confused on Heath "quality"

[Bill Crowell]

Man, you guys are confusing me.  A few months ago I was trying to sell my
old, defunct SB-230 amplifier because the 8873 blew up and was either
unobtainable or too expensive to replace.  None of you guys would offer me
more than $100.00 for this amplifier, for which I paid $630.00 in 1977 and
which was still in pristine condition, except for the blown tube.  You all
said it was a piece of junk because Heath didn't design the grid drive
circuit right, didn't provide enough cooling, the thermal shutdown mechanism
didn't kick in soon enough, they used the wrong type of tube, etc., etc.
And even the guy who offered that $100.00 wanted me to pay the shipping, so
I'd wind up with about $50.00.  And I found out later that he was going to
fix the amplifier, and sell it to some Europeans after converting it for
6-meter use, for about $2,000.00.  So it seems that Heath gear is really
good when you want to "sell high", but really lousy when you want to "buy
low".  Am I beginning to understand?  (Incidentally, I was able to trade the
amp off to a local ham who's going to rebuild it completely.  I got some
really good Kenwood gear in trade.  It works perfectly, unlike the Heath
stuff.)
Oh, and to those of you who suggested I give my crappy old Heath gear to you
rather than complaining about it: that wouldn't be any fun!  I'm going to
put it in a pile on the patio, pour some barbecue starter fluid on it, and
torch it.  Much more satisfying!
In closing, would you like me to tell you about the problems I had with my
DX-100B?  How about the AA-100 amplifier whose circuit boards melted and
couldn't be fixed?  Maybe my HW-2036A which had synthesizer whine only about
10db down from the audio, which could never be cured despite several mods
installed by Heath?  I think we have the makings of a really great new
thread here!  Bill Crowell, N6AYJ





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