Vintage Realistic Minimus 7 speaker review 

I bought a pair in 1989 and hung them under the eaves facing the swimming pool and back yard. I would dust them off once a year but never took them down until last summer, August 2022. They worked fine but I had new hidden speakers installed around the yard, so I retired them to the garage. They still sound great.

Younger guy here, I have a pair. I think for the size and price these are some of the best sounding small bookshelf speakers.

I really forgot about those. I bought a pair and used them "on top" of a pair of tower speakers. Then, moved them outside by my wood hot tub. Damn, those were fun times!

My pair is mounted on the wall in the next room wired to my main system, but i bought them for my pickup truck long ago. I remember that they were $49.99 each because a friend asked me how much they cost, and I said $50, and he asked per pair, and I said no, EACH. Mine are decades old and still get used today. Great sounding little speaker and good quality too!

I bought a pair of Minimus 7W's in the late 70's/early 80's to put in my car, sat them face up on the back seat of my brother's '71 Impala (which I was driving until I got my first car of my own) and could install a more proper car stereo system. I still have them.

I’ve had a pair of black Minimus 7’s in my kitchen since 1986..They still sound great today!

+1 .. Great speaker topic; A 1976 Chevrolet Monte Carlo .... Fond memories, Memory Lane ... Followed a similar path with my 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle, Sun Bug actually.. Subscribed. .. Cheers, Vail, Colorado P.S. ,, Yes, enjoyed a pair of Advent Large speakers for years.. Believe it or not, the Advents were replaced with big studio monitors. .. Enter the JBL Professional 4343 monitor which was actively XO with Crown's VFX-2A.. Amplification was a handful of Crown D-150A in mono and pair of Crown DC300 in mono for the bottom end. ... Those were the days.. My employer CBS Television Network NY, NY owned all the studio gear ....

Good review Scott, I remember these well. You are right they were pretty much indestructible and I even remember people using these for small outdoor events, picnics and such. I'll bet just about everybody has some memories of these. Thx! Robert

I was a Radio Shack store manager back then. The date code on the black speaker indicates it was made in April of 1982. Withe the number of these that we cranked through the stores I would guess you bought them in the summer of '82.

This speaker's design owes a lot to the legendary Visonik David mini studio monitors

Love the Advent speakers too my favorite floor speakers of all time that 83 walnut 7 is beautiful

Found a pair of white ones at a goodwill for a few bucks a while back! They felt durable and so I bought them for my desk and yeah wow they are pretty good little speakers especially at the price I paid! Just now looking up reviews because I was curious about them lol I feel even better about my purchase after watching this

I really enjoy your videos. I bought my first Hi-Fi gear in 1975 when I was in the Navy and had my first spending money. Sadly I could only listen to it when I was home on leave. Your collection is awesome and it brings back a lot of great memories.

I first read about the Realistic Minimus line in my 1979 Complete Buyers Guide to Stereo/Hifi Equipment. Both the Minimus 7 and 11 had half page reviews that impressed me. Even so far as to compare them (sound-wise) to the lofty Rogers LS3/5A. Needing only a good sub woofer for a complete full range system. The Realistic T-70 (labyrinth) was even more stunning.

Awesome, thanks for the link! I just bought a pair of these for $15 at a local thrift store and I’m rocking them this very minute. So glad I finally found a pair.

I have a pair of 1st gen Silvers with an STA-111 receiver (the last of the low profile solid receivers but has a digital tuner) and it's astonishing how good these little heavy speakers sound, especially with the receiver(s) they were bundled with. I noticed you have a black "C" model, and I've read that the early ones (screw terminal models, and "A" models) had better tweeters and that made a big difference.

I still have a pair of the black metal as well as a pair of the wood grain versions that I used as confidence speakers in my music studio.

I have a pair of the RCA 40-5002 variant that are in excellent shape. I need to fire them up again. In our last house that had a finished basement, there was a built-in recessed cupboard with book shelves and cabinets for kids games and toys and I had these up on the bookshelf. The shelf was a simple white-painted 1x10 board and the resonance that gave the speakers was impressive. If you lifted them off, they sounded thinner, especially in the bass. But sitting on the shelf which acted as a passive resonator the bass and mid just bloomed. Add to that the shelves were inset into a wood paneled alcove in the wall and I think it gave these little things space and dimension.

I have a black and a white pair. They benefit greatly from a capacitor upgrade (tweeter) with a good polypropylene substitution (same value). Also, applying a light coat of diluted PVA glue (Elmer's) to the woofer reaps benefits in the bass. Only a light coat, though, and not on the dust cap or the surround - just the paper of the woofer cone. They rock!

I have a pair if Gennexa sxo7 aluminium speakers.(purchased at Tandy in the UK in 1985) still absolutely brilliant. Paints chipped, battered and bruised but as good as my Mordaunt Shorts and my Magnat Monitor 220. Providing excellent clear vibrant sound.😁

Love these! Especially the rubber surrounds. It killed me when Radio Shack switched to the cheap foam surrounds on their speakers, specifically on their bookshelves with the Linaeum tweeters. But the Minimus 7s are the ever- reliable go-to when you need good sound at a great price. I'm using 2 of mine as surrounds out in my shop along with Polk towers for mains, a Polk center with 6-inch mid-woofers and a Polk PSW 650 sub with dual 10-inch drivers. The Minimus 7 dome tweeters are a surprisingly close match for the Polks. These days I bargain shop all of my speakers on eBay and haven't been burned too much. I did buy a pair of the Radio Shack towers with the Linaeum tweeters and dual bass drivers that at least have rubber surrounds. I hardly ever use them because i don't want the tweeters to fail. Anyway, nice channel! I like the look you chose for your setup and lighting. Your camera work is very smooth, too. I subscribed and will check out more of your reviews as time allows. I like the format of your reviewing system as well. Good stuff.

I enjoy viewing vintage equipment reviews. I own another version of these. They are Power Drive SM-200 Recoton Corporation made in Japan. I got them for free in an empty apartment. They were abandoned by the previous owner. I also got a nice set of Panasonic Technics SB-400! - these are three way speakers

I have the first generation screw terminals Minimus 7, they came in yellow boxes...they have an aluminium front cover and no holes in the back for the brackets...I also have a pair of the C type with the plastic face tweeters and steel grills.

I'm listening to this on a pair of modded Minimus 7Ws. They're the little engine that could.

Great speakers. All in such line of Realistic Minimus 7 and Optimus Pro 7 and few similar, but from my experience the best sounding are early made in Japan with lower serial numbers. I have few pairs and lowest has serial numbers around 900

We obviously came of “audio age” at the same time. My minimus 7’s are in our library on a bookshelf hooked up to a ChiFi amp and a streamer. Bought mine from a radio shack in Rochester NY in 1979. Sound good for low level near field, but I do think your scores are a bit high compared to the scores you gave for the Advent and Klipsch. The 7’s actually like power, for a while back in the day I had them hooked up in tandem with the Advents and that combo produced a very nice/full sound. Try it if you have not already, just be sure to put plenty of juice into it.

I got a pair and they sound really good for the size and what I paid.

I have them in black, I use them in the garage and they sound great for what they are

I have a pair of Kanto YU2's plugged straight into USB on a desktop PC. The YU2's have an amazing sound for their size, just like the Mini7's in their day. It'd be interesting to see how the Mini7's stack up against the YU2's.

When I worked for RS the Mini7's were an easy sale, sure beat selling a couple of packs of fuses or resistors.

Went on sale every July for 29.95 each and yes 1978 first year minimus 7w 1983 one of my favorites your 7w in 1983 only year with finished baffle.

The sensitivity is 84db. I have a set of those which I bought in the late 70´s

I understand Minimus 7 were inspired by A/D/S, which produced the first "little speaker with the big sound" sold mainly in mid/high end stereo salon types. my first intro with those type units were Norman Laboratories.... Btw you could have added a fourth speaker to that line up, the blackface 7w.

They were sold in Australia under the Tandy brand name they cost around $60 a pair great speakers for the money... Sadly companies such as Radio Shack or Tandy in Australia do not exist any more Steel speaker cabinets were unheard of back in the 80s The profit margin must have been minimal because the drivers and cabinets and crossovers were good quality I have a pair in mint condition in black..

Score adds up to 68, I think... They look cool and you convinced me to give them a try in the computer setup if i can find a decent pair nearby.

I bought mine ( white) in 78 for 50 bucks. Still have them in a garage system. Still sound good. I’ve never tweaked them.

I got seven pairs of those from Radio Shack's garbage dumpster. (defective grills) They tossed out some good stuff back then.

Had a pair in 70s not loud enough in car with 15 watts. i just read USENET comments made in 1993 speaking of the Speaker Builder Mag mod in 1988.

Sensitivity for those speakers is said to be, "shockingly low" @ 82dB.

Get a pair of ADS 200 witch are better, but cost double at the time . I still have a pair of ADS 200 that I use for desk top speakers.

I have a pair of Minimus 7s and also another pair of speakers that looks identical but has the RCA badge. Did Radio Shack allow the speakers to be marketed under another name?

I must of had a dozen pairs of these at one point. Black, white, silver, aluminum, wood. A, B,C denominations. Then I realized why am I listening to these when there are so many BETTER sounding speakers in my possession (i.e AR M.5, Paradigm Atom, JBL N28, Advent 3) so I sold off all my Minimus 7's. No regret. My ears thank me.

I got a pair of it at a garage sale!

I hope You could help me decide, for very similar price I have tree options this Minimus 7, the Mini Advent and BIC America V52. Im planing use it with a vintage reciver maybe Marantz, Pionneer or Kenwood. Thanks for your time.

Need your advice; what speakers would you pair with an SX 1000 Pioneer receiver? I'm a fan of suspension speakers ftr.

Curious, would you spend £500 on new with 6 year guarantee like my Marantz had with latest hi tech connections or £500 on antique no guarantee.

hey, another LT30 owner!

Bien

Would the Koss M series be a notch above these?

Minumus 7 - setting the bar pretty low. Bought a pair back in the day and they never sounded very good. Sensitivity: what sensitivity? Very low sensitivity in order to equalize output for some amount of base. Woofer uses a fairly stiff vinyl like surround which make them very temperature sensitive. In a cold car or garage, there is no bass at all. The idea was good but very poorly executed, at least in the aluminum enclosure. I wonder if quality varied from batch to batch? RS also sold the 4" woofers and I bought four to make a set of MTM style speakers, currently in my garage and they are very temperature sensitive.

Those sounds like a vitrola compared to the Canton Plus S

Really good! Can you just lower your microphone gain in your recordings a bit? I Hate digital distortion Or is it Google/RU-vid doing this? Du har en bra kanal!

Minimus 7's were a direct copy of the ADS L200C's. 🔈🔉🔊

These speakers are terrible. They have no bass or resonance. Yes, I know about subwoofers, and crossover mods. I’m talking the speakers themselves, on their own merits. Terrible.

I SOLD MANY OF THESE IN MY 27 YEAR CAREER AT RADIO SHACK. THE METAL CASE MADE THEM NOT ONLY A GREAT SOUNDING ROCK HARD SPEAKER, BUT THEY COULD BE GREAT FOR SELF-DEFENSE. I REMEMBER SELLING THESE BETWEEN 19.99 TO 29.99 A PIECE DEPENDING IF ON SALE OR NOT. I THINK THE SENSITIVITY WAS IN THE 85 TO 88 DB RANGE DEPENDING IF WOOD OR METAL CASE.

I own a pair of the black metal Minimus 7's. They are the satellites for my surround sound system. I have replaced the woofers, but the soft dome tweeters are still going strong. Purchased in 1980.