Vintage Speaker Review: Realistic Solo 103 Speakers

My wife and I went on a thrift shop expedition recently and I came away with a small treasure:  a pair of Realistic Solo 103 Speakers.

Realistic is or was a well-regarded Radio Shack house brand.  Even today you can find positive references to them on enthusiast websites like Audiokarma.  

Back in the late 1960s, a pair of speakers like these cost $15.96.  I got them for $13.96.  Of course, at the thrift store, they were a bit of a gamble.  The front grills don't appear to be removable without causing damage and the back of the speakers don't reveal any information about their specifications other than they are 8-ohm speakers.  This posed a little bit of drama because I didn't want to blow the speakers on my modern receiver.  When it comes to technical information on the Realistic Solo 103, you are pretty much on your own:  Solo.  Eventually, I found Solo 103 speakers listed on page 22 of this circa 1968 Radio Shack catalog.  As best I can find out via the internet is that these speakers are 15 watt speakers with a frequency response starting at 30 hz.

When I got these little speakers home, they continued to pose a challenge because they didn't have conventionally labeled black and red connectors.  Instead, I just had to hook them up with an extra effort towards being consistent about which wire went to which color on the back of my stereo.  I'm not sure what would have happened if I had got the wires crossed up, but they worked fine and my stereo worked fine.  Here is my primitive connection job on these ancient speakers.

Of course, the big question is:  how do they sound?  My answer is they sound pretty good.  Without the profound bass of a big woofer, these speakers sound a little bright.  However, they have nice heavy magnets and they are in fairly heavy wooden enclosures.  Thus, they don't sound tinny at all. They sounded great for listening to jazz on public radio and listening to various news and commentary station.  The jury is still out on rock.  In an apartment, I find that these speakers are a good choice for low to moderate volume listening when you don't want to transmit bass to your neighbors.

I'm sure that I could open these enclosures up and see if the speakers needed to be replaced or restored.  Overall, for $15, these little bookshelf speakers turned out to be a really great little find.  I'm glad I picked them up.

Thrift Store Stereo Find: Realistic Clarinette 104 Compact Stereo

I recently came across an interesting find at a local Goodwill.  It's a Realistic Clarinette 104.  It's a portable stereo from 1974.  It has a cassette tape deck, a phonograph, and an AM/FM tuner built in.  It's a pretty simple stereo.

Apparently Realistic (the Radio Shack stereo brand) continued to make various versions of the Clarinette up through the mid-1980s.  Here is a look at the dusty turntable on this thrift store unit.  If you ever need a needle for an old unit like this, check turntableneedles.com.

Ultimately, I didn't buy this old stereo because it stayed powered up even when I turned off the power switch.  When it comes to old electronic gear, you have to be cool about fire safety.  Plus, this has no CD player and it is fairly bulky for an old stereo.  Here is a clip from Youtube from a guy who was putting his grandmother's old stereo through its paces.

Old systems are always intriguing.  With a modern portable stereo, you can connect all sorts of modern devices using bluetooth, but vintage stereos take you away to another time.