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The Rat Shack is BACK!!!

72.217.102.158
Posted on November 25, 2020 at 13:48:49
Dynobot
 Pulled back from the Jaws of death once again.

This time Radio Shack just might stay alive if they play their cards right...lots of tech on the market.



.

 

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I remember their Optimus speaker line, posted on November 25, 2020 at 14:47:02
bullethead
 when I was in my teens I bought some Optimus/Realistic speakers from them, they were actually pretty good, I miss radio shack. You could pick up speaker cable AND a soldering iron at the same time, and then add in some batteries which they loved to upsell. :)

 

RE: I remember their Optimus speaker line, posted on November 25, 2020 at 14:52:09
Todd A.
 I have a pair of those little Optimus speakers with the Linaeum tweeters out in my screen porch along with an old JBL sub, and that setup sounds better than it has a right to. They're actually a very decent little speaker. As a friend of mine once told me, I have a better system in my screen porch than "most sane people have in their living room." He was probably right.

 

The Minimus 7s were great too!, posted on November 25, 2020 at 17:49:55
Rod M
Web Geek

Posts: 16242
Location: So. California
Joined: March 1, 1999
Contributor
  Since: March 1, 1999

I had a pair in the patio area for years and wish that I never gave them to my daughter.

-Rod

 

+1, posted on November 25, 2020 at 19:00:33
DKL
Audiophile

Posts: 1046
Location: Deland, FL
Joined: November 20, 2001
 They were all the rage in the late 80's / early 90's in their price bracket. I bought a pair for my girlfriend at the time....but I mainly listed to my Acoustat Spectra 1100s back then :)

 

RE: The Rat Shack is BACK!!!, posted on November 25, 2020 at 21:57:13
standingstones
Audiophile

Posts: 218
Location: Pennsylvania
Joined: February 14, 2005
 I live in our state capital suburbs. There are no Radio Shack stores that are open anywhere that I am aware of. I would wonder how RS would make a come back.

 

RE: The Rat Shack is BACK!!!, posted on November 26, 2020 at 01:17:03
Todd Krieger
Audiophile

Posts: 37333
Location: SW United States
Joined: November 2, 2000
 I look forward to the new Mach Four speakers.............

 

The Minumus 7 was on the meh side of fair, I'd opine -- , posted on November 26, 2020 at 05:14:27
mhardy6647
Audiophile

Posts: 16016
Location: New England
Joined: October 12, 1999
Contributor
  Since: October 23, 2016
 the loudspeakers upon which they were modeled (Visonik and ads minispeakers) were far, far better -- IMO, at least.

The R/S speakers were also, as was R/S's custom, overpriced by about a factor of two. I don't know about youse guyses, but I bought a pair on one of their regular half-price sales. That was about right for them.

The other pair I bought were on closeout.



all the best,
mrh

 

I think "lots of tech on the market" served as their death knell, posted on November 26, 2020 at 05:15:44
mhardy6647
Audiophile

Posts: 16016
Location: New England
Joined: October 12, 1999
Contributor
  Since: October 23, 2016

They brought nothing to the table, tech-wise, after, umm... the TRS-80.

Now... maybe if they bring back the "Battery of the Month Club".
maybe.

:)


all the best,
mrh

 

many marketing schemes, posted on November 26, 2020 at 07:22:16
Story
Audiophile

Posts: 10431
Location: NJ
Joined: December 11, 2000
 even gold plated tube pins



 

RE: The Minumus 7s, posted on November 26, 2020 at 13:05:17
hifitommy
Audiophile

Posts: 15387
Location: canyon country califiornia, orig from buffalo ny
Joined: June 9, 2000
 i still use mine as rear surrounds and have for decades in my Dynaquad setup. i also tried them in front satellite position with a sub and they could have sufficed for interim speakers if the main ones were on the fritz or between mains purchases.

all in all, they never drew undue attention to themselves in the rear position as the FR is fairly balanced.
...regards...tr

 

Shack is BACK!!!, posted on November 26, 2020 at 13:07:30
hifitommy
Audiophile

Posts: 15387
Location: canyon country califiornia, orig from buffalo ny
Joined: June 9, 2000
 always a reliable place to get amp fuses for my 555II when i overdid it like playing Dafos too loud.
...regards...tr

 

and lifetime guarantees (on their vacuum tubes)..., posted on November 26, 2020 at 14:06:27
mhardy6647
Audiophile

Posts: 16016
Location: New England
Joined: October 12, 1999
Contributor
  Since: October 23, 2016
 which, anecdotally, R/S was reputed to have worked hard to honor way past the time most normal folks (audiophiles, e.g., don't fit that category too well!) had long since given up on the firebottles & had gone soiled I mean solid state.

;)

all the best,
mrh

 

RE: The Minimus 7s were great too!, posted on November 27, 2020 at 05:53:50
Bill the K
Audiophile

Posts: 8384
Joined: June 3, 2006
 I went shopping for a small speaker in the 70s and bought Lafayette Pips for $99 which sounded very good. Later I saw the Consumer Reports rating of small speakers and they had rated the Radio Shack speaker as the best and the Pips as second!I gave mine to my son and his dorm mates enjoyed it a lot. I always wondered who made these speakers. The rumor was that the Pips was made in Japan by Toshiba.

Bill

 

Looky what I found..., posted on November 28, 2020 at 04:56:49
BS64
Audiophile

Posts: 2451
Joined: July 17, 2000



...I bought these in 1993 at a marine supply store in Melbourne, FL. Used them in the back yard for 3 years there, then on a screened porch in Richmond, VA for several years. After moving to TX in 2010 they were on a shelf in the garage until I ran out of shelf space, and had nowhere to wall mount them (attic storage is basically impossible in this house, so everything is in the garage on shelves). I bought a pair of Pyle outdoor speakers from Parts Express and hung them from the ceiling. These have been sitting unused for probably 7 years.

 

RE: The RS Minimus, posted on November 29, 2020 at 11:56:58
M3 lover
Audiophile

Posts: 6601
Location: SW Mich
Joined: May 29, 2005
Contributor
  Since: July 4, 2007
 Hey Rod, my Rat Shack stories -

In the late '60s I was living just outside of Philly so took my three Dynakits (ST-70, PAS-3, and FM-3) in to the factory for a check up. They had a SCA-35 and FM-3 playing through a pair of Minimus 1 speakers hung on the wall. That model was called "the mouse that roared", possibly after an early Peter Sellers movie. They did put out a high level of decent sound from a small box. I bought a pair for back-ups which I still have packed away. Info on those in the link.

Many years later I got a pair of Minimus 7s for a bedroom system. I also got a pair with wood finish cabinets for my brother's family to upgrade their TV audio.

Still later I tried a pair of the Optimus Linaeum speakers for a short time. They were all decent speaker when bought at a half-price sale. ;^)

"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing, if you can fake that you've got it made." Groucho

 

I think it was ages 12 -14 the Radio Shack catalog was my wishbook, posted on November 30, 2020 at 11:01:47
Goober58
Audiophile

Posts: 5576
Joined: November 15, 2016
 A catalog with several pages of audio equipment at increasing price points. The colored lights, the knobs, dials, sliders, buttons and specifications gave me sweet wishful dreams. The only thing better was finding my Dad's Playboys in the trash. Yippeeee!

 

RE: The Rat Shack is BACK!!!, posted on December 2, 2020 at 03:50:55
itolduso1000timesb4
Audiophile

Posts: 235
Location: Canada
Joined: March 7, 2018
 Is there a need for such zombie businesses?

 

RE: The Rat Shack is BACK!!!, posted on December 3, 2020 at 12:03:23
wjernst
Audiophile

Posts: 6
Location: Virginia
Joined: December 3, 2020
 In the last few years of Radio Shack's business, their parts supply area kept shrinking, but their assortment of radio controlled toys, RCA receivers, etc. kept growing. I'm not sure if they had a clear focus of their business at the time.

I remember when growing up in the 1970s, there was a Radio Shack co-located in the back of a local drug store. They actually had a good assortment of components, speakers, DIY supplies, etc. That's the Radio Shack that I remember.

 

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