coe6688

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $60.00 from RadioShack

Summary:
I have the RCA PRO X44AV version. I've heard the Minimus 7s for years at a friends and the RCAs are just as good. The mids are wonderful and the highs very nice and pleasant. They're not very deep and bassy, but I am not concerned with that. I really don't have anything more to add to what the other reviewers have said. I think they're a great little speaker for their size and price. Wait for them to go on sale.

Strengths:
Mids, mids, mids. Price, price, price. Size also. Very, very accurate.

Weaknesses:
If you love booming bass, you'll need to spend more on a subwoofer.

Similar Products Used:
B&W, Mission (70MKIIs, the best, 20 years old and still going strong), Bose (when I didn't know any better), Dynaco

Price Paid:  $30.00 from Radio Shack

Summary:
Like the other reviewers I have been familiar with these little speakers for some time, first under the well-known moniker of Minimus 7. I had forgotten about them for years, but a visit to a local Radio Shack last summer found them on sale for $30 each. I ended up getting two pairs! These versatile, rugged speakers have found a myriad of uses. They pair up with a little-but-mighty Sony 8" sub to make a great all-rounder, and get tossed in a flight case for remote recording gigs where I use them as monitors. I record mostly vocal and classical music using stereo microphone techniques and these speakers excel at revealing the effectiveness of microphone placement and other details. Lacking much bass, they are best paired with a small subwoofer for serious listening. In near-field applications you can forgoe a sub, just don't expect much low-end. High-end character is extended but never fatiguing, a rare thing to say about any bargain-priced speaker. The 4" "woofer" effectively provides smooth, seemless mid-range that is on par with many studio monitors I've used. Office system, surround speakers, near-field reference monitors, budget main speakers paired with a capable amp, whatever your application I cannot recommend these enough. At $30 each they are peerless.

Strengths:
Extended but non-fatiguing high end response, good imaging, seemless mids that complement vocals, bulletproof construction.

Weaknesses:
Lacking anything below 100hz, best paired with a sub crossing over at 150hz or higher. Too much low-end input raises distortion level rapidly. But these are minor complaints for sub-$100 speakers.

Similar Products Used:
Hafler M-5 studio monitors, JBL LSR25-P studio monitors, Boston Acoustics H5 bookshelf speakers.

Price Paid:  $55.00 from Radioshack

Summary:
Listened to all radioshack and bestbuys speakers, for the price these blow anything away. On sale now at most RS's

Strengths:
Great seperation mids and highs, killer alluminum box, price....

Weaknesses:
None in this price range

Similar Products Used:
KLH, Yamaha, CV

Price Paid:  $40.00 from Ebay auction

Summary:
This is a review of the Optimus Pro-7, which is discontinued but lives on as the exact same thing called the Optimus PRO-X44AV.

I have a Klipsch Promedia 2.1 set for my computer. It consists of a control-pod preamp and a 200 watt amplifier; 130 watts for the subwoofer and 35 watts for each satellite, which are 4 ohms. I purchased the Pro-7 satellite set to replace the Klipsch satellites just for fun. Since the Pro-7 sats have 8 ohms impedence, they only get 17.5 watts each (max is 50 watts). Even at this low wattage though, I prefer them to the stock Promedia satellites. The stock Promedia satellites have very focused, very ear-piercing high end clarity that is painful to listen to whenever a female vocalist sings. On the other hand, the Optimus Pro-7 is pleasant to listen to, even when a soprano sings. Although Klipsch claims to have fixed the mid-range hole that was in their earlier Promedia v2.400 release, the Promedia 2.1 lacks midrange compared to the Optimus Pro-7.

I highly recommend the Optimus Pro-7/Optimus PRO-X44AV as replacement satellites for the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 set, especially if you find the Promedia satellites too ear-piercing. In addition, the cheap price of these Optimus speakers should be affordable enough for many of the younger kids that own the Klipsch Promedias. The only catch is, these Optimus speakers can't be anywhere near your computer monitor. I currently have them on a bookshelf.

I'm actually enjoying listening to music again, often for some reason music simply is not enjoyable on the stock Promedia satellites.

Promedia satellites: Sealed elliptical two-way enclosure with 0.75" polymer dome tweeter mated to MicroTractrix Horn and 3" long throw mid-bass driver.

Optimus satellites: 1 inch tweeter, 4 inch woofer. The perfect combination. Superior to the 1 inch/5 inch combo in the larger Optimus speakers.

Strengths:
Descendant of the famous Radio Shack Minimus-7.

Weaknesses:
Not magnetically shielded.

Similar Products Used:
Klipsch Promedia 2.1 Satellites (multimedia)

Price Paid:  $80.00 from Radio Shack

Summary:
As I understand it, these speakers have had many guises over the years. The original was the legendary Minimus 7 from over 20 years ago, allegedly a knock-off of a much more expensive German mini monitor. These speakers have remained essentially the same, with minor changes over the years. The current version is the RCA Pro-X44AV. It looks just the same as the old Minimus 7: a solid, hefty chunk of aluminum. I just bought a pair for my bedroom. They list for $120 a pair these days, but Radio Shack always has sales. Mine cost me $80.

How do they sound? Great. They are, and have been for decades, one of the true bargains in hifi. The sound is rich and clean. Bass is better than one would expect. I love everything about these speakers. I bought my first pair 20 years ago when I entered high school. The pair I bought for my parents about 12 years ago are still going strong (whereas a pair of much more expensive Energy speakers imploded due to crappy foam woofer surrounds).

Besides the RCA name, they look, feel, and SOUND like they cost three times what I paid for them.

The legend lives...

Strengths:
Small, cheap, indestrucible, and uncommonly sweet sounding

Weaknesses:
Not much bass, but what do you want for such as small speaker?

Similar Products Used:
Infinity, Energy, EPI