1987 Pickering INTIMIDATOR 1000 portable powered speakers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2021
- A pair of Pickering portable powered speakers that don't seem to have anything to do with the phono cartridge manufacturer of the same name. They were also sold by Radio Shack as the Realistic Stereo-Mate Minimus 0.4 and AMX 4 speakers.
- วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
"When you push the bass output of these speakers, they tend to sound rather flatulent."
Bass players have a term for when you push speakers past their mechanical excursion limit and they distort. It is called "farting out". So you're spot on.
I had never heard either term before, but I find both highly amusing.
“Farting out”, that term immediately came to mind along with “splatter” for weakass guitar amps;)
Yeah I play guitar and what ya want is head room, clean. That = Clarity. Cheap amp or too much of an amp for the speakers (say 100 watt amp into a speaker that only handles 80 watts). Your either gonna blow the speaker or your gonna get a lack of headroom. There are some amazing amps out there that you can crank and put thru speakers that are not suppose to handle x amount of the watts the amp puts out. But its clean power. Huge difference.
That's the Bauhaus font... as found on Atari products and at the TJ Maxx stores :)
Yeah I definitely saw that font on Atari game cartridges
Atari was the first thing I thought of when I saw it.
These would look perfect hooked up to an Atari 2600...
@@5roundsrapid263 same
@Ellis The DJ Aparently that was to avoid confusion with the then large store chain T J Hughes who were already in the U.K.
It’s nice to go back and remember how technology used to be made and sold.
@@tarstarkusz he said right in the video that they where made in china
@@tarstarkusz Turn up your Intimidator 1000s.
@@tarstarkusz yep like them 80s/90s kitchen boomish boxers with the fake tweeters. Sound fairly Hi-Fi
I had a set of these, bought in the year 1987, under the name "Galax". In fact I still have them. I remember they sounded pretty ok for their size and price. Good to see them again after so long !
The dimming LED with the music is the battery voltage dropping due to the amplifier drawing a lot of current. Alkaline batteries should do better.
I have already wondered about the dimming power led whether it was deliberately designed to blink which would get worse as the batteries would go flat or it was a happy coincidence?
It was kinda like a one led battery level meter in a way...
I have an amplifier that has an incandescent light bulb for it's power on indicator that would also blink at high volume levels, the blinking went away after a full recap! But with these portable powered speakers, I think that the led is going to blink regardless... All my Boomboxes blink their power on led! Even when they were new!
Who knows, maybe it might stop blinking when powered by a 6V 1A wall wart? Maybe we might find out in a future video????
@@PeterMilanovski Bad caps are a very real possibility, since this is about the correct age for such issues. Another possibility is some resistance in the battery circuit, perhaps some oxidation or corrosion on the battery contacts.
I doubt it was designed for the LED to blink that way under heavy draw, though. It's not like they put forth a lot of effort in making these.
@@xaenon you know, come to think about it.... I have seen a lot of videos regarding all sorts of electronic equipment but the one thing that I haven't seen yet is a test on maximum current delivery from batteries! I have somehow understood that the 9V didn't have the same current capabilities as the 1.5V cell's, we could be looking at the culprit right there!
I know that the led power indicator would blink whether it was on batteries or mains but on batteries it was always worse. And the mains transformer could have been under sized to keep the weight down... Or it could have been the filler capacitor in the power supply being to small, it's not like manufacturers have never tried to cheap out before LoL...
Next time I open up my boombox for a recap which it is overdue by now, I'm going to have a good look at it's power supply section properly and see if it can do with a little upgrade...
@@PeterMilanovski I've seen the 'winking LED' effect on computer speakers, particularly the ones that are powered by the computer's USB port. I'm speaking, of course, of the old 1.1 ports, which are very limited with regard to how much current they can supply. I think the original spec was 300 mA? Not a lot of power there to drive an amp.
@@xaenon LoL usb 1.1 is like the vacuum tube amplifier of the computer..
This is like the "gamer gear" of its day. Even looks Atari-esque with the Bauhaus font!
Have a pretty good sound at lower volumes considering the slim size.
Perfect atari 2600 speakers 🔊 boom bap zip zap
@@rustymixer2886 The Atari 2600 Video Computer System was the ultimate gaming rig...for us, that is... maybe because it was our ONLY gaming rig when we were growing up. There was no need to go any further, though my sister and I wondered what it would be like to have a 5200 or 7800, that we would look at whenever mom took us to Toys R Us. I guess Dad was happy enough with the OG, given he was the one funding all of it.
@@QuadMochaMatti yeah good choice cuz nothing much came from 5200 and 7800 in fact 2600 lasted longer 😆
It could also be the batteries not being able to deliver that much current load and dropped voltage. which leads to distortion and LED blinks. maybe feed it with a DC power supply and that may sound better! Nice video as usual btw! :)
Definitely. When the LED fades out, it's a sure sign the batteries' current is the limiting factor. It's not the amplifier. I'm sure it will handle higher volumes better with a 6V power supply.
Or some ‘fat’ (hi uF) stiffing caps paralleled to the power supply inside to help with the transients. Then the speakers might be the next weakness with their bobbins bottoming out :o
My dad had the radioshack variant of these back in the 90s. I think he used them on his portable cassette decks. There’s some nostalgia I didn’t know I had.
I had these speakers from Radio Shack back around 1989. Different branding but same thing. I used them with a portable CD player later, and a portable TV.
Intimidator Pickering just makes me think of that "Do you know who I am? I'm RONNIE PICKERING" video lmao...
Let's have a ************ bare Knuckle then.
omg I had a set of these here in the UK. Mine were neither of those brands, but I can't remember what it was (might have been Maxim). They were the main speakers in my teen bedroom for a few years amplifying my (off brand) walkman/radio. Not magnetically shielded so caused my CRT TV screen to go freaky!
magnetic shielding is for the weak
magnetic shielding is overrated
magnetic shielding magnetic smchielding who cares
Saisho, maybe??
Yeh "Maxim" was from one of those Manchester importers of cheapo products, along with brands like Omega, Lloytron, Elftone, Texet, etc.
The built-in speakers of that CD player reminded me of something. Whenever I was about 9, my father found his old 8-track player, and I managed to get it running again. The speakers I used were a pair of $5 USB computer speakers that still required an 1/8-in connector for audio. I actually remember adapting 1/8-in to 1/4-in and plugging it into the headphone jack, and for power I used my digital talking book player I had at the time. They had no volume control, and they didn't sound that good, but I was 9 years old so I didn't care.
Oh man, that LED brightness dropping from saturating the amplifier brought back so many childhood memories from the 90s. That used to happen to my boomboxes when the batteries started to go.
it’s nice to see some other stuff made by pickering, a while back I got a pair of classic 80s earphones made by pickering, the featherfone 104
With the screens and stuff we kind of are
They seem entirely decent to me. The bass and treble boost switches make me think the circuit is likely repackaged from whoever was making low budget computer speakers for Labtec, Koss, and others.
I found some Queen Well speakers in an Emerson boombox from around the same time.
Those speakers with walkman late 80's - > Coolest dude in little town 8|
Man this is really late 80's early 90's look and feel, that dry black plastic. thanks for the trip
I can't think of 'Pickering' without thinking of the 'Ronnie Pickering' meme 😂
'Do you know who I am?
Who?
Ronnie Pickering
Who?
Ronnie Pickering
Who?
RONNIE PICKERING!!'
Who's Ronnie Pickering?
Got a problem ? U wanna Go
I had (and probably still have) a set of these, probably with the Realistic badge. They were likely white-label products: the OEM would stick on whatever label you wanted if you ordered enough of them. They weren't terrible for cheap '80s speakers and the direct power feature was a plus for a kid who didn't always have battery money.
The thumbnail makes these look huge! Truly intimidating!
I have them in red. I got them around 32 years ago. My pair hade a stand in the middel for my casset player.
Damn. I was hoping you would put a headshell with a Pickering cartridge on the AT-LP120 to play through the Pickering INTIMIDATOR speakers, but I guess you needed to show off the Spectra too! The speakers recorded by your microphone and played back through my speakers sounded fairly decent, and locked together they foresaw the design of some of the blocker bluetooth speaker designs. Nice find(s).
I owned the Realistic (or Optimus) version of these many years ago.
I expect in some countries it may have been called the 'Prime' - Just saying! - I'm always reminded of 'Transformers' whenever I see something with an 'Optimus' branding. LOL.
I can imagine the advertisement "INTIMIDATE your friends with the NEW INTIMIDAOR 1000 PORTABLE SPEAKERS!...batteries are not included"
I think Pickering was based here on Long Island in Plainview. I remember going there to get a replacement pair of headphones that failed under warranty to their office on Sunnyside drive in Plainview.
Actually at medium volume they sound clear and pretty nicely balanced for their size and wattage
Probably so, yet it's funny we feel like we can judge even if this video has been shot with an old camcorder! (and obviously using the built-in mic).
@@BilisNegra dude.. you must be tons of fun at parties :)
@@onefatstratcat I see you thought I was criticizing the gear used in the video... Not at all, It's very much a part of Kevin's style to use old camcorders. From time to time these days, and all the time years ago. It's just that it makes not much sense to make any serious assessment of how something sounds in a video recorded like that!
The Handycam video quality is great. Very clear and warm, feels very VHS. I like it. The Pickering speakers also mimic the color scheme of early '80s VW Golf Gti red and black color options.
That CD player is cool. Great video.
1. This looks like an interesting vintage pair of portable speakers; it even looks like they still might be useful with some of today's devices.
2. 4:14 I actually had this CD player new as a kid in 2002, as a birthday gift.
Thanks for the video, Kevin.
"Remember the good old 1980's
When things were so uncomplicated
I wish I could go back there again
And everything could be the same" (ELO - Ticket to the Moon - Songwriters: Jeff Lynne © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC)
Uncomplicated but Intimidating...
_Time_ is a great album
Ahhh, The days before Bluetooth speakers were even a thought. 🤔💭 I remember using these speakers back when I was a teenager. All that I can say is, they got the job done. I do wish that we had Bluetooth technology back then tho. Things would have been a lot simpler. Lol
I'd probably modify these with a PAM8403 class D amp board, it would be interesting to see what they could do without the amplifier limitations. An amp board with added Bluetooth would make for a neat DIY Bluetooth speaker.
The flickering is caused by the batteries limiting the current (voltage drop due to internal resistance). The LED is just in parallel with the amp. 1.5 watts should be enough to drive a 4" paper edge speaker. The distortion is probably caused by excess excursion of the speaker driver itself.
I think the PAM8403 would overpower the drivers.
A less aggressive and more suited to the drivers amplifier might be the LM4871 found in dollar tree ball speakers.
Very efficient, very low quiescent power consumption, and very low distortion at 5 volts under a 4 ohm load.
Feeding these little guys 3 volts would probably the perfect 2 watt output max for the drivers.
That story of Stanton/Pickering is humorous! You should read about him and the two companies if you have not already.
I really like your new channel thumbnail Kevin. Thanks for uploading!
Intimidator 1000 sounds sick. I would just buy it for the name.
Lauri from Hydraulic Press Channel has the other model: the Intimidator 5 000 000 😂
I like your videos, btw. They are honest and spot on, great job!
Always wanted a pair from Radio Shack
Thanks for sharing. You had your fun.
Great 😌 set of speakers 🔊. That was when Radio 📻 Shack was still around. Your friend, Jeff.
For a set of speakers under the name "INTIMIDATOR" these are rather... unintimidating
That name is sure intimidating!
The look very Intimidating!
I'm scared 😨
I miss these speakers, they were pretty good, with the bass boost
Those speakers would have been a near perfect match for my old Philco 800K radio/cassette player back when I was a teenager….
look like zapco's or altec during the switchover.. but who knows.. those chrome caps bring back memories
I guess they didn't have to sound great in the 80s, because people didn't have as much of a need for portable speakers back then as they do now. But at least these had that typical '80's "Boombox" design with a Black-and-Red color scheme.
Vincent D
We did Cassette tapes, some of us needed Ghettoblasters, we used powered speakers on Walkmans and Discmans.
Red and black was cool, all silver too, Neon colors too!
We carried a Car Battery with us, keep it cheap, able to blast the block with them. Duran Duran, Girls on Film, or Blondy.
The font on the controls area definitely reminds me of the Atari 2600 🤨
Likewise, that was my first thought immediately.
Absolutely brilliant name !
So *this* is what _Ronnie Pickering_ is famous for.
These speakers were named after Ronnie, known in his home town as THE INTIMIDATOR 1000
Who?
@@alfsmith4936 *RONNIE PICKERING!*
I had some from Tandy in the uk , they was brilliant speakers.
I had a pair of them I used with my Walkman, around 1986, I got them from Argos in the UK, I think they were branded 'Ross', but identical to these.
Suppose you could say they were the equivalent of a bluetooth speaker today!
I'd forgotten about Ross..
"As is usual of the stuff I feature on this channel, I found these at the thrift store, as well as well as the HandyCam I'm using to record this video..."
Well, nice. Real nice. That's like active recycling/reusing, It's obviously not 4K, but it doesn't look bad. And 20 points for 'using a somewhat obsolete device for a purpose it was never designed for'!
OMG I HAVE THESE. My girlfriend at the time left them with me. They're great. I should really give them back to her...
Good video man! 🍻👍
I recall having these as the Radio Shack version. I think my mom got them for my first CD player (a portable Emerson model).
try sticking a 4700uf 10v cap across the supply lines in the amp circuit in those speakers, see if it improves the bass 😉
I have the Realistic set still in use today on the Portable MP3 player for holidays. Indeed, That blinking of the power led is not the crappy Amp, It is the batteries that cannot give that much oomph as you stated that these are Zinc Chloride,,,
the black with red trim is certainly intimidating
when i was about 5 or so, 1989, my first pair of portable speakers was a set of "gemini micro mini" that had a very smilar look with a blue trim ring instead of red. alas they were passive, and only 2.5" drivers. i actually found a pair on ebay not long ago and bought them, ended up sticking some tectonic BMRs in them. they still sound tinny as hell but the treble is nice at least :D
Shopper : What's that?
Retailer : It's a "Realistic Stereo Mate".
Shopper : Ok, nice, but don't call me mate, I ain't your friend.
I had these in the 90's. I'm trying to remember the brand name used on mine in the UK. Maybe Morphy Richards or Goodmans?
I find it interesting that there is an AC adapter input on the left speaker but a battery compartment on both. That would mean DC has to flow from the right speaker through the audio cord to the left speaker where the amp is located, and is hopefully isolated from the headphone plug.
I've seen the Queenwell name on speakers inside some Radio Shack portable AM/FM radios of that period as well, such as the 12-686 and 12-687.
The font is one of several circa 1970s interpretations of Herbert Bayer's 1925 experimental Universal typeface, which was originally all lowercase.
I had speakers that looked exactly like this, although the brand wasn't Pickering. I used them in the early 90s to get stereo sound from my Sega Genesis (and stereo out of my VCR)
Finally, a pair of speakers to pair with my Atari 2600!
Back in the 80s I had the Realistic MPS-5 32-2031 Amplified Speaker System. Each speaker had a volume & tone control, a line input & a mic input. All plastic & sounded like crap but you could run them on batteries or adapters.
This reminds me of a pair of Dahw powered speakers owned by one of my uncles. It is rated at 15 watts rms per channel. It goes loud. Unfortunately like the Pickering speakers it doesn't have volume control so you'll met with huge 'thump' whenever you turn it on or try to play cassette through it via Walkman. Probably a passive preamp could do the trick.
"Dahw" sounds like Homestar Runner saying "door" with a southern accent
The answer to old64goat's mini- cassette video! That font looks like the 80's Radio Shack one used for ConcerTape.
I can imagine a bass player micing those speakers to get "that sound".
Now I understand who Ronnie Pickering is !
Ronnie Pickering made speakers called Intimidators? Who knew?
From what I remember, '80s powered speakers like these didn't sound as good as today's portable bluetooth speakers, especially when it came to bass.
It's really not that surprising, considering they've had 30-odd years to improve the technology.
Definitely not. And rechargeable batteries were garbage. The tech wasn't there yet. I went through so many dumb little speakers.
Love the classic Atari 2600 font.
Would you be able to post a picture of the Amp IC from inside? I'm interested to look up the datasheet.
Thanks
Font of Atari? I have the Akai PJ-R25 however two rotating speakers on the left and right side of the unit are missing. It looks like they could fit (with some mods) on this unit ;-)
I still have my RadioShack branded ones in storage but if I remember right one of the speakers is busted. My dad gave them to me for my 14th birthday in 94.
@2:12 - Frankly, it looks like the same font used to label Commodore and Atari game cartridges. Nostalgia level 10.
That Maura Glynn CD is selling on Amazon for $148.50. Someone is being a colossal bastard!
i had a pair and like everything else radio shack sold they were the same pair with radio shacks name on it.It was a flashback when i saw them in the vid
@VWestlife D'you know where I can buy the Maura Glynn CD? Because I really liked the song you played during this video... Also, decent pair of speakers!
Try Discogs.
@@vwestlife Good suggestion. Might take a look there. Thanks again for the vid!
can you do an update with a power supply plugged in? i know you got to have one of those universal joints with all the tips laying around there somewhere?
I have a Wharfedale Portable DVD player that looks pretty much like that CD player!
It was when Argos licenced the name (not the loudspeaker brand)
I have a set of these, though not this brand. I think they're branded Casio. The circuit board is different, and the drivers don't have a brand on them. The trim is chrome, as are the dust caps. I do remember the ones out of Radio Shack, and I think they go back to 84,,85. I found mine at a second hand store, missing both battery covers, and I had to completely rewire them. They sound pretty good for what they are, and run just fine off a USB battery bank.
Bass Boost: Off / LOL
haha. :-) I love these. They sound terrible, but these and an overly-large portable CD player just takes me back to being a kid, and trying to rock out in the back yard. Couldn't really be more than 10 feet away and still hear it over the background noise of chirping birds and a gentle breeze, but hey... music on the go!
Nice a new video ! Don't change stay like you are because your video's are easy to watch nothing hard.
"they tend to sound rather flatulent" I laughed so hard I started coughing lol
I've seen this before, I think but never heard them till today. Ironically they remind me of the computer speaker by Radio Shack and some others that has the bass and treble boost switches on the back. However they only had maybe 2 inch drivers....
I had a similar set of speakers around 1987, I don't remember the brand but I definitely remember that they had an enclosure in the middle that could hold my Aiwa HS-J600 walkman.
intimidating...
btw that font is just like the font used on the atari 2600
Ooooh! Intimidator 1000! LOL! And maybe it's a fake pickering? 2:05 That is the Atari 2600 font.
Yup, I had a set of those "flatulent" speakers! :D
I think that font can be found on some Atari stuff from the '80s. Looks similar to some of my 2600 cartridges.
That is the most 80s name I’ve seen on a pair of speakers🤣Not to mention the font is the same as early Atari games!
I have a set of these branded Radio Shack.
With that evil center negative jack, someone who doesn't pay attention to it, can be intimidated by the magic smoke I guess lol.
That Typical 80's Font! Those Pickering speakers sound okay for the age. It's missing Bluetooth.
For me the Font reminds me most of the Atari VCS 2600 cartridges... on the end of most them...
they look like the same font Atari used back in the 70s.
I agree. Not bad.
Where can I find song from the video by Maura Glynn?🙂