NY Diary (19-6): What We Keep, Heathkit
Talk DIY: Kit Building

Today, at the library, I chanced onto a book, What We Keep (do visit the official site; it tells you everything about the book, which I am sure will have a sequel, as they are still soliciting stories). I could not stop flipping through it, and read the vignettes on why people treasure certain objects. I took it home.

The most amazing thing is how resonating and moving many of the stories are. We come from different walks of life, different countries, yet our hearts operate in the same way. The only difference is, the ones curated and quoted here are much more eloquently expressed.

As you can well imagine, when it comes to really personal things, audio is not worth a mention. So, I was delighted when I read one of the entires mentioned Heathkit (link). Here, the daughter built the kit with her father. I, as a kit builder, can fancy building one with my son.

A word on Heathkit. The book actually mentions Steve Jobs of Apple credited kit building with his growth. Also, I have several Heathkits. In my opinion, Heathkits may not have been the most reliable due to cost constraints, but they were almost all great sounding. I still own the W-5M monoblocks, which sound great with KT66. They all need some rebuilding but their sonics are not to be questioned.