Realistic Mach 4000

[Ice19]

Hi, I am new to home audio scene, but I have been around car audio for quite some time. Anyways i know that Mach Ones are legendary speakers and very sought after by people. I recently picked up a pair of Mach 4000 speakers at a local pawn shop and want to know if anyone on here has heard of them. I tried to google them and there was not to much info out there about them, many people have never heard of them, so i just to know if they are decent or not, they sound good to me, but either than that I don't know.

The main reason I am asking is because I have a chance to but a pair of Mach One 4029 speakers, and a Realistic STA-2100(D) receiver. I want to know if I should keep these Mach 4000s, or sell them to a friend who wants "big speakers"...aka if they are worth anything I won't sell them because he would just blow them.

I will get a picture of the Mach 4000s up shortly if anyone wants to see them.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum! I would love to see some pictures, as I've never heard of those. I have some Mach 2s (in my closest) from back in the 80s.

 

[Ice19]

I cannot post any pics of the Mach 4000s yet because I do not have a high enough post yet.

 

[WmAx]

I doubt they are worth using.

The Mach Two, which replaced the Mach One, was a totally inferior product in every possible way. It seems that is was released, playing on the name of the original, and intended to cut production costs and increase profit. I have never seen another decent full size speaker from the Realistic brand after the Mach One. BTW, the speaker may have been pretty good for the early 80's, compared to most on the mass market, but it's not suitable for any critical listening. It does make a great party speaker though, or just to rock out with high SPLs.

-Chris

 

[Ice19]

So in other words, I should sell the Mach 4000 to my buddy and go with Mach Ones.

Either than the surrounds rotting in the Mach One 4029s, what else made them different than the 4024s?

 

[WmAx]

So in other words, I should sell the Mach 4000 to my buddy and go with Mach Ones.

Either than the surrounds rotting in the Mach One 4029s, what else made them different than the 4024s?

Completely different designs.

The Mach One used reasonably good quality(for the era) horn tweeters, mid and quality 15" woofer. It had a reasonably flat response and high SPL output with no distortion. It also had very deep frequency response for that era. The Mach 2 was not comparable in any way, from driver quality to cabinet quality, to SPL ability and extension, it was completely inferior.

-Chris

 

[Ice19]

Completely different designs.
The Mach 2 was not comparable in any way, from driver quality to cabinet quality, to SPL ability and extension, it was completely inferior.

These ones say Mach One Speaker System on the front, and I know there was two different model numbers for them 40-4029 and 40-4024, both Mach Ones.

 

[WmAx]

These ones say Mach One Speaker System on the front, and I know there was two different model numbers for them 40-4029 and 40-4024, both Mach Ones.

The only one that I was aware of was the 40-4024 that was labeled as Mach One. Do you have a picture of the 40-4029?

-Chris

 

[Ice19]

heres a link to what they look like, the 40-4029 Mach Ones...

http://www.webitnetwork.com/navan/Img/mach1.jpg

 

[WmAx]

heres a link to what they look like, the 40-4029 Mach Ones...

http://www.webitnetwork.com/navan/Img/mach1.jpg

Hmm. That's exactly what a 4024 looks like.

Some googling seems to state that the 4029 was a later version made by a different company for RS, but with reduced cost and performance, but very similar cosmetics.

-Chris

 

[Ice19]

The difference i noticed is that the 4029s say "Liquid Coolded" on them underneath where it says "Speaker System", whereas the 4024s do not say "Liquid Cooled".

 

[Adam]

The Mach Two, which replaced the Mach One, was a totally inferior product in every possible way.

Talkin' smack about my babies, are you?

I sure liked them in their day. When I bought my NHTs, though, it was a truly eye-opening (well, ear-opening) experience. I liked the NHTs much better. The Mach 2s weren't too shabby in the bass department, though.

 

[Rickster71]

A friend of mine that managed a rat shack back then, tells me the 4024 Mach One, is the one worth saving or buying.
All it's components were very good.
During it's production run, the Mach One's manufacturer was changed, and it was cheapened. (As Chris mentioned)

There are a few ways to easily tell the two versions apart. The better version 4024 had rubber woofer surrounds, and better wire terminals.

While the cheaper 4029 Mach One had foam surrounds and cheap spring clip terminals.

 

[WmAx]

A friend of mine that managed a rat shack back then, tells me the 4024 Mach One, is the one worth saving or buying.
All it's components were very good.
During it's production run, the Mach One's manufacturer was changed, and it was cheapened. (As Chris mentioned)

There are a few ways to easily tell the two versions apart. The better version 4024 had rubber woofer surrounds, and better wire terminals.

While the cheaper 4029 Mach One had foam surrounds and cheap spring clip terminals.

You say the 4024 has rubber surrounds. However, I have access to a pair of 4024 and the surrounds appear to be foam. I just inspected them a couple of days ago, actually, to verify the model number when these Mach One threads came up.

-Chris

 

[Adam]

If I wasn't so lazy, I'd disassemble one of my Mach 2s and put up pictures of the internal bracing and sound dampening material. It's really rather impressive. The bracing appeared to be some scrap wood that someone broke over their knee and then glued on to the sides without any rhyme or reason except to check a box for "installed bracing." The sound dampening material was a thin sheet of something just placed inside the cabinet behind the woofer.

 

[Rickster71]

I found a picture of the 4024
Notice it has 10 screws in the L-pad the cheaper 4029's had 8.
The cheap 4029's had "Liquid Cooled" on the L-pad.
http://www.audiokarma.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=400&size=big&cat=

 

[Rickster71]

You say the 4024 has rubber surrounds. However, I have access to a pair of 4024 and the surrounds appear to be foam. I just inspected them a couple of days ago, actually, to verify the model number when these Mach One threads came up.

-Chris

Hi Chris,
One possibility is that the woofers were replaced.
The 4024's had a very long warrantee, and the original woofer stock ran out. So any subsequent warrantee claims were honored with the cheaper 4029 woofers.

 

[WmAx]

Hi Chris,
One possibility is that the woofers were replaced.
The 4024's had a very long warrantee, and the original woofer stock ran out. So any subsequent warrantee claims were honored with the cheaper 4029 woofers.

Original woofers. The pair was actually owned/purchased by my mother originally, and they were bought when I was a kid. They have never had a warranty repair of any kind.

BTW, the surrounds to have a slick/smooth type of finish on the surface, and perhaps some would think this is rubber. It is a different kind of foam in this regard than the common foam surrounds that are popular.

-Chris

 

[Rickster71]

The pair was actually owned/purchased by my mother originally, and they were bought when I was a kid.

BTW, the surrounds to have a slick/smooth type of finish on the surface, and perhaps some would think this is rubber. It is a different kind of foam in this regard than the common foam surrounds that are popular.

-Chris

I think you're right about the surrounds. They were better than the standard foam surround, I guess a hybrid of some sort.

That's interesting. So, it does have all the other attributes of a 4024? Like 10 screw L-pad, and 8 ohm woofer.

Were you able to listen to them?

Your mom has some nice speakers. Was she a founding member of Audioholics?

 

[WmAx]

I think you're right about the surrounds. They were better than the standard foam surround, I guess a hybrid of some sort.

That's interesting. So, it does have all the other attributes of a 4024? Like 10 screw L-pad, and 8 ohm woofer.

Were you able to listen to them?

Your mom has some nice speakers. Was she a founding member of Audioholics?

Well, I did not count the screws, but it has screw type terminals on the back, and it has no reference to liquid cooling that I remember. The model number is -4024A printed on the back. Made in Japan.

I did listen them just for fun, for about 10 minutes. Not exactly my grade of speaker, but you can't expect it to be.

-Chris