This was HIFI! This was a studio amplifier with Minimus speakers that made a few albums. This made my band what it was. Cheap. Back when Radio Shack was still a thing, they introduced this small amp to the world. Way back when, you just couldn't get anything HiFi unless you had a ton of cash to throw into the wind. You couldn't go on line and get powered speakers you could plug into your turntable and have great sound. For that matter, you couldn't have wireless HiFi and buy a few items and have thousands of dollars of sound for $99. We had to struggle. We had orange foam on our headphones. Get off my lawn. Radio Shack sold a low priced solution so that if you had a piece of HiFi equipment and maybe you only cared to have that ONE PIECE of HiFi and you wanted to put it through speakers without expense of an amp... Let's say you didn't care to have an 8 Track tape player and a cheap tuner in addition to your amp. What do you do? If you have a make shift studio and you needed a system with somewhat decent sound to play back what you recorded in the CD store bathroom? It's why you had this Radio Shack amplifier.

You needed speakers right? Small speakers with big sound. When you plugged Radio Shack speakers into a Radio Shack amplifier, you had a whole Radio Shack HiFi stereo system. Believe it or not, compared to going to your local Zayre to get the latest double deck stereo for $149 or a Lenoxx mini system from Grey Drug for $99, this system cost more but sounded like $1000. I know, it wasn't a true turn up your nose stereo system, but especially if you didn't need to tune radio stations, this was many people's stepping stone to better equipment. Essentially, if you needed small speakers that could take a whallop and yet be loud and at the same time decent sounding, these speakers were the solution. The only better small speakers you could buy were "studio" monitors that cost a hell of a lot. These came out before the "monitor" and "stereo"  television craze of the late 80's. That changed it all. Before that, it was a niche thing. Why have a stereo set up around your 25" console TV. It's mono sound anyway. I can't afford those new fancy stereo disc video systems. I can't afford a fancy stereo video tape player. If I want good sound in my movies, I go see them at a movie theater with that new surround system. Right?

"Simulated Stereo Amplifier That Is Better Than Soundesign"  Ahhh..this was it. Fake wood grain on everything before silver became a color for stereo equipment in the high tech 80's. Plastic case with wood grain sticky paper. If you had a pressed board case, it could have simulated wood grain that was guaranteed not to start peeling for the 90 day warranty. Fake wood grain was for the common man.  The HiFi elite wouldn't even light their cigars off this if it were on fire. They'd prefer to use their TUBE amp with real wood cases and wait for the tubes to heat up so they can light their cigars off of the heat.  "Simulated Walnut Grain Finish" Hmmm. I had a band called "Simulated Walnut Grain Finish" once.  "Tribute too?" "The Cars!" *and scene*

"Where do you connect the speakers?" "RCA outputs?" I think they made these with spring terminals where you could connect speakers that didn't have RCA ends. This model used the cheaper/simpler RCA ends and surprise! Radio Shack sold the speaker cables with RCA on one end and bare speaker wires on the other. Again, before stereo everything happened where you were generally not LOUSY with extra RCA cables that you could nick off one end to use for this. Ahh, but there was another plus for this little amp. You COULD plug a turntable into it. Before MODERN vinyl and record players could convert your records to MP3s or send sound to wireless speakers or even connect to a computer with a USB cable, you needed a pre-amp for any better record player. Otherwise you got no sound or a scratchy high "needle on the record" sound without an amplifier sound. This was the winner but you should only connect a record player to the record player input because other equipment would be distorted because you were amplifying something that didn't need it. I could explain OHMS and minimal sound outputs..if I understood any of it.

Radio Shack on Radio Shack Crime. Ever trying to have the latest HiFi I woke this amp from my junk collection when my odd living room computer speaker surround sound amplifier that I was using for video..gave up the ghost. I needed something to play stereo when I watch Grateful Dead videos right? How about HiFi VHS movies or my DVD collection which includes mostly MONO DVDs of old TV shows. I needed the stereo right? I have just added a cheap DVR so now I need something that can take USB chip input stereo so I can listen to podcasts while I'm putting up my Christmas tree. I need to DUST dammit! Oh yeah, I have a big old MONITOR 25" TV. The type with a pane of tempered glass over the screen. It has an "RF" input on the back. That's it. So I still use the Radio Shark "Line To RF" converter that allows me to hook up video and stereo audio to a TV with only a RF on the back. Do I like antique crap or something? You know? JUNK? *Dun dun dunnnnnnnnn* No silly, if it's in working condition, I put it to use. I'm a creature of habit. I fear change. I even used the small speakers that came with that surround sound amp. Soundwise? Thin. Really really really thin. Like cheap boombox thin. Hey wait? I think I have two Minimus speakers somewhere in my junk collection. I took pics of them a few years back and haven't used them on my junk blog as of yet.. Hmmm. That would require more work... Hmmm... This Grateful Dead DVD called "Dead Set" from their Radio City performances from 1980 sounds like poo poo on my annual watching of the Grateful Dead. Sheit.

All I want for Christmas is Crown Royal, a golden retriever with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers foam football around his muzzle and a gross of Swiffer dust catchers!  I dodged spider webs in the basement and dug these out. The spring connections in the back were in need of assistance. A little screwdriver action helped close the terminals on my pre-made RCA one end/bare wire the other. Thankfully my amp doesn't have the scratchy dust filled pots that help ruin my previous small amp. Yet. I clicked the resume on the DVD and well...

"Jeeeerrrreeeeeeee! Darrrrrk Staaaaaar!" I tightened up my headband for the extra RUSH during Jerrys guitar solo! *skitch* *Frank Zappa* *Thanks*  Admire the beauty of a TV so old, the channel display is a green two digit LED display. Admire my 60's living room lamp reflected in the tempered glass cover over the 25" screen. No letter boxing here ladies and gentlemen. Hey, what is that sound? Is that some BASS response out of that pair of Minimus speakers that has been in a box FOREVER now in use? Well, welcome to the 80's. Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old JUNK it's still weedly weedly weeeeeeee from Jerry to me. *skitch* *forget it* Thanks. -Ric

PEEYESS: Shortly after I put these Minimus speakers into use and right during the coffee/nosh/smoke/bong rip/sugar cube/rail off a strippers belly section of this concert known as "Drums/Space" where the Grateful Dead drummers showed their stuff, I noticed the side of my screen going psychedelically green. "Wow!" I thought. I checked my bottle of water to make sure it hadn't been dosed. No, what I had was a classic case of an old friend I hadn't seen for "Ny-Un-Tee-Five Years" *skitch* *Roger Rabbit* *Thanks.* The Minimus speakers were an older model before they got used in video applications, They have large magnets inside of them. With tube televisions and monitors, if your speakers were not magnetically shielded, if they were close to TVs, they could "warp" the thin steel mesh inside a TV tube and cause it to distort the colors. If this went on too long, it would stay on the screen and you'd need a repairman to come out and use their "Degaussing" wand to try and get your TV to normal. I assumed these Minimus were shielded because in the 80's and 90's, these speakers were usually next to a television. Plus, I'd forgotten that this was a thing! It was like seeing an old friend that is largely extinct in these days of flat screen 70" TVs for $100 bucks from your local Walgreens. It was another reminder than maybe I should get an upgraded TV. Ahhh, I just moved the speaker two feet away. Problem solved. Time to watch the Blues Brothers. Orange Whip? Orange Whip? Three Orange Whips.