The sweet spot for home turntable enthusiasts on a budget seems to be the $200 mark. This might be the best of the bunch.
One can only imagine the sake-fueled club hopping that led to the development of the Seiko Frequency drum machine watch.
Heathkit's Woodgrain Pong Kit
By James Grahame
In the 1970s, Heathkit produced a bewildering lineup of TV, hi-fi and computer kits. It was a time when kit-based home electronics still made sense. The components were well suited for hand assembly, and trading a few evenings in return for saving a few dollars was appealing to do it yourselfers.
The GD-1380 was Heathkit's answer to the video game craze that swept the nation in 1976. It incorporated the popular AY-3-8500 pong chip, used by dozens of manufacturers. The machine offered three variations of 2-player Pong, along with a single player practice mode and two shooting games. All in black and white, of course.
Since it was targeted at technically savvy customers, the system didn't include an RF modulator to connect to a TV antenna input. Instead, it used separate component and audio outputs. Back then, this was practically unheard of. The only equipment with component input was expensive lab and broadcast gear. However, the company provided instructions for popping open various Heathkit TVs and attaching the component and audio cables to the right spots on the input board. This limited compatibility to Heathkit sets, but reduced the cost and complexity of the kit.
Today, this sort of hands-on fun is largely out of the question, thanks to tiny surface mount components and increasingly small and sophisticated digital designs.
