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Kits
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A Brief History of Kits BACK IN THE DINOSAUR DAYS... Kits have been with us almost as long as audio equipment. In the '50s we had Dynaco, Eico and other companies making some very nice tubed kits. With the notable exception of Heathkit there was little memorable activity after transistors took hold in the mid to late '60s. Then in the mid-'70s along came David Hafler with an incredibly successful line of kits that defined the genre' in the '80s. After the sale of The David Hafler Company to Rockford, as in Rockford-Fosgate, the kit side of the business declined or died of neglect. Since then no single company has had the the impact of Hafler. The reasons for the soft kit market are more complex than any one sentence can express, so grab your espresso and we'll chat about it. Why We Build and Love Them Accomplishment, pride in a hobby and, hey, saving some bucks are all good reasons to build kits. It has allowed audiophiles for many years to move up a class in performance compared to factory built products of the same price. There is an almost inexplicable thrill which comes from creating something from a bag of parts. One evening it is scattered all over a table with your soldering iron, pliers, screwdrivers, etc. and then the next night it is pouring forth beautiful music. You're smiling broadly like a new parent. Twenty years from now you may still be enjoying that project which took such a brief time. Twenty years from now will you still remember the time you surfed the Web for an evening, dined out at another forgettable restaurant, made it to level 7 in a long-forgotten Nintendo game or watched yet another 'mating in the wild' animal adventure. In this age, when we talk a lot about 'building memories', we seem to have lost all ideas and originality about how to do it. Every time you look at that great sounding component you built with your own hands your mind will go back to that time spent on that project and what was going on in your life at that time. It's not the only way to build a memory, but you CAN do it with a soldering iron. Why We're Not Doing It As Often Hmmm! We claim we have such busy lives. Gotta take the kids to soccer, gotta return the video rentals, gotta go play a round of golf with people you can barely stand to get that raise, gotta see what MTV has on their web site, gotta see what some hot actress wore to a tired old awards ceremony, ad nauseam and, ok, you're getting the idea. Of course, you have busy lives. The last time I went to Blockbuster Video you were all in front of me at the checkout counter. Nerds? Are you really a nerd, because you have the skill and know-how to build or modify a piece of electronics equipment. Pocket Protectors are optional. If you think you just can't do it, you don't know what you can do until you try! The young seem to think that having intelligence is a bad thing. Can you be cool and smart at the same time? If you are young, trust me. If you build a piece of stereo equipment and let your friends know it, they may poke a bit of fun at you for being an egghead. When they leave your home, having heard some outstanding sound, they'll think about how cool it is that you built something that brings pleasure to everyone who hears it. When they go home and listen to that putrid Home Theatre System, they'll wonder why it sounds so cluttered and unreal when your little two-channel system keeps their feet tapping. That little smirk they gave you will surely turn into looks of admiration. Be your own person! Look at your parents, being cool doesn't last forever. Pride in your accomplishments will last. How many of those cool friends would trade places with all-time Techno-Geek Bill Gates who founded Microsoft? Now, The Important stuff We believe in kits. They make you believe in you and they're just plain fun. Musical Concepts has a busy 'drawing board'. We have several kit projects in the planning stages. These include complete preamp kits of both tube and transistor persuasion. Our current plans are for very simple switching and a modest number of inputs. Do you really want a balance control? We are considering using the same chassis for all preamps to keep costs down to a minimum. Maybe a machined faceplate would be an option to further hold down the price. We believe that you want the most performance for the dollar spent. We believe that you are tired of beautiful, inch-thick faceplates on rancid sounding $10,000 preamps. We plan for the best of both worlds - an unadorned, incredible sounding, basic preamp that can be dressed up with optional flourishes if you desire. Did we mention the extremely powerful and gutsy power amp? We are getting a start on that project. How about your input on our projects? What would you like to see us produce? Did we mention the 24-channel tube mixing console? Just kidding!
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