CU Medallion [66630]
TigerPulse: 100%
Posts: 33475
Joined: 12/3/03
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The post about "amplifying" Tiger Rag got me thinking about
Oct 29, 2022, 9:23 AM
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Tugalooriver's post about losing all his earthly possessions in the house fire. As recounted, I had a similar experience, albeit at a much younger age, I was 22 when my parent's home burned in 1977. One of the possessions I had all but forgotten about that was incinerated was my very first "real" stereo, one that wasn't a Sears/Roebuck Santa special. "Amplified" is what jogged the memory.
Up until 1980, when it was finally liquidated (per Wickedpedia), there existed a company named Dynaco. They sold stereo components in assembled form as amplifiers and preamplifiers, but their main niche was that they sold these same items as "kits", with all the parts, that could be soldered and screwed together by the consumer, at a considerable savings. I'm not talking about just adding a handle or a case here and there, I mean every last diode, resistor, capacitor, EVERYTHING, required being built on a blank circuit board by the consumer.
Something like that wouldn't fly these days, but it really appealed to my wallet limited 15 year old self. Already having grown up on the farm, wrenching on all manner of cars, trucks and tractors, I was brimming with the overconfidence and cockiness of youth. A whole lot of that instantly dissipated when I opened those two boxes of a dizzying array and number of small electronic doodads. One box contained a PAT-5, Dynaco's latest stereo preamplifier kit. The other contained the STS-120, their latest, and first "solid state" non-tube stereo power amplifier. It put out a true 60 watts RMS per channel, which is pretty good, even by today's standards.
As I say, seeing these boxes opened up with literally over a thousand small parts to be assembled was suddenly daunting. But, Dynaco provided VERY detailed assembly instructions, as you might imagine. The last thing a company that makes a living selling assembly kits wants is dissatisfied customers, who can't get any use out of their product. So, I tentatively dove in, commandeering my mom's big dining room table for the ~3 weeks it took me to assemble these two items. Unlike these days, I followed those instructions rigorously, to the letter, and took my time to make sure everything was just as it should be.
Near panic ensued at one point, when I discovered I was one resistor short. But, a trip to an electronics repair shop in Orangeburg netted an equivalent, although different looking, replacement. Finally, after over three careful weeks, it was all assembled, and I made the pilgrimage upstairs to my bedroom to hook up all the cables and wires necessary to incorporate my existing turntable and speakers. Huge anticipation awaited when I dropped the needle onto the first album, to see if these things would actually produce sound. I still remember the first ever song, Linda Ronstadt's "Long, Long Time".
Compared to my old "Sears Special", the sound that burst forth from those speakers was so pure, so powerful, that I had to "WHOOP" with joy when the playback began without a hitch. Momma heard me downstairs. Anyone who has ever taken on something that was on, or beyond the edge of their comfort zone knows the feeling of accomplishment when you really pull it off, and everything works as it should.
That first "self assembled" stereo was just one of the many things that was lost in that house fire. So, I do know, at least to some extent, just what Tug is feeling still, right now. He hasn't been on here posting, except to finally let us know what had happened to him. I KNOW, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that there are many on here that would render any help we could, if we but knew how to do so. If any on here know him personally, please try to get a list of "needed" items, I would be one of the first in line to procure some of them and send them along. Tigernet is a community, a CLEMSON community, and we should help our own.
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