Incredibly solid speaker. Awesome power handling. LOUD. Will blow your socks off.

Foam surrounds deteriorate, but a new kit for $30 and about 4 hours of your time will make them better than ever.

I bought these based on the size of the woofer and the high reccomendation from the seller. I was worried about paying too much for some old 70's speakers. But I am really really glad I didn't pass up the opportunity. I brought them home and hooked them up to a Kenwood TK-140x Amplifier (If anyone has one of these and wants to sell, please contact me). These speakers sounded awesome. I later bought a Heathkit AR-1500 receiver at another garage sale ($75) to use with the Mach Ones. That combo was LOUD and crisp and clear. I brought the setup into my high school's multimedia room where I was constructing a movie screen, and we used them all the time for movies and to listen to music while we put out our high school newspaper and yearbook. Everyone knew about the "super loud speakers in the media lab" and when asked if they could be used for a spirit-day hallway dance party, I said sure. Well. The foam surrounds were deteriorating a little, and four hours of ridiculously loud hip-hop music did the trick. I was really pissed off, and was willing to buy a new pair if only I could find them for sale. That is when I came across a refoaming kit (which I highly recommend). It was a pain to do it, but refoaming made them better than ever. When I moved to college in New York (from Seattle), I sold the speakers to the newspaper team at my high school. I really am missing the great sound here (everyone has rinky-dink mini systems that are of such poor quality I want to cry). I am looking for another pair, so if anyone has a pair they would like to sell me, please let me know. I am also dying to buy a Kenwood TK-140x receiver (the sound was smoother with this than with the Heathkit). Please contact me if you have one and want to sell it!

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I have a pair of homemade speakers that will still put the Mach Ones to shame, but they are 4 feet tall and 3.5 feet deep, not really practical for anywhere but a big room.

Big, big sound, will handle anything....BRING IT ON!!!!

NOTHING

I bought my Mach Two's at a garage sale for a mere $20.00 Yea I know they are not the Mach One's BUT you can bet the quality is the same & so is the sound. The 15" ers really kick!! FYI there is a pair of Mach Ones forsale on ebay and the highest bidder is willing to pay $354.00 US. I just may sell my Mach Two's if I can get that type of cash....$500.00 CAD....I only paid twenty bucks!! If you are interested you can e me at shutchi3@hotmail.com

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Camber, Dynaco, and Aiwa speakers, Sansui,Niko,Pioneer,Yahama,Sony,JVC,GE receivers and amps....gotta love SOUND.

BIG, tight bass, Smooooooth midrange, crisp searing highs Excellent 'overengineered' power handling specs for a consumer home stereo speaker (you have to intentionally try to kill a pair of these) Cabinets look good, the fronts look great (without all the gaudy useless aluminum 'control panels' and 'spec displays' that I have seen on Fisher, Kenwood, and Sony speakers of the same era)

The dreaded foam surrounds on the woofers

Ever since my teens, I would peruse thru the Radio Shack catalogs and dream of the day I would have a pair of Mach Ones of my very own... Well a friend of mine bought a pair in 1987, and he sold them to another friend, who I did some computer work for about 2 years ago, and voila! he gave me his Mach Ones for services rendered on his PC! :) What can I say? The Mach One is by far one of the best quality items to EVER come from Radio Shack (Rumors I have heard say that the drivers in these were made for RS by either Altec or EV- Anyone know if its true?); EXTREME bang for the buck, even at the $320/each price back in the early 80's! Virtually indestructable (I use mine as my primary DJ speakers for small halls and as my 'other' home system speakers (I also have a pair of Altec 605A's as my main home speaks) ;) Connected to either a tube (I drive mine with a Dynaco ST70) or solid state (Peavey M-1600 for DJ gigs) amplifier, these speakers are second to NONE for great tight bass and SMOOTH mids and crisp highs. (The only thing that does beat them would be my Altecs, but those are rated at 35W and never see even half that from my Dynaco) If you can find a pair of these BUY THEM! If the foam is rotted, either send the bass drivers to a shop for a pro refoam job, or if you have the skills, refoam them yourself! YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!!

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Altec, Fisher, Sony, JBL

Good Bass thats not muddy like most 15" woofers. Well balanced.

No longer made.

I was very Impressed by the Mach One speakers while in my teens. I had always wanted a pair later on. I purchased a pair for 100.00 from an individual about 5 years ago and absolutly loved them. I had other speakers as well and sold the realistics to a friend that later blew them up! I never should have sold them! My mother had a mint pair that was left to me in her estate after she passed away. This pair shall never leave me. I may have a pair of Definitive Technology Bp3000Tl towers but I still have a love for the Mach ones!

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N/A

Awsome frequency response, 20-20,000 Hz. Powerful- rated over 200 watts.

They quit making them!!!

Wanted Mach1's forever. A neighbor gave me a set, but the foam surrounds were bad. I found a foam surround repair kit on eBay for $25, and fixed them myself in less than 24 hours. Easiest project ever, but had to wait for glue to dry. They sound even better than I had hoped. Best speakers ever built for the price.

Good looking, good sound, seem to be indestructible

No longer made, way big for a small house

Best thrift store speakers I ever got. The woofer cones were like new, all it took was a little TSP, a light sanding and some Watco oil and the boxes look like a $ million. The sound is great, the bass is clean, even from FM raio. The sound and overall capability reminds me of Altec "Voice of the Theater" Last set of big speakers I had were old Fishers, same 15" woofer but nowhere the quality of sound. I may never buy another speaker in my life!

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Fisher & Altec

Awesome Bass!!!!!!!

Not in production today.

Found these Mach 1's for $40 canadian.....lookin' for another pair for the same price!

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We have a pair of Sansui sp 3500's.

big open loud in your face sound

none

i just bought these speakers off a person on ebay . i use to own apair when i was a kid . i could kick my self for selling them well now i have apair again they sound very good cosidering there era the 80s anyway i hooked them up to a pro amp used for my pa system which is a crest ca 12 rated at 1200watts rms per channel. any way i know this way to much power for these speakers i was very carefull not to turn it up to loud . being that i would blow them out . these speakers were well worth the money they are very loud and open sounding this is not a speaker for critcal listing tastes just loud and fun perfect for annoying your wife or neibors if they deserve it

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rel bw jbl, klipsch, eaw, etc, etc

- Clear accurate sound reproduction - responsive - dynamic handling of all frequecies - affordably priced

Out of production

I have the Mach Three - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - purchase if you find any! . . . May I say . . . the Radio Shack/Realistic/Optimus Mach Series Speakers are EXCEPTIONAL quality speakers at any price, especially @ $300/pair. I have a pair that I have been enjoying for many years. My listening style is Classical and Jazz music and I can honestly say that I have not heard a better sounding speaker. I drive them with a Harmon Kardon AVR25 receiver which make them sound soooo good (high instantaneous current - clean amplification 65-75 watts). Even though the speakers can handle very high wattages they are extremely efficient and the HK's 65 watts drives them plenty - did I say clean. Ferrofluid-cooled design provides for great power handling and smooth linear response (from dead silence to loud effortlessly). This makes listening to Bach, Vivaldi, Coltrane or Diana Krall very enjoyable, nay I say even life-like! EVERY instrument and nuance of the voice is astoundably clear and accurate - at any volume. Piano, Upright Bass, Cello, Violin - it all sounds great. Most enjoyable is (mid-range) sound of cello, violin and the sultry sound of Diana Krall. To quote from Radio Shack on these speakers: The 15" (38 cm) high-compliance woofer speaker faithfully reproduces rich bass from 25 to 800 Hz. The midrange horn speaker gives exceptionally smooth response from 800 to 6,000 Hz. Dual radial super horn tweeter for remarkable response up to 40,000 Hz! Its wide dispersion characteristics provide superb imaging and add lifelike presence throughout the listening area. A deluxe inductive/capacitive crossover network achieves precise blending of the response characteristics of these speaker elements, producing a smooth, seamless response throughout the entire frequency range. The acoustical-mechanical design of the enclosure, and cone midrange speaker, and dual radial horn tweeter, results in unusually uniform dispersion. . . . two controls, MIDRANGE and HIGH FREQUENCY, permit you to adjust speaker performance to the conditions in the listening area and to your own personal taste. The enclosure is a tuned port design complimenting the 15" woofer for extended bass response, is genuine walnut veneer and weighs about 50 pounds. Very nice furniture piece. For those with deteriorating foam on the woofer, replacements are available from Radio Shack: 1-800-323-6586 11087384 SPEAKER, WOOFER 15" 8 OHM SP5198 OR there are speaker specialty shops performing repairs for reasonable rates. cf. $30 repairs @ http://www.speakerworks.net/repair.html $20 kits @ http://www.speakerworks.net/kits.html

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Polk Audio Infinity JBL

Incedible range. (20-25,000) Super highs. Clear midrange. (liquid cooling in both) Ground-shaking Bass from 15" Woofer and massive magnet (over 2 lb.) Only 12" deep and 28" high. Beautiful cabinet,(oiled walnut veneer) blends in with decor.

Absence of overload circuitry, although I have never needed it, biggest weakness was they stopped producing them!

Mach I Speaker- I have four of these bad boys, and let Me tell You I have NO regrets of the hard earned money spent on them! They have lasted now for a coupe decades and are still going strong. With a rated 20-25,000 frequency response (which many of todays manufacturers still can't come close to) these speakers rock! Quite possibly one of the best speakers ever made for under a thousand dollars a piece, this speaker was rated at 100 watts continuous, and 1000 (one thousand!) watt peaks! Liquid cooled tweeter and midrange (which has a widrange horn at top of walnut veneered speaker cabinet) It also has custom controls to change cuttoff points to midrange and tweeter. Incredible heart-shaking bass from 15 inch woofer with massive 35 oz. magnet. I have used these in commercial use, and they will fill any size room with clean, quality, sound! Virtually indestructable, they came with five year warranty,and they are going strong 25 years later!

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Bose, Cerwin-vega, JBL (all were full size floor speakers and had three way speaker systems)