Re: reply
Power ratings are kinda meaningless in most hifi situations. My favorite drivers have a 3 W rating. As to the frequency range, i suspect that the only XO is a single cap on the tweeter (guess=5-6 uF) and the midbass is specifically designed to roll off naturaly where the T comes in. Replacing the bipolar elco with a better cap is an obvious mod.
I'm actually quite surprised that you say the surround is foam. All the inverted half-roll surrounds i have seen are treated cloth (or plastic in some new drivers).
dave
Bull said:
Power ratings are kinda meaningless in most hifi situations. My favorite drivers have a 3 W rating. As to the frequency range, i suspect that the only XO is a single cap on the tweeter (guess=5-6 uF) and the midbass is specifically designed to roll off naturaly where the T comes in. Replacing the bipolar elco with a better cap is an obvious mod.
I'm actually quite surprised that you say the surround is foam. All the inverted half-roll surrounds i have seen are treated cloth (or plastic in some new drivers).
dave
Small world...
I have those exact speakers (Nova-6). Funny, I got them a few years ago at a pawn shop (US $30), I just went and lifted up every pair of cabinets they had and just bought the heaviest set. My intention was to replace the drivers with MCMs, but they ended up sounding really good stock. I have since refinished the cabinets and re-done the grilles (yuk). Very beautiful wood veneer. Amazing what radio shack has put out in the past...
I am far from what anyone here would call a "critical listener", but I find the speakers to be very musical. Good find.
I have those exact speakers (Nova-6). Funny, I got them a few years ago at a pawn shop (US $30), I just went and lifted up every pair of cabinets they had and just bought the heaviest set. My intention was to replace the drivers with MCMs, but they ended up sounding really good stock. I have since refinished the cabinets and re-done the grilles (yuk). Very beautiful wood veneer. Amazing what radio shack has put out in the past...
I am far from what anyone here would call a "critical listener", but I find the speakers to be very musical. Good find.
Hello to anyone still checking into this thread.
As far as improving the sound/quality of this particular model pair of speakers goes, the crossover design is matched perfectly to the drivers. There are no caps that need to be upgraded. As long as the switch in the rear on the plate still functions, everything's cool. The tweeters have what looks like a floating paper on a "web" type surround that is see through like. I've never seen anything like it before. It at first looks like the surround is crumbling or disintegrating, but upon further inspection appears to be manufactured that way. I thought they were defective, but both of mine are identical & the rest of the speakers are immaculate in every respect. Both have appropriate amounts of fiberglass damping material in the cabinets, you could swap it out with polyfill I suppose, but what's the point? The bass drivers have inverted cloth surrounds covered with rubber or a polymer of sorts that seem very well constructed & don't appear to deteriorate such as foam would. What they are coated with, I have no idea, but I have seen other type drivers built with the same material even in this day and age.
For a bargain basement type pair of speakers, you really can't go wrong. I paid $10.00 at Goodwill a few days ago. The veneer is really beautiful, but don't go crazy with the sander. It's pretty thin. A nice wood oil & good furniture polish is all that is required. I suppose if you came across a pair of these that needed new drivers and as long as the cabinets are in great shape, it would depend on how bad you wanted them. They are old fashioned particle board covered with veneer after all.
Just thought I'd put my 2 cents in & update the thread to let anyone who finds a pair of these tucked away out there know that there's still people on small budgets searching the thrift stores & finding things that will someday be gone forever & enjoying them.
Happy listening!
As far as improving the sound/quality of this particular model pair of speakers goes, the crossover design is matched perfectly to the drivers. There are no caps that need to be upgraded. As long as the switch in the rear on the plate still functions, everything's cool. The tweeters have what looks like a floating paper on a "web" type surround that is see through like. I've never seen anything like it before. It at first looks like the surround is crumbling or disintegrating, but upon further inspection appears to be manufactured that way. I thought they were defective, but both of mine are identical & the rest of the speakers are immaculate in every respect. Both have appropriate amounts of fiberglass damping material in the cabinets, you could swap it out with polyfill I suppose, but what's the point? The bass drivers have inverted cloth surrounds covered with rubber or a polymer of sorts that seem very well constructed & don't appear to deteriorate such as foam would. What they are coated with, I have no idea, but I have seen other type drivers built with the same material even in this day and age.
For a bargain basement type pair of speakers, you really can't go wrong. I paid $10.00 at Goodwill a few days ago. The veneer is really beautiful, but don't go crazy with the sander. It's pretty thin. A nice wood oil & good furniture polish is all that is required. I suppose if you came across a pair of these that needed new drivers and as long as the cabinets are in great shape, it would depend on how bad you wanted them. They are old fashioned particle board covered with veneer after all.
Just thought I'd put my 2 cents in & update the thread to let anyone who finds a pair of these tucked away out there know that there's still people on small budgets searching the thrift stores & finding things that will someday be gone forever & enjoying them.
Happy listening!
...and the RS optimus 3400 portable cd player is revered like no other, over at head-fi.org. i'm keeping my eyes peeled at ebay for that one.
sorry, i don't have anything to contribute on-topic.
/andrew
I still have mine, and it sounds as good if not better than my high end Sony CD player.
Another sleeper product from radio shack was the Mach One speaker. I purchased six of them for $100 bucks. Three of them I converted to subwoofers, and the other three I recapped, refurbished the mid range and tweeter drivers, purchased new woofers, and made them a true three way speaker(they were two and a halfers). I was not expecting much, it was just a project I wanted to do. I was stunned when I sat down to listen to them. They sounded really really good to these ears, so good I used them for my three front speakers in my hometheater.
...and the RS optimus 3400 portable cd player is revered like no other, over at head-fi.org. i'm keeping my eyes peeled at ebay for that one.
sorry, i don't have anything to contribute on-topic.
/andrew
Regarding the "revered" RS portable CD player -- I had one, back in the day. It was your typical cheap plastic portable, and had a pleasantly rolled off top end. There was nothing remarkable about it. It did not have the detail, soundstage, yada yada of my now equally revered Magnavox CDB-473.
(...which broke many years ago) Definitely do not pay any real money for a 3400. It's completely nothing special. IMO, YMMV, etc. --
PS - I sold off that 3400 for a tidy little profit, years ago.
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Regarding the "revered" RS portable CD player -- I had one, back in the day. It was your typical cheap plastic portable, and had a pleasantly rolled off top end. There was nothing remarkable about it. It did not have the detail, soundstage, yada yada of my now equally revered Magnavox CDB-473.
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PS - I sold off that 3400 for a tidy little profit, years ago.
I must disagree with you. There were no such thing as cheap plastic CD player(portable or not) when this player was manufactured. Hence why this player is so louded.
It all started with this Stereophile article from 1995, as I recall:
Radio Shack Optimus CD-3400 portable CD player | Stereophile.com
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Radio Shack Optimus CD-3400 portable CD player | Stereophile.com
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Great tweeters on those.
OEM Coral drivers, I bought a pair for my son at the Sunday market for $30-AUD ( cheeky bugger then sold them for $100- and kept the cash )
Overall a reasonable speaker for a small sealed box, I keep my eyes open for stuff like this every time I visit a thieves market
OEM Coral drivers, I bought a pair for my son at the Sunday market for $30-AUD ( cheeky bugger then sold them for $100- and kept the cash )
Overall a reasonable speaker for a small sealed box, I keep my eyes open for stuff like this every time I visit a thieves market
Agree on the tweeters. They were used on a bunch of RS stuff back when AR ***** like me just knew that anything labeled "Realistic" had to be junk. WRONG. They also used high quality resistors in their crossovers. Light on bass, which was all that mattered back then. Glad I kept some since open back cone tweeters are rare.
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