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Vintage equipment you wished you owned.

I am still trying get hold of a Maplin 225WRMS bi-polar amp from circa 1980.

I built one back in 1980 for a disco and used it for many years.
It was very loud and sounded great.

I was lucky enough to get a couple of Maplin 50WRMS amps from 1980 and got them both working. I managed to get some of the old transistors off ebay.
I( listen to the 50 watt amp module most nights as it sounds so good.

Yamaha B-2 amp.
Yamaha NS-1000 speakers.

Marantz 10B, EMT 927, Garrard 301 w/grease bearing, JBL 2390 horn and lens... :D

When I was five or six (1958), I "helped" my dad build a Heathkit W-3AM amp and WA-P2 preamp. The speaker was a huge locally-made 3-way corner unit. Yes, it was mono, but it could rock the house. It was beautiful.
Bill

In the 1960's my parents used to have a really old Radiogram.
It had a magic eye tuning on it.
I spent many an hour going through all the radio stations.
It could pick up quite a few European stations too.

I wish I still had my old Predicta TV. Had to sell it when I moved. :(

When I was a kid, I used to go around the neighborhood every Monday night to 'trash-pick' old radios and TV's, much to my parents' chagrin. I would then take them apart and play with the more interesting parts.

One unit stands out in my memory, and I wish I knew what it was, as I bet it would be worth a ton of money today. It was an upright console in a very fancy wooden case, with radio and record player. The record player was driven by a huge synchronous motor with a mechanical 'flying weights' governor. The record player must have been a very early electronic model, as the tone arm was hinged at the headshell, just like the old acoustic players. And...the record player also had a switch to change from 'play' to 'record'! Imagine cutting your own records at home.

The speaker had a cone of wood veneer, instead of the more typical paper pulp material (I think it also had an electromagnet instead of a permanent magnet). The internal electronics (all tube of course) were on several large chassis, and all metal was plated in a dark bronze color.

I suspect this must have been a top-of-the-line unit in its day. Does my description gives any clues as to who made it? Sure wish I still had it!:confused:

I've seen a few old record player/cutters, but don't remember one with an arm like you describe.