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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Similar Products Used:

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

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

None in this price range

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

Similar Products Used:

KLH, Yamaha, CV

Definition, lively, decent mid-bass

Subwoofer match-up is not the best.

Yes, I got these for $30 US because Radio Shack was trading RCA labels for Optimus. I really love these little performers. I have them connected to a Luxman LV-100 integrated amp I bought from a Canadian friend and have it all hooked up to a Turtle Beach Montego II soundcard as computer speakers. Great imaging, definition, mid-bass, and sharp as hell sound. The Luxman int-amp has a nice feature called cd straight that really cleans up the sound, and the 40 watts per side is plenty. Put some rubber feet on em, and enjoy.
I loves em. 4 stars easily.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Atoms, Optimus Pro X55AV

Die-cast aluminum casing, excellent range, the list goes on

discontinued (RCA Purchased Optimus name)

Very simple, there is no reason to spew numbers during a speaker review. Most people are not conscious of minor discrepencies in specs. The only number you need to know is $30. That's roughly what I paid for each of these speakers (retail was $60; they have been on clearance for a while now). I have auditioned many many satillite speakers and these stand up to speakers priced 10 times as much. I am not going to tell you to buy them if you are on a budget... ...just buy them (if you're lucky enough to find a Radio Shack that has any in stock). I have sunk plenty of money into my amp, preamp, dac, and sub, but for some reason, I didn't have to with my speakers... lucky me. The highs are so crisp and the high mids so well defined that paired with a good sub (very important) they blow any system (ANY) away that I have auditioned in a high-end stereo shop. Don't believe me? Your loss.
Another advantage to using these speakers is throwing them on your walls using the really hefty mounts optimus came out with. They are constructed very well and look incredible. Here is a list of equipment in my main system (Bang & Olufsen 5000 for my bedroom system).

Marantz 250 amp (main)
Pioneer c21 (Class-A) preamp
Denon 600F CD
Super DAC 24-bit 96k D/A Converter
Perreaux stereo tuner
Marantz 4400 Quad Reciever (rear & side)
6 Optimus pro-x44 speakers
Velodyne VA-1012XII sub

Similar Products Used:

Boston Acoustics satillites

excellent tweeeter

no bass or low mid range (subwoofer is a must)

For twenty dollars these were a steal. When radioshack was bought by RCA they had a big sale. These speakers have a beautiful high range and upper midrange that is clean and accurate. However they are not loud and have absolutely no bass or low midrange. They are best used as sattelites with a nice subwoofer. The radioshack subwoofers are trash buy a nice Yamaha SW-160 and it sounds beatiful. These speakers are excellent at 20 dollars a peice, but if they go back above their original price of $50 each, don't bother.

Similar Products Used:

Radioshack Pro-X55AV, Pro-X44AV, Pro-LX5II
Cervin vega, Advent

Value, solid bass and treble for the size

None for this price

I bought these and a pair of the PRO-X88AV's at the same time. These blew away the 88AV's! Had just as much bass and treble but were much better in the mid-range. I took the 88AV's back to get another pair of 44AV's. This bothered me since the 88's were so much bigger. The 88's sounded like what you'd get if you severely cut the midrange at 2KHZ or took an otherwise ggod speaker and stuffed the enclosure with fiberglass to cut the mid's. The 88's were warm but muddled. Had them wired up side by side and AB'd them again and again. My dad heard this and also swapped his 88's for 44's. Best speaker I have found for anywhere near this price ($30 on sale). I have since returned all of the 44's because I decided to get Klipsch KSB1.1's for surrounds and KSB 2.1's for mains. It's unfair to compare them directly. They are both the best IMHO in their price class. Again for $30 apiece on sale these speakers are amazing and can be used for Home Theater all around if you couple them with a powered sub.

Greg

After weeks of floundering around in Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. looking for speakers for a surround system I was pleasantly surprised to walk in a Radio Shack and try these little speakers. Got mine for $30.00 apeice on a half off sale. Very good sound though the treble is bright -- something I appreciate having as it can always be EQ'd down, but is there if you want it. ALL other speakers I tried in the price range and much more had either no bass response or dead treble. Using mine for my center and satelite speakers for a new Sony 835 receiver. As others have mentioned, all that is needed is a good sub.

This is the worst of the Radio Shack Optimus Pro-X44AV that I would recommend buying. When used with the PRO-CS-3 makes a very good front staging for home theater when the front 3 are set for small and used with a powered sub (or two passive subs) for budget price. Makes descent surrounds as well though somewhat brighter than the PRO-X55AV or PRO-X88AV (though it is quite cheaper which is a consideration for budget theater). Still made with an aluminum housing and punched metal grill its small size allows for ease of placement and comes in black or white to help match or contrast to compliment your interior (and convince your girlfriend or wife with size acceptance factor). Though you might have your friends, family, and co-workers laugh at this decision for the purpose of purchase; most after listening to the sound quality for the price will be very impressed, especially when you can still buy a good ES 8 sub and a DVD player and still be under a $1000 after buying speaker brackets (or you can buy the ACI Titan, Definitive Tech PF1500, or M&K V-75 MK II, or RBH TS-10-A and really shake the room up). Don't buy the Optimus subs as they are over-priced and under performance (go to a high end store) and if you want a good generic sub for under $600 BEST BUY has a 15" Cerwin Vega that isn't too bad.

Descendant of the famous Radio Shack Minimus-7.

Not magnetically shielded.

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.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch Promedia 2.1 Satellites (multimedia)