Do You Remember...Heathkit?

Comments

November 4, 2010 at 3:08 pm

(1) Buzz :

Thanks, yes I do remember Heathkit and Dynakit. HH Scott and Harman/Kardon also made kits, which were popular (HK put everything in drawers so that the project didn’t take over the kitchen table for weeks on end, a big “spouse approval factor” feature).

What made the kits obsolete was really the advent of integrated circuitry, which removed labor as one of the biggest fixed costs in final assembly. Back when components were mostly hard-wired a manufacturer could save money delivering a kit. But during the 70’s it reached the point where sorting parts and packaging them into a kit was not cost-effective. Moreover, increasingly complex preamplification and tuner circuitry became difficult to tackle for the do-it-yourselfer– people who could tackle an amplifier might easily give up on a tuner.

I am surprised the idea never got revived with high-end car stereo, since large mobile amplifiers might still be sellable that way and the mindset is much more enthusiast oriented.

November 4, 2010 at 3:49 pm

(2) Ed Mac :

Yeah…I remember Heathkit and especially Harmon Kardon. I was in the Boy Scouts at the time when my father got me the best Christmas present ever…an A500 Integrated Amp kit(tubes of course). I spent weeks assembling it after school and when I finally got it completed and turned it on I heard a loud “pop” and saw a puff of smoke…total devastation! I had wired a small capacitor in backwards!

Fortunatly H/K was only a few miles away in Westbury, so we drove there and they fixed it for free. The Service Mgr. was Lenny Gaynor. After I got by BS in Electronics Engineering I got my first Job at Harman…Parts Depart. Manager & my boss was Lenny. After he left I took over his spot. I worked at H/K from the 70’s till 1991 when I moved to upstate NY. Work at ReQuest…makes music servers. Very cool stuff but not nearly as cool as my A500!!!!

November 4, 2010 at 4:18 pm

(3) Chuck :

I was a Heathkit enthusiast building many kits in the 1960s and 1970s. Many fond memories of burning my fingers with a soldering iron at 2 AM. I was sorry see them go away but always wondered what happened to them.
Chuck

November 4, 2010 at 4:39 pm

(4) Rick Jordan :

My dad’s store Key Electronics located in Arlington, VA was the 1st retail Heathkit dealer. @ that time the kits were not available as factory wired so I assembled many, many kits for customers and also for his TV advertising. Heath had all kinds of kits, test equipment, hi-fi components, ham equipment, CB radios, scanners and even large screen TVs.

The biggest handicap for the kit builder was soldering, many builders was unaware of how-to-solder so we actually held classes for this. Also there a couple of other kit companies including Eico, Paco, plus the Knight kits from Allied Radio. But it all ended in the 80s’ with the demise of the USA CE manufacturers and the rapid increase of electronic components built in the Orient.
A very interesting era for electronics.

November 4, 2010 at 4:54 pm

(5) stereos :

Buzz,

You’re right, Dynakit, Scott and HK had kits, too. I wish kits were still around, they taught me a lot about electronics. Gary

November 4, 2010 at 4:59 pm

(6) stereos :

Ed, Your experience sounds like mine, except I wired both output filter capacitors backwards on my amp – I didn’t hear anything but generated a lot of smoke. Heathkit also fixed my amp, but I think it cost me some money. I hear good things about ReQuest, and I’m trying to add content about music servers to the site. I’ll have to find out more about ReQuest. Gary

November 4, 2010 at 5:00 pm

(7) stereos :

Soldering (and preventing injury while doing it) is definitely a learned skill. Gary

November 4, 2010 at 8:02 pm

(8) Barry Lewis :

Being into Ham Radio when I was 11 building anything was a trick and a treat. The directions were not that clear. My Dad and I got our licenses together and worked on receivers, transmitters and other antenna tuners which in the late 50’s and 60’s was the only way you could afford to be in the hobby unless you had money and could buy a Collins rig. That build it erra left when the computer not Atari and Commodore exploded in the 90’s.
not many kids learn about circuits or resistors until high school. nice memories….

November 4, 2010 at 8:26 pm

(9) Julian :

I sold equipment in a large “discount” appliance store in the DC area (Sun Radio), and they carried Scott Equipment. We had no idea that they sold kits until their rep came into the store and showed us their complete line.

At 50% off retail the deal was irresistable, and all that was needed was the soldering iron.

Thanks for the memories

November 5, 2010 at 12:23 pm

(10) Mark Miller :

Those other kit builders and I remember both the fun and occasional frustration we had putting these things together, plugging them in and then having them (usually) work.

I assembled many a Dynakit as well as goodies from Heath and Scott. They all had their pros and cons in terms of parts packaging and directions, but the one thing that still stands out in my mind from 40+ years ago is my wife yelling at me from the bedroom at 2AM saying “come to bed, you’ve got work tomorrow”.

November 18, 2010 at 5:56 pm

(11) Rick :

I did build several Heathkit projects but my most enjoyable kit building experience was with Hafler. Built amps, pre amps and tuners with great satisfaction.