The McGee Radio thread got me recalling these folks, they were several years earlier IIRC.
Like McGee, these folks had a great catalog, not speakers but electronic surplus. They marketed a few kits too - Nixie clocks and such.
Like McGee, these folks had a great catalog, not speakers but electronic surplus. They marketed a few kits too - Nixie clocks and such.
A blast from the past, yes! Electronic surplus has drastically gone down with the offshoring of component fabrication. Possibly better parts inventory control may also be a contributing factor; I’m not knowledgeable but perhaps the rise of Digikey and Mouser has helped mfg. dial in more precise ordering quantities of parts? Off shoring has also results in loss of good US jobs as well.
I bought some stuff from BnF back in the day (mid-late 70's), including some early GaAsP LEDs and a transformer I'm using in one of my current amplifiers.
Short for Boniface and Fink, maybe? I bought some surplus drivers from them back around 1980, and proceeded to build elaborate but terrible 3-way speakers. Tweeters and midranges were a mistake, but the 10" "40 oz magnet" woofers turned out to be rather good, after box modeling software existed and I was able to easily compare them with other options. Of course, by then the foam surrounds had rotted, but I threw good money after bad, refoamed one, and it made an excellent car subwoofer.
I shouldn't date myself like this, but I'll comment that I remember them and ordered a lot from them also. I still have some of the slider pots I bought for building one of the graphic equalizer projects from an old Popular Electronics (yes, I am that old) and some analog synthesizer modules I was building at the time. And some 10-365pf variable capacitors with the gears attached to the shaft for some shortwave radio projects.
Man, those were the days ....
Should I admit I still have the calculator I built from a PolyPaks kit?
Naah, that's too embarassing
Man, those were the days ....
Should I admit I still have the calculator I built from a PolyPaks kit?
Naah, that's too embarassing
I'm not ashamed to date myself (I turn 70 next month) - I bought a lot of stuff from PolyPaks in the day.