I found a pair of Minimus 7W speakers a while ago on craigslist. They had the tweeters I was expecting but had woofers marked as 40-1030. Were those ever put into the Minimus 7Ws? If not, are they a correct replacement? I plan on refinishing the enclosures and upgrading the crossover, but I was looking to see if the woofers will need to be addressed. Thanks
Radio Shack excelled at selling garbage. I bought a headphone once, the box showed 20-20000 hz response +- 3db. The brochure said the production tolerance was +-20db. So if it made any noise (not music) it was spec compliant. No wonder their speakers sounded so bad in the store. I wouldn't get too involved with finding exact replacement part for a Radio Shack anything.
Read multi-driver in the speaker forum. One designs a speaker to have proper flat response curve, which requires an anechoic chamber and a special microphone to measure. Other than that, one is just guessing.
Buy some old blown up classic speaker. Electrovoice, Peavey, JBL, QSC, Yamaha, pre 1980's Klipsch, Pre 90's Polk, pre 80's AR, KLH, dynaco. Those would be worth working on & measuring. I've looked, and peavey still sells drivers similar to what was in their 90's speakers. Or eminence drivers are well specified. Or look at Parts-express.com they have a collection of bargain and somewhat more up-market drivers, plus crossovers & hardware for speakers.
For general music use don't buy a guitar or bass or organ speaker. Those tend to top out at 7000 hz and the guitar/bass ones have subtle distortions admired by classic guitar players.
Read multi-driver in the speaker forum. One designs a speaker to have proper flat response curve, which requires an anechoic chamber and a special microphone to measure. Other than that, one is just guessing.
Buy some old blown up classic speaker. Electrovoice, Peavey, JBL, QSC, Yamaha, pre 1980's Klipsch, Pre 90's Polk, pre 80's AR, KLH, dynaco. Those would be worth working on & measuring. I've looked, and peavey still sells drivers similar to what was in their 90's speakers. Or eminence drivers are well specified. Or look at Parts-express.com they have a collection of bargain and somewhat more up-market drivers, plus crossovers & hardware for speakers.
For general music use don't buy a guitar or bass or organ speaker. Those tend to top out at 7000 hz and the guitar/bass ones have subtle distortions admired by classic guitar players.
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Despite a few opinions to the contrary, Minimus 7's are well respected, especially with crossover modifications.
Unfortunately the 7W's you found have had the woofers replaced with non-original drivers. The 40-1030 Came from the Optimus STS-100 speaker system and was used as a midrange driver. The 40-1030 was also sold individually for $19.99 and first appeared in the 2000 Radio Shack catalog on page 137. It was also found in the 2001 catalog on page 159 and the 2002 catalog on page 183. Radio Shack Catalogs - General Catalogs
See also the ebay auction Optimus Midrange Part # 40-1030. Tested. Parting Out Optimus STS-100 Speaker. | eBay for seller joeoldaudio parting out a STS-100.
The last 7W's were made in 1994. The first 40-1030 appeared in 2000. I would pass on the 7W's you found - not original.
Unfortunately the 7W's you found have had the woofers replaced with non-original drivers. The 40-1030 Came from the Optimus STS-100 speaker system and was used as a midrange driver. The 40-1030 was also sold individually for $19.99 and first appeared in the 2000 Radio Shack catalog on page 137. It was also found in the 2001 catalog on page 159 and the 2002 catalog on page 183. Radio Shack Catalogs - General Catalogs
See also the ebay auction Optimus Midrange Part # 40-1030. Tested. Parting Out Optimus STS-100 Speaker. | eBay for seller joeoldaudio parting out a STS-100.
The last 7W's were made in 1994. The first 40-1030 appeared in 2000. I would pass on the 7W's you found - not original.
Thanks. That helps. They looked too new to be original. I already have them along with some cast examples. I didn't pay too much. I will see if I can get something for the 40-1030s on Ebay and look for the right drivers. Just something I enjoy. Thanks again
To restore one of my Minimus 7's I bought a raw woofer on ebay. It didn't go well because the speaker was not packaged appropriately for shipping. The problem is the speaker surround extends beyond the metal frame and needs to be protected from external force. The speaker enclosure naturally does provide protection but a raw driver is exposed. Request special packaging if you have woofers shipped to you.
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Thank you for the heads up. I have a couple of the 7W cast models in my garage that I may end up stealing from. But we will see. I would like to keep them as complete as possible. Nice little speakers that work with a bluetooth amplifier. Finished a project for my daughter not too long ago. Pink paint was what she asked for.
Sounds decent enough for her needs. I will definitely work on new crossovers for my next project.- Status
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