The sealed box REALISTIC Minimus-7 can take all the power a CARVER MXR-150 can put out with Loudness on and grunt like like a Junk Yard dog.  Who says they can't beat a 12-inch driver for sealed box bass?  You bet they can - in a small room - just remember to listen 3 meters back and sit right there in the sweetspot.  Introduced to the USA in 1978, sealed box 4-inch heavy cardboard cone 'very long throw' or high compliance bass units, the small bass cone moves out and in a long way, pushing almost as much air as a 12-inch on a shorter throw!

MXR-150 don't expect reliability or long life, no more than SONY's VFETs

This Carver MXR-150 , is its FM tuner better than a REALISTIC STA-2000 ?

Funny thing about the MXR-150 - it needs Loudness on.  Not a whole hog surprising as American market designers assume Loudness is permanently engaged.  Rubycon caps give the MXR-150 smooth rich vocals on radio more natural with the REALISTIC STA-2000, the Carver is more like a tube tuner but sibilant, the rasping peaks giving a neat sound, though some Canadians will say sibilant voices aren't good.  Without all the tuner filtering CARVER has, the STA-2000 is top dollar value!  Take out all the Carver filter buttons, its tuner section is then a poor second best to the STA-2000 which is eye candy without syrup.  Never forget the later STA-2290's size, in reality it seems a vast receiver, in the carton, just huge!  You're sure to appreciate the MXR-150's low weight and front panel carry handles, but not the room space it guzzles.  The giant one box receiver is actually a good idea from the value for money performance position, but for enthusiasts only.

Cadillac V8-6-4 technology in Stereo Receiver form is no more reliable for its year!  So some folks may be wondering what's so special about a V8-6-4 Cadillac and it was an ambitious early 1980s State of the Art Auto engineering venture that aimed to shut down up to four of the engine's cylinders, when not required.  Modern computer technology has allowed it to work in Japanese cars but even though TANDY Radioshack had the TRS 80 computer under their belt, the STA-2290 was given a true Hi-End Audiophile transformer of 6dB peak over-rated type, making it twice the size and weight of an equivalent 100 watt amplifier transformer.  The Carver MXR-150 was given the amplifier equivalent of the Cadillac V8-6-4 engine, a multi-switched rail power supply, a lightweight transformer in a real 'bendy' frame, rigid this Carver never was - seems like Cinderella's carriage and come the midnight hour, an MXR-150 will turn back into the PUMPKIN it was made of!  Bob Carver wanted the credit for all those years junk sounded like Hi-End and you can't blame him 22 years down the line when Class of '87 Hi-End is history too, but nobody's going to rebuild either a Carver MXR-150 or a REALISTIC STA-2290, they're so complex as to be disposable, but did do a marvellous job for the stereo world's ego-trippers and some still do!

 REALISTIC STA-2290 US $88, CAN $99.62, AUS $110.62 

The REALISTIC STA-2290 like the Carver MXR-150 volume knobs give a gentle increase in power up to 12 o'clock.  Then after 12 o'clock be real careful your speakers can take the punishment, if you've got Mach Ones or Tannoy Berkeley it's never going to be there but if you're in the market for AR9 amplifiers or even AR 98 LS, it's way out of REALISTIC receiver design territory.  A STA-2290 is not for AR speakers but meant for, at the very least 90dB SPL Mach Ones.  Doesn't mean this REALISTIC receiver is trash, just that it's designed for at best, two pairs of 90dB SPL 1w/1m, 8-ohm speakers with a response of 20Hz-20KHz.  If you're boosting up bass with Loudness on speakers with an 80Hz lowest note, you'll use more power than a speaker designed to produce bass below 80Hz without Loudness.  That's why many American speakers go down to 20Hz but with JBL 4-ohm studio speakers, you're not going to hear what Fort Worth boffins intended, these and AR speaker volume positions may overheat the receiver as it's not a Stereo 'separate'.  REALISTIC equipment is for Radioshack's carefully matched systems; try that crumby Optimus cassette deck on a real Shack receiver with big speakers marketed for your Shack receiver and you'll have a new respect for Radioshack systems, sit back and enjoy great sound, all the work of matching was done for you!

At a 10 o'clock STA-2290 volume setting with 91dB SPL, non-Shack 8-inch woofer speakers of 50Hz bottom note, bass is 'adequate' as there's two 10,000uF cans.  People talk about watts but perhaps a better measure of power is the reservoir capacity at design.  Some hobbyists up that capacity but it ought only to be a slight increase.  These reservoir capacitors have a limited lifespan and have been compared elsewhere, to big batteries driving the bass rhythms and treble sharpness.  STA-2290 build style and Owner's Manual guides are superlative, but 'build quality' with its vinyl side panels and poorly fitting, thin metal front panel, smacks of  a Sony made in Taiwan -not Japan!  The Balance control, though not the same kind of pot as the tone controls, dares to 'feel' completely different and is a Quality Control price point issue Sony Japan would not allow.  So a STA-2290 is built like a downmarket replica of a Japanese product and is to be viewed as keeping prices REALISTIC.  Enthusiasts will overlook tacky parts of a STA-2290 and marvel at value.

When you know this STA-2290 receiver truly performs, that it sounds beautiful as AM or FM tuner, phono or AUX and has the sickly sweet 'Maple Syrup ' sound of a Carver MXR-150, listen up, for they're not like oriental competition but were 'custom manufactured' for American market preferences.

REALISTIC Optimus 27 , copies the 1972 bass drone Celestion Ditton 25

******REALISTIC OPTIMUS 27, T-110, T-300***************************

In the sense that a drone is somebody who lives off the labor of others, Bass 'drone' speakers have flat bass units driven by a long throw woofer above them.  They were offered by leading British brands like B&W, KEF and Celestion from the early 1970s to the early 1980s when the Optimus 27, T-110 and T-300 were available in TANDY Radioshack stores, as a way of increasing bass extension with low levels of coloration.  The drone is often called an Auxiliary Bass Radiator, A.B.R. or passive radiator and did a tremendous job, anyone with a big Shack receiver ought to try these speakers if they have a BIG room!  Some folks claim big speakers sound best in big rooms and small speakers sound best in small rooms.

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Enter the '95 compact Chrysler Cirrus as if modelled on a Minimus-7.   A Carver MXR-150 makes a good alternative to REALISTIC receivers like the REALISTIC STA 2290, the Carver being the only one I've found capable of getting the best out of a Minimus-7.  The -7 spring clips always prevent best sound as being far too slack.  Inside the cabinet, spade connections are better soldered for clearer reproduction of bass and treble.  However replacing the bipolar electrolytic for the tweeter is a questionable move!  Some kits do it, resistance of the solid film capacitor is much higher than for the old electrolytic.  In speakers with MID/HIGH tone controls, a MOD can benefit from turning up the variable resistors but provided they're run-in over a few weeks, the solid body capacitor sold to replace Bi-polar electrolytics will make the higher frequencies more level in the graphical plot of the Frequency Response as seen on paper, so you will hear more details rather than only the uppermost peaks.  However the benefit to be had depends very much on your tweeter's ability to produce a fairly level response with audio film capacitors!  A jagged upper register of a tweeter may not justify the extra cost of the best solid body capacitors.  With the Carver MXR-150 a Minimus-7 doesn't need a solid capacitor or even a subwoofer, but may afterwards be improved provided a new gasket is replaced.  Ways to improve Minimus-7 sound may be posted in a Guide, but in big rooms Optimus 27, T-110 or T-300 pursue the ultimate in REALISTIC brand values!

REALISTIC STA-7, STA-700, ++++STA-11, -BEST- STA-111++++, STA-19, STA-12.

Above are REALISTIC Minimus receivers with equalization built in to max out die-cast metal mini speaker sound.  REALISTIC Equalization circuits use both voltage and current negative feedback to to tailor low end response for a 50Hz sound that mini speakers have never since rivalled!  -STA-11 gives nothing short of 'Awesome' effects with REALISTIC die-cast speakers!  -But STA-111 are unreliable as STA-2250, early electronic tuning and complex 'power up' technology suggests checking Google for reliability of your favorite models! 

REALISTIC Minimus 11, horn loaded cone tweeter 8-ohm, 50 watts USA

*********REALISTIC Minimus 11 time aligned cone tweeter********

The Minimus 11 is well known to most shackaholics but to others let's say, it's a bigger version of the Minimus 7, be careful with Ebay ITT and German die-cast studio monitors too, that you know their actual size before buying as not all speakers of this style are really so compact!  The original and 1981 year Minimus 11 above, is quite a rarity and in quality, way above the later dome versions, okay so a cone tweeter is usually narrower dispersion than a dome tweeter unless coupled to a horn throat right?  These horn loaded tweeter Minimus 11 are Cat No. 40-2036.  RadioShack went on to produce speakers like this with a front facing version of their Dipole Linaeum tweeter, but these early Minimus 11s are certainly worth comparing to the Minimus 7, if using large powerful receivers like the Carver MXR-150.  The sound of these is not like E.M.I. 319.  For the E.M.I. 319 you need low power High Fidelity amplifiers, at the very least QUAD 303, although simple circuits, tube amplifiers being simplest, deliver the best 319 source for their highly sensitive design.  The Minimus 11 at 86dB SPL 1w 1m is what is called Medium sensitivity and for these you need a lot of power, amplifiers like the Sony TA-AX 4 were designed for 86dB SPL, these were expensive amplifiers in their day, but you need about 65 Pioneer watts for 86dB SPL.  Pioneer made good watts in those days, but the REALISTIC STA-2500 is a real powerhouse of a more modern receiver specification, guess the STA-2600 will be similar but the STA-2280 is much lower powered.  A STA-2500 has the kind of power reserves that will blow smoke rings with E.M.I. 319, yeah they'll blow them clean up, so don't use 319 with such amplifiers, they're for getting tough with 86dB woofers!  The harman/kardon PM650 is another of these 86dB SPL 'CAT bulldozer type' amplifiers!

The E.M.I. 319 has the truly 'time aligned' tweeter, but at this time around 1981, designers were marketing the 'time-aligned' mid-range and tweeter.  Okay, it was another short-lived market fad, in the REALISTIC Optimus X-15, it was called 'phase compensation'.  The X-15 didn't appear in all markets.  But around this time there were quite a few other manufacturers adopting the approach, since the horn hybrids had been discontinued!  Horns in some ways are a better attempt at phase compensation.  In the X-15, like the English Rank-Leak speakers, the squawker and tweeter were mounted back from the woofer in the cabinet and in some KEF speakers, they were mounted forward of the woofer on a kind of super baffle!  Well RadioShack weren't to be outdone! 

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EMI 319 Classic Tube Amplifier Studio Monitor

The E.M.I. 319 is one of the 13 x 8 family once heartily recommended by British audio specialist builders for wherever there was enough space for a desk studio monitor.  It is so much better than a rebuilt Minimus 7 for low power applications, that it must be recommended.  Designed to sit horizontally, the images in the sweet spot with simple Hi-End amplifier designs must be noted.  This wide low profile speaker gives a much wider sound source than a Minimus-7 with superb music and voice reproduction.  Often we hear folks claiming some or other harman/kardon Solid State is their best, but there's no such thing as it depends whether you have low watt power or high watts power equipment!  The high watt power speaker for Solid State Audio is not like a Disco speaker, it is often a real watts guzzler, like our friend the Minimus-7 below.  These will take full Carver MXR-150 Loudness output!
REALISTIC MINIMUS-7

8-ohm, 50-20,000Hz, weigh 4/1/2 lb each, 20 watts RMS, 40 watts peak or American.  Size 7/1/16 x 4/7/16 x 4/5/16 inches in aluminium, 8 inches x 5 inches x 4/5/8 inches in wood.  NOT THE SAME AS RCA PORTED look-a-like!

Cambridge Soundworks

Visonik David 50

AR1-ms (no picture) see AR speakers

Canton Plus S (no picture) see Canton speakers

JBL Control One (no picture) see JBL speakers

FOSTEX 6301B (no picture).

SONY APM-090  (no picture).

Toshiba makes the Receiver tuning chipsets in the CARVER MXR-150, Rubycon electrolytics with very nice sound quality today considered good as ELNA. MXR-150s can constantly shut off the left and right channels by turns and switch them on again and off again in that way, all day.  The speaker protection circuits are then said to have 'binding relays'.

Cinderella? -the MXR-150 is a 'piece of junk' made to sound like Hi-End!

REALISTIC STA-2290 transformer and similar heat-sink detail!

Some Classic Hi-Fi buyers hope to service their equipment with De-oxit or Superlube.  By the time the MXR-150 was made, the CMOS electronic device was fitted in Hi-Fi radio tuners so touching the equipment inside could void such circuits.  The Classic Hi-Fi self-service buyer will find tuners without CMOS devices may be on average much more reliable once put back together.  CMOS and other static-voided devices are in the realm of computer servicing.  Fine if you are familiar with such equipment, but the cost of Rubycon electrolytics and the fragility of their circuits, makes MODs on these sets less attractive.  One MOD having to be done on the MXR-150 concerns the board burning dropper resistors.  On-line sources suggest these are 2 watt, upgraded to 5 watt in a MOD.  This information is unlikely to improve matters.  In tube amplifiers where current was very low, an increase from 1 watt to 10 watt made a difference to short duration loading effects. In constant voltage dropper duties, old CARVER circuits suggest a real MOD problem, perhaps one best left to others...