers.After doing my homework I found that these cabinets were the same cubic volume as the Cerwin Vega D-3 which has a 10" woofer.So I got on ebay and found a pair of these 10"ers that needed new surrounds.Instead of using OEM surrounds,I upgraded to butyl rubber surrounds.I shimmed the VC and installed new dust caps for a proper rebuild.Knowing the high efficiency<94db> of this woofer made selection for a mid and tweeter a bit more challenging.Pyle has an new 8" midrange unit with a 94db rating and a closed back which fits perfectly where the old woofer used to be.Parts Express had a buyout of Vifa high end dome tweeters with the same high efficiency rating and the perfect fit where the old tweeter resided.They also had a dual L-pad control faceplate that fit perfectly where the old brilliance control was.I had to install a port on the rear of the cabinet to allow the newly rebuilt woofers to operate properly.There wasn't any room on the baffle board for front mounting of the flared port.Crossover frequencies of 400/4000HZ were used.I must say that these speakers really sound super.The rear mounted port really extends the bass with them being in the corners of the living room.Efficient,accurate sound with pinpiont imaging.Everyone that listens to them gives them high appraise.All for an investment of $200.I could never have bought a set of speakers that have the awsome performance that these do for $100 a piece,plus beautiful oiled walnut cabintes!!So if you want to have a little fun,take the time and bring your vintage cabinets to new levels of performance.Don't throw them away! Enjoy your jams!!

Ricardo

Hey Rick. Welcome to the forum.
Nice job on those speakers, but we really need pictures.

Where are you in OH? I live in Mason.