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MC-1000: Best Speaker in the World?

amirm

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You are in for a special treat. I have what could arguably be called the best vintage speaker in the world that is ever produced. That you haven't heard of its designation, MC-1000, is not my issue. Please allow me to introduce you to the Realistic MC-1000:

Realistic MC-1000 Radio Shack 2-way Vintage Speaker Listing.jpg

Don't let the low price of US $59.95 fool you. This speaker used state-of-the-art components, far better than anything available today. Besides, that was the price in 1978. Today, it would be $5,595.

I have not one, but two samples of this beauty! And a beauty it is with its walnut veneer and brownish grill.

OK, you are not here to praise my prized possessions but to see how this marvel of acoustic engineering performs. So let's get into that.

Measurements are performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics) to subtract room reflections. It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.

Spinorama Audio Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker can be used. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:

Realistic MC-1000 speaker spinorama CEA2034.png


What? Maybe I didn't have the polarity of the wires straight. Surely it is a far better speaker than this. Maybe I can change the vertical scale enough to make the on-axis response flat as great speakers should have.

What's that? The directivity index has a lot of ups and downs? Let me see:

Realistic MC-1000 speaker spinorama directivity index CEA2034.png


OK, I confess. The early reflection directivity index should be straight like the arrow that I have drawn. Maybe if you close your eyes, and listen to music with lights off, you won't hear those reflections around your room having little relationship with the direct sound. You know, they make a soup that just might be tasty on the 100th play of Eagle's LP you keep spinning.

If you want a picture of said soup, here it is:

Realistic MC-1000 speaker spinorama PIR index CEA2034.png


You don't need to buy a parametric EQ anymore. You have one built-into this speaker which works wonders for all your music. A nice peak above 10 kHz would do wonders in keeping you awake.

Speaker Impedance Measurements
Here is how the impedance (and phase) of the speaker vary based on frequency:
Realistic MC-1000 speaker Impedance Audio Measurements.png


Any little "kinks" in the phase/impedance curves indicates a resonance. And we have plenty of this. Translation: this is a very musical speaker, playing along its own tunes with your band. A solo becomes a duo. A duo becomes a trio and so on. You put in one, and you get two. Or three.

And oh, you can see the same in frequency response measurement:

Realistic MC-1000 speaker spinorama CEA2034.png


Distortion Measurements
Ignore the low frequencies as these measurements are supposed to be performed in anechoic chamber:
Realistic MC-1000 speaker distortion audio measurements.png


Realistic MC-1000 speaker relative distortion.png


Fascinating to see the high distortions above 1 kHz.

Advanced Measurements
Realistic MC-1000 speaker spinorama early window CEA2034.png

Realistic MC-1000 speaker spinorama vertical and horizontal directivity CEA2034.png


Realistic MC-1000 speaker spinorama full vertical and horizontal directivity CEA2034.png


Spin data is enclosed (main reason for this review).

Eye Candy Speaker Measurement
At 20 kHz, we should just see a narrow cone pushing energy forward:

Realistic MC-1000 speaker balloon acoustic measurements.png



These graphs should have similar color in the center and smoothly fading into blue:
Realistic MC-1000 speaker Horizontal Contour Audio Measurements.png


This one makes a nice impressionistic painting. What Van Gogh would paint if he measured speakers:

Realistic MC-1000 speaker Vertical Contour Audio Measurements.png


Conclusions
Yeh, I know. The golden era of speakers and hifi is long gone. Looked up the MC-1000 online and they go for $150 which proves this thing has appreciated in value. I plan to put then on my desk and listen to music with them to drawn out complains about my speaker measurements....

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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pozz

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HammerSandwich

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Have I been asleep for 7 weeks? It is April 1, no?

More seriously, that 80Hz spec! As Maxwell Smart used to say, "Missed it by that much."

Edit: durned Australian ninjas!
 

restorer-john

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MC series was basically the cheapest Tandy Corporation made. They have Nova and Optimus above them and then of course, the mighty Mach ones!

Have a look at the "crossover". It will likely be a single electro and maybe an inline resistor to tame the tweeter. Nothing for the woofer, they probably ran it full range with a "natural" rolloff.

Whatever you may like to say about Realistic speakers, they did sell more Minimus 7 speakers than any other speaker in the history of HiFi. They came with a virtually unconditional 5 year warranty and at their peak, there were 9500 stores worldwide.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

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FR is surely out of spec (80 Hz is 15 dB down) so it's quite clear that you measured a broken unit. Let's wait what the producer has to say ... :D:D:D
Good thing Radio Shack is essentially out of business or I would have surely been in trouble. :D
 

Putter

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While I don't doubt it's a mediocre speaker, it would likely benefit from a replacement of the capacitor. It might decrease the dip around 1.5 kHz (crossover frequency) and maybe even bring up the treble.
 

tomtoo

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A lovely speaker. Reduced highs, only that peak over 10k gives 'air'.And no nasty frequencies under 100Hz. They are not good for Turntabels. And on every place your musik sounds different. So you never get bored and find always new things in your LP's. Perfect!
 

Habu

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Hello from France

The speaker test could be largely improved with better cables (up to $559,5 or 10% of the 2020 inflation corrected price).

Sincerely yours
Habu
 
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pavuol

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Any little "kinks" in the phase/impedance curves indicates a resonance. And we have plenty of this. Translation: this is a very musical speaker, playing along its own tunes with your band. A solo becomes a duo. A duo becomes a trio and so on. You put in one, and you get two. Or three.
I like this guy's humour. :)

Anyway, important test conditions were left, atmospheric pressure, temperature, air humidity, exact mains voltage, cables used.. :)
 

Wombat

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Good thing Radio Shack is essentially out of business or I would have surely been in trouble. :D

RadioShack sold Genuine Shure cartridge stylus replacements(incl. V15s) under their own brand at much reduced prices. Don't get excited, the secret is long out of the box.
Don't%20tell%20anyone.gif
 

dense

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Is there a production date written anywhere?
Surprised to see the speaker diaphragm didn't rip apart.
 

bigjacko

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Click bait? Sorry did not realise that amirm is drunk when listening and writing this....
 
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