As a Radio Shack store manager in the 70's I can attest to the popularity of the Minimus-7 speakers.  While the retail price on these speakers was $49 each, they did go on sale several times a year for $49 per pair.  I still have 6 pairs I use around the house as desktop speakers or surround speakers.  The other speaker we sold a lot of when they went on sale were the 15" Mach Ones.

Just a quick note on the Mission speakers. Had a few pairs over the years, and from the info i've gathered, the England versions are M-5's, and the Malaysian versions are MS-50's. The power handling ratings are different. The Malaysian version is rated 20-50 watts, the England versions are rated at 15-75. The England versions sound a little better, probably due to a different/better tweeter. Woofer drivers are the same. Both sound great!

OMG that "sip some wine" clip/comment was hilarious. thats some funny shit.

The Linaeum tweeter is a wonderful tweeter. It's secret superpower is that the tweeter varies its effective width - at lower frequencies the sound radiates out along the curved leaves, so they have a larger radiating area in the lower part of their range. As the frequency goes up, they get narrower, and approach a line source. So they maintain wider dispersion up high. Obviously, being dipoles, they radiate the treble very wide. The earlier LX5 with the metal screen over them, are a model ET-6 and they have a lower sensitivity. The later versions called LX55 or LX550 use an ET-6A tweeter  which is higher sensitivity.

The cabinet is 5 sides of cast aluminum - but the front baffle is ABS plastic. This front baffle really benefits from stiffening/strengthening/damping. I have done several layers of denim cloth and Titebond III glue - like fiberglass essentially.

Linaeum made their own speakers, and some used their (better built) version of this tweeter. And others use a 6" high driver for the upper midrange on up to the treble. That driver is called TLS for "true line source" and it was in both a dipole and monopole version; depending on the model.

One speaker that I'd include in this category of low-cost, bookshelf, where the logo might turn you off is the Polk Audio Monitor 4 from the mid-to-late 80's. I was a marketing rep for Polk Audio products at military exchanges in Germany and would A/B those against speakers that were much more expensive (and 10x larger) and they held their own. An amazing little speaker  that, if I ever see a pair, I'd buy in an instant.

I had a pair of those Optimus speakers with the top tweeter and I used them as rear speakers in my surround sound system.  They were actually really good for that application and performed extremely well, especially watching the NASCAR racing on tv.

Tandy was Radio Shacks parent company!

Boston CR6 and CR7 are also pretty good small bookshelf speakers

OMG I just picked up a pair of Mission bookshelf speakers identical to the 2nd speaker you showed us. I paid a couple bucks at a estate sale yesterday. I knew exactly what they were when I saw the pair. They are really well built.

I am really enjoying all your videos. Especially like the way you explain things like a real audio enthusiast. Your videos pertain to all of us low to medium budget people that love the vintage stuff. Your store looks like an awesome place. Keep up the good work and thanks.

ADS had small metal cabinet speakers like the Optimus 7’s. The ADS 300’s. When I was doing electrical my first encounter with the small ADS speakers was in a remodel we were doing in the Hollywood Hills in the late 80’s before surround sound was mainline . We did 2.1 with a ADS sub….. they were clean sounding and amazing for such a small set up .

Mitsubishi SS-1121, three-way floor stander, 36” tall, 14” wide, 9.5” deep(!), 12 inch woofer.  8 ohm, about 87 or 88 db(?).  Highly recommended if priced low.  My neighbor threw out a pair last fall and I lugged them down the alley to my home, smiling.  They sound pretty darn good—nice, easy-listening paper cone mid and tweeter, and physically palpable, impressive bass from that large, paper woofer in the sealed cabinet.  I now enjoy them a lot in my garage shop. 😊

17:17  Holy shīza!!  I just recently acquired a pair of Sansui AS 100s.  They DO sound incredible!!  Thanks, Kevin!

Those RS Optimus speakers with the Linaeum tweeters are no joke.

Please do more video like this! Love the info!

I remember when the Minimus 7s came out. I thought they were knockoffs of an ADS? tiny, metal cabinet speaker. Thanks and blessings for another great vid!

What a coincidence. I picked up a pair of the Mission speakers last week on FB Marketplace for $25!

These are my favorite type of videos, the ones that inform us of better than average vintage components that might go unnoticed in the used marketplace. Please expand the series to include receivers, turntables, tape desks, etc. My speaker choice for this video is the Bose 301's. Recently picked up a pair of 301 IV (ugly black) for $10 off a sidewalk sale along  with a pair of Bose 101 for $5.00.  I've seen these listed from $40 - $200. Like the RS LX-5, these have a little extra something in their sound signature due to their Direct/Reflecting tweeter placement.

I spent a number of years stationed in Germany and I put together my dream system, Phase Linear amp. preamp and tuner. I had HPM 100 speakers and was full-on in love with them. Life happened and in 1994, someone offered me an obscene amount of money for that system and I sold it. I've regretted it since.

Four years ago, I was perusing a mom and pop thrift shop and ran into a set of hpm 100s for 40 bucks. The cabinets were beat to crap but after pulling the grill facing off, they looked really good. I bought them and took them to my repair guy and he recommended reconing them and possibly refoaming the woofer. I bit the bullet and paid for the work and now have them at home and the sound is remarkable. I no longer have any vintage hardware but my cheap sony receiver is adequate. I;ve owned a lot of speakers in my life, but the HPM 100s just captivate me. I could have probably just bought a set that didn't "seem" to need any work but I learned early, looks are deceiving. These HPMs rock my house.

Bring Radio Shack Back ! I loved my Minimus Speakers!