Heathkit

Systems
Systems Posts: 14,873
edited May 2008 in The Clubhouse
Any of you old farts remember these guys.....I use to spend hours with my Dad putting these kits together. Man it would be blast to be able to do that again.....
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  • Systems
    Systems Posts: 14,873
    edited April 2008
    I guess I should add, we did a Stereo receiver, multimeter which I still use, a capacitor checker, transister checker, signal generator, a weather station and I think there was a couple of amateur radio components. He had also started a tv but I don't think he ever got it working right....

    I came across some of the old assembly manuals the other day is why it got me thinking about it again.
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  • warren
    warren Posts: 756
    edited April 2008
    Yes, my dad put together a Hi fi, then a stereo, and a multimeter, when I was really young, Im 69 now..
    Some final words,
    "If you keep banging your head against the wall,
    you're going to have headaches."
    Warren
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  • mrbigbluelight
    mrbigbluelight Posts: 9,840
    edited April 2008
    Wasn't the Heathkit multimeter a knockoff (don't mean that in a bad way) of the Simpson 260 ?
    Sal Palooza
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  • obieone
    obieone Posts: 5,077
    edited April 2008
    http://www.heathkit.com
    I refuse to argue with idiots, because people can't tell the DIFFERENCE!
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  • disneyjoe7
    disneyjoe7 Posts: 11,435
    edited April 2008
    That's not the Heathkit I remember.

    Speakers
    Carver Amazing Fronts
    CS400i Center
    RT800i's Rears
    Sub Paradigm Servo 15

    Electronics
    Conrad Johnson PV-5 pre-amp
    Parasound Halo A23
    Pioneer 84TXSi AVR
    Pioneer 79Avi DVD
    Sony CX400 CD changer
    Panasonic 42-PX60U Plasma
    WMC Win7 32bit HD DVR


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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited April 2008
    Disregard.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • RSTERN
    RSTERN Posts: 287
    edited April 2008
    I have a aa-22 up in the closet that was my wifes grandfather. If I remember right the left channel there is very little sound coming from it. Been wanting to get fixed and hook up my rt 55 to it. He said he souped it up from the orginal design. Only got to listen to it 2 times before it lost the left channel, sounded good though.
    Rob
    mains: rt16
    center: csi40
    surrounds:fx 1000
    sub: SVS 20-39pc+
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  • mulveling
    mulveling Posts: 505
    edited April 2008
    I'm too young (29) to remember Heathkit from my youth, but I recently picked up a rebuilt pair of the W4-AM mono amps (probably late-50's vintage). They sacrifice on bass impact - but they get the mids really right, better than even very expensive modern amps. I'll take the mids over bass any day, especially at the price differential.

    Today I picked up a vintage Eico amp that's also got beautiful mids, but with much more power @ 35 Watts/ch :)
    Tannoy Dimension TD10, SOTA Star Sapphire, Heathkit W4A's, McIntosh MC2100, Eddie-Current Zana Deux, Singlepower SDS, Sennheiser HD650, Audio-Technica L3000, Sony Qualia 010
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,735
    edited April 2008
    My very first stereo gear was from Heathkit that I got for Christmas. I remember my dad helping me put it all together. Man, I played the hell outta that stuff. Funny thing, I don't remember whatever happened to it.


    Mike, that's a Dynaco, not a Heathkit.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited April 2008
    Thanks for the correction Jesse.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,970
    edited April 2008
    yup.
    Heathkit does still exist, as you saw (sort of).
    here's a vintage Heathkit info site:
    http://www.heathkit-museum.com/

    good site for manuals:
    http://bama.sbc.edu/

    heathkit1978christmas.jpg
    Heathkit1961flyercover.jpg
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  • Systems
    Systems Posts: 14,873
    edited April 2008
    Well I've been finding a few unbuilt kits on ebay but of course they are bidding them up like crazy. I should have thought of looking on there years ago.....

    I was bidding on this one.....

    http://cgi.ebay.com/1977-Heathkit-Unbuilt-Digital-Alarm-Clock-Kit-Complete_W0QQitemZ150233425987QQihZ005QQcategoryZ29833QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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  • bikezappa
    bikezappa Posts: 2,463
    edited April 2008
    Still got my heathkits and use them in my 2 channel room.

    I remeber the TV Heathkit. It was very hard to build and took forever. You could by a TV for less at the story also.
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited April 2008
    Hello,
    I still wakeup (sort-of) every morning to a Heathkit digital display alarm that I built 30 some years ago. I built one of their audio signal generators, small o'scope, VTVM, soldering iron station (pretty cool kit, you did all the mechanical assembly, then used the soldering iron to solder it's own connections).
    Their top receiver was on the original J. Gordon Holt's recommended list for many years. I still have one of their FM tuners something 1600 in the model number, I didn't build it, but I modified it very thoroughly. It had small cards that you notched out for the binary code of the station you wanted to put into a "memory" slot.
    Ah, the good ole days!
    Ken
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited April 2008
    I forgot, everybody used to call them "Grief-kit".
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,970
    edited April 2008
    Is that the clock with the green display? I built one for my father as a birthday present, ca. 1977. He still has it, too.
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited April 2008
    Hello,
    No, must be a different version. This has a smoked black plastic front that has the sectional digital display behind it. I think Heath made a companion thermometer and a wind direction indicator, so someone could have a little "weather station" with all three side-by-side. Lord knows how many thousands of times I've hit that "snooze" selector on the back. Every morning I must use it four times, I don't know why I don't just set the alarm 30 minutes later and just get up? Dumb habit.
    My dad built the thermometer version that I gave him as a Christmas gift. I knew people who had built the color TV, a father of a girl I dated had built one. I remember thinking, "wow, this guy's really smart, built his own television set". I couldn't imagine it, then.
    Ken
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  • bigyank
    bigyank Posts: 224
    edited April 2008
    bikezappa wrote: »
    Still got my heathkits and use them in my 2 channel room.

    I remeber the TV Heathkit. It was very hard to build and took forever. You could by a TV for less at the story also.

    Nice setup! What models do you have? I remember Heathkit myself though I never had any gear from them I did have a Lafayette 23 channel CB radio though as a kid. :D

    yank
    Polk Monitor 7
    Polk Atrium 55
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,085
    edited April 2008
    I have a pair of Heathkit W5M monoblocks (rebuilt) running the Quads. GREAT amps.

    I've seen Heathkit amps get CRAZY amounts of money from time to time.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • mulveling
    mulveling Posts: 505
    edited April 2008
    TroyD wrote: »
    I have a pair of Heathkit W5M monoblocks (rebuilt) running the Quads. GREAT amps.
    Damn, I'm quite jealous. I'd easily imagine those sound amazing.
    Tannoy Dimension TD10, SOTA Star Sapphire, Heathkit W4A's, McIntosh MC2100, Eddie-Current Zana Deux, Singlepower SDS, Sennheiser HD650, Audio-Technica L3000, Sony Qualia 010
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,085
    edited April 2008
    RT1 got a decent demo of them last weekend and seemed to like them.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • mule
    mule Posts: 282
    edited April 2008
    Thats the only place I remember my dad "shopping". We had a store about 5 miles from us, I wanted my dad to get the pinball machine kit so bad.

    My dad was signal core in Korea, when he got back he got a job installing radios on oil riggs and stuff. He then got a job with Burroughs installing "computer" systems in banks, back when it took a whole room to add and subtract :). I even remember the bearing going out in the clothes dryer, he rplaced it with a bearing from a hard drive, kind of puts it in perspective how big those things were back in the day.

    We had the oscillascope (sp?) in the basement and he was allways phutzing with stuff down there. My oldest brother picked up on it and as a teenager he would make his own distortion boxes and stuff, I never really picked up on it, I was allways more mechanical and liked to work on stuff I could touch and feel.

    I am 39 and it is really amazing how much things have changed as far as people being do it yourselfers and people that couldn't replace a switch plate on their own.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,970
    edited April 2008
    For y'all Baltimorons (and former Baltimorons, as I am), the B-more Heathkit store was on Joppa Road, just off Loch Raven Blvd (and a stone's throw from my high school) -- way back when.

    Some of my current, motley Heathkit collection, FWIW...

    dump finds:
    AJ-53.jpg

    bought & paid for (yardsale):

    P9180001.jpg


    Those are the only ones I have photos available online. I could post more if anyone's interested.
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited April 2008
    Hello,
    Ah yes, that was the store where I bought all the Heath gear, they had everything on display. Really nice store. Also, Baynesville Electronics is just down the street, great place. People actually know what they're selling and can answer questions and have a good assortment of shrink tubing. I use allot of that stuff and they have plenty of different sizes and colors. The Heathkit store is a locksmith place now, I think. Anybody ever go to the original Stansbury Stereo in Dundalk in the '70s?
    Ken
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,970
    edited April 2008
    Kenneth Swauger wrote: »
    Anybody ever go to the original Stansbury Stereo in Dundalk in the '70s?
    Ken

    Yup, once. I remember listening to a Mannhein Steamroller LP on big Infinity speakers. I wasn't too impressed with the speakers (awfully bright) but bought a copy of the album (Fresh Aire III) which I still have.

    re: Baynesville: I gave a talk at my alma mater (Johns Hopkins) last month... stopped by the Dunkies on Joppa Road on my way "home" for coffee and noticed that Baynesville still exists.
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited April 2008
    Stansbury was my first paying audio job when I got out of the Air Force in 1971. The AF had a "work-release" program, so I could gradually get a job while I was still in the military a few months before mustering out. The store was one half pharmacy and the other half and upstairs sold cameras and stereo gear. Cameras and stereo were my two main interests, so this was ideal. I got the job through Snelling&Snelling employment agency.
    I was in Baynesville a few weeks ago and it hasn't changed much, you still get a hand-written sales receipt with each purchase and a pleasant person thanks you for your purchase! Enjoy it while it lasts, I'm afraid.
    Ken
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,085
    edited April 2008
    Kenneth Swauger wrote: »
    I was in Baynesville a few weeks ago and it hasn't changed much, you still get a hand-written sales receipt with each purchase and a pleasant person thanks you for your purchase! Enjoy it while it lasts, I'm afraid.
    Ken


    ain't THAT the truth.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • jcaut
    jcaut Posts: 1,849
    edited April 2008
    My Dad built a Heathkit TV before I was old enough to pay any attention. It was still in use as our main TV until I was in high school! When the picture tube was on its way out, they finally got a new TV and I got the Heathkit to play Atari on. I have no idea what ever happened to that TV, but my parents never throw anything out so it's probably in the garage with a quilt over it. Probably right next to the Atari 2600.
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  • Systems
    Systems Posts: 14,873
    edited April 2008
    mhardy6647 wrote: »
    For y'all Baltimorons (and former Baltimorons, as I am), the B-more Heathkit store was on Joppa Road, just off Loch Raven Blvd (and a stone's throw from my high school) -- way back when.

    Some of my current, motley Heathkit collection, FWIW...

    dump finds:
    AJ-53.jpg

    bought & paid for (yardsale):

    P9180001.jpg


    Those are the only ones I have photos available online. I could post more if anyone's interested.

    The Shortwave kit is on ebay now:
    http://cgi.ebay.com/UNBUILT-Heathkit-GR-78-Shortwave-Radio-Kit-UNASSEMBLED_W0QQitemZ200217615516QQihZ010QQcategoryZ15051QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


    I did win one the other day:
    http://cgi.ebay.com/Heathkit-UNBUILT-Freezer-Failure-Alarm-GD-1183-NIB_W0QQitemZ110241792921QQihZ001QQcategoryZ3284QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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  • mrbigbluelight
    mrbigbluelight Posts: 9,840
    edited April 2008
    Here's a link for the Heathkit sites from "The Wayback Machine" :


    http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.heathkit.com

    Heathkit went the "Education and Certification" route I guess because there weren't enough folks out there with enough skills to build there kits, despite their guarantee that "Anyone Can Build Any Kit".


    Thumbing through old Heathkit catalogs at the time used to be more satisfying than thumbing through the Sears catalog when it showed up.


    :)
    Sal Palooza
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