Radio Shack ****...

univera

http://articles.news.aol.com/business/_a/radioshack-lays-off-employees-via-e/20060830125309990016?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Well, they are a technology company, even it is from the 1970's.....Optimus rules.

faster100

Ok screw it, lets boycott Radio shack.. the ****


That's pretty low to do

zombie boy 2000

RatShack don't need no stinkin' snail-mail:D

univera

:rolleyes: Does anyone feel Radio Shack even has a niche? I don't think of going there ever except for speaker wire in a pinch or spade, plug, etc. and I'll be picking up that SPL meter. Maybe that is their niche. Who buys Optimus gear?

Seems like there is a lot of low end gear with a much better "coolness factor" than Optimus.

"Hey man, check out this rad Optimus CB I bought today...." "Yea, that's cool. But not as cool as those Audiovox 6X9's in my Vega."

First one to name the parent company (without accessing outside info) will receive a free cd of their choice as a Karma gift for the help this site has provided. You must know it off the top or inside of your head

jdhdiggs

The optimus speakers with the lineaum tweeters were nothing to sneeze at. Beyond that, not much there interests me beyond batteries for my alarm remote.

univera

jdhdiggs wrote:

The optimus speakers with the lineaum tweeters were nothing to sneeze at. Beyond that, not much there interests me beyond batteries for my alarm remote.

Can you find a picture of those? Curious to see what you are referring to. I know this has been beat to death, but, do you think Signal Cable Risers would elevate Optimus gear to hi-fi status?:D

Ernesto's startin to blow on through...First wind of the day...

miner

univera wrote:

:rolleyes: Does anyone feel Radio Shack even has a niche? I don't think of going there ever except for speaker wire in a pinch or spade, plug, etc. and I'll be picking up that SPL meter. Maybe that is their niche. Who buys Optimus gear?

Seems like there is a lot of low end gear with a much better "coolness factor" than Optimus.

"Hey man, check out this rad Optimus CB I bought today...." "Yea, that's cool. But not as cool as those Audiovox 6X9's in my Vega."

First one to name the parent company (without accessing outside info) will receive a free cd of their choice as a Karma gift for the help this site has provided. You must know it off the top or inside of your head

Tandy Corp.

F1nut

Note that an ex-Kmart executive is in charge now. 'Nuff said!"

VR3

Haha...

Someone joked about boycotting Ratshack...

But honestly --- I wouldnt feel a difference. I never go there...

If someone fired me by email, Id raise kane!

univera

miner wrote:

Tandy Corp.

You're the man. What disk do you desire that you don't currently own?

?

univera

I too found it interesting they would hire a former K-Mart exec. K-Mart hasn't exactly proven to be a soluable company the past recent years. Or should I call them "Sears-Mart?"

I'll bet K-Mart at least fired people in person. "Folks, we have a blue light special on aisle five. Free pink slips for everyone!":D

When do you ever go there either except to get your latest Martha Stewart wares?

PhantomOG

am I the only who feels like I'm magically stepping into the 1980's when I walk into a RadioShack? maybe I'm just crazy

jdhdiggs

univera wrote:

Can you find a picture of those? Curious to see what you are referring to. I know this has been beat to death, but, do you think Signal Cable Risers would elevate Optimus gear to hi-fi status?:D

Ernesto's startin to blow on through...First wind of the day...

I own some, I'll take a pic tonight or you can search the fleamarket. I didn't see the part about you asking about Tandy though... Damn, missed out on an easy CD. I used to work at rat shack to pay my way through college. So glad I sold my stock in '99.

Edit: pics: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19125&page=2

faster100

LOL, the older k-marts always made me feel that way also.. we had an old k-mart with the K cafe.. still working, however several years ago they closed it down and the whole store shortly afterwards

miner

univera wrote:

You're the man. What disk do you desire that you don't currently own?

?

Bob Seger 'Live Bullet'

univera

PhantomOG wrote:

am I the only who feels like I'm magically stepping into the 1980's when I walk into a RadioShack? maybe I'm just crazy

Do they still sell disco balls and strobe lights? And....do they still sell those yellow robot banks that chomp up your money? "Robie", I believe:D I'll bet you can get some kickass boom boxes with double cassette decks at the Shack....

Man, I remember when having dual cassete deck boom box was the deal! My first "system" was an Emerson dual cassette player boom box...with detachable speakers!!!!!!!!!!!! I used to record songs off the radio with my dad's white, dictaphone cassette blanks he brought home from work. They had at least 10 minutes of recording time. In between recording sessions, I would play my Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA tape or Tina Turner, Private Dancer. Oh, YEA!

nadams

My dad has a set of Optimus PRO-LX511 speakers with the Linaeum tweeters. They really don't sound all that bad for their size. The tweeters are pretty clear, too. He bought a whole Optimus system when Ratshack was clearencing all the last of their real gear.

Specs of the speakers:

Frequency Response

---

80-25,000 Hz
Power Handling

---

65 Watts (RMS)
Maximum Power

---

130 Watts
Impedance

---

8 Ohms (Nominal)
Dimensions (HWD)

---

10 5/8" x 6 1/4" x 7 1/4"


Pics-













And a post from the diyAudio Forums Archive- http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-33533.html

zombie boy 2000

univera wrote:

Oh, YEA!

Said in his best Kool-Aid Man voice:D

nadams

Believe it or not, Stereophile reviewed the RS Optimus Linaeum speakers... http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/695ratshack/

mhardy6647

Poor ol' R/S lost its way quite a long time ago, when they decided they wanted to focus on fast-moving inventory at the expense of their slow moving parts and accessories. The great thing about the 'old' R/S was 1) they usually had what you wanted (including parts) when you were really stuck and needed something and 2) their staff used to be quite knowledgeable about the stuff they carried.

They're in their death throes now, I think.

Over the years, they sold some actually quite remarkable speaker drivers, made for them by Foster (Fostex) and others. They sold the Lineaum dipole tweeters and small Fostex bullet supertweeters as add-ons.

Whenever they closed these R/S drivers out, I would snag a pair or more cheap.

My living room mass loaded TQWT's are built with R/S 40-1354 FR drivers and augmented with R/S 40-1375 planar tweeters crossed in very high (and first order) to add a little 'air'.

PolkThug

I Rs

nadams

PolkThug wrote:

I Rs

fan boi!

Mike682

Laying off people by email = Pathetic.


Anyway, I believe some of the recent Optimus receivers were made by Pioneer

noimposse

Those **** sold hundreds of kids on my campus Crossover cables when students went in looking for a simple ethernet cable to get hooked up to the school network.

And honestly, what can you get there at this point that you cant find anywhere else? They have gotten rid of most of their DIY electronics stuff.

....I guess maybe if you need a CB or something...

F1nut

They have gotten rid of most of their DIY electronics stuff.

Yep and it was a huge mistake to do so.

George Grand

I had both the LX-4 and LX-5 with Linaeum tweets. The LX-4 was a kick-**** little satellite with a lot more low end than you'd figure for a 4" woof. The LX-5 had a 5 1/4"er and COULD be used in a small room or office rig. Great air and space coming out of those tweets.

bobman1235

noimposse wrote:

And honestly, what can you get there at this point that you cant find anywhere else? They have gotten rid of most of their DIY electronics stuff.

?? That's the only reason I go in there. I don't know what they got rid of, but they still have the basics that you basically can't get anywhere else. IE discretes and that kidn of thing.

faster100

if ya need a switch, some solder, led lights and bezels.. and dont wanna wait for an order through parts express.. its perfect. expensive but gets ya by.. and i got my blue razr on sale there recently... now they sell cell phones and stuff and run nice sales weekly.. just dont get home audio gear there and your golden.. I actually years ago had some big home speakers, some bookshelves and a mega changer before they went RCA crap and it was decent..

Beekyman

The LX 5 was a very capable little speaker, I sold a bunch of them when I worked for RS in the late 90's. As mentioned earlier some of the OPTIMUS gear was indeed PIONEER, you could tell simply by looking thru the cooling grates on top of the unit.
I'm really disapointed with the current state of RS, they dont even sell ham radio equipment anymore and none of their employees seem to be knowledgable about anything. Too bad because RS really did fill a niche that no one else really did fit in to.

Danny Tse

Beekyman wrote:

I'm really disapointed with the current state of RS, they dont even sell ham radio equipment anymore and none of their employees seem to be knowledgable about anything. Too bad because RS really did fill a niche that no one else really did fit in to.

I agree with you, but it also reflect the general state of audio for the mass consumer. People nowadays rather listen to music off of their cell phone :mad: than buy a CD.

Most of us make fun of RS, but it did come out with some rather good products....the Mach One, the Minimus 7, the LX-series speakers, some of their receivers, etc. I still remember RS' battery card.

mhardy6647

I think I have one of the battery of the month club cards... I'd always forget it. The old R/S batteries were so funky looking, gold and white bubbles or something, and the very hip R/S font.

I bought one of our kids a Robie bank when she (the kid, not the bank) was very young!