Heathkit

[Lorthos]

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.....

[Lorthos]

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.

[warren]

Yes, my dad put together a Hi fi, then a stereo, and a multimeter, when I was really young, Im 69 now..

[mrbigbluelight]

Wasn't the Heathkit multimeter a knockoff (don't mean that in a bad way) of the Simpson 260 ?

[obieone]

http://www.heathkit.com

[disneyjoe7]

That's not the Heathkit I remember.

[Face]

Disregard.

[RSTERN]

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

[mulveling]

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 :)

[F1nut]

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.

[Face]

Thanks for the correction Jesse.

[mhardy6647]

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/

[Lorthos]

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-Un...QQcmdZViewItem

[bikezappa]

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.

[Kenneth Swauger]

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

[Kenneth Swauger]

I forgot, everybody used to call them "Grief-kit".

[mhardy6647]

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.

[Kenneth Swauger]

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

[bigyank]

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

[TroyD]

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

[mulveling]

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.

[TroyD]

RT1 got a decent demo of them last weekend and seemed to like them.

BDT

[mule]

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.

[mhardy6647]

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:


bought & paid for (yardsale):




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

[Kenneth Swauger]

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

[mhardy6647]

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.

[Kenneth Swauger]

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

[TroyD]

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

[jcaut]

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.

[Lorthos]

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:


bought & paid for (yardsale):




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...QQcmdZViewItem


I did win one the other day:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Heathkit-UNBUILT...QQcmdZViewItem