Sunday, April 08, 2012

Death of an Old Friend

Yesterday, I lost an old friend. I had known him for almost 34 years. He had served me faithfully for all those years. And just like that, he was gone. He was fine in the morning, delivering Car Talk with his old familiar clarity. But when I returned in the afternoon, there was only silence. There was nothing I could do to revive him. I guess after 34 years it was time to let go. What am I talking about? Why, my old Advent Model 400 FM radio.


First a little history. Back in 1978, I was just starting graduate school in chemistry at Cornell and in need of a radio for my lab space. I had acquired something of a poor man's golden ear by that time and so I was looking for good sound for not a lot of money. So, being in graduate school, I did some research. The Advent Model 400 was a mono, not stereo, FM radio that consisted of a little receiver unit and a separate speaker. It was somewhat reminiscent of the KLH Model 20 stereo, probably because it was designed by Henry Kloss, the stereo pioneer who had gone on to start Advent and introduced the famous Advent Loudspeaker. Anyhow, all the reviews said that it was probably better, in the price range, to have one good speaker than two crappy ones and almost all agreed that Kloss had designed the perfect radio, with no more and no less than was absolutely necessary.

At that time, I had worked for a couple of years as a chemist and so I had saved a little money before going back to school. Early in the fall of 1978, I still had some of the money left, having not yet blown it all on beer. So I sprang the $139 for the Advent Model 400. Back then it was still a good deal of money for a radio, especially one with only one speaker. Remember, we were just getting over the quadraphonic binge of a few years earlier. However, everyone who heard it agreed that it sounded better than their crappy stereos with 2 speakers. I've kept it for all these years and it has served me well. It has spent the last 21 years on the shelf in the garage, blasting out NPR on Saturdays as I puttered around the garage or as I grilled hamburgers for supper.


I haven't figured out what I'll do with it yet. Maybe I'll take it apart and see if I can figure out what's wrong with it. Is it the speaker or the tuner/amp that died? I can get the electronic schematics on line along with some other info. Maybe I'll get out the volt meter and do a little diagnostic work. Maybe a simple repair with the soldering iron will bring it back. Or maybe I'll just say a little prayer for a dearly departed, faithful old friend and bury it in the back yard.

5 comments:

Cousin Robin said...

Sorry about the radio. What is the puppet looking thing on your PEG board, purple, red and yellow with black felt hair?

Anonymous said...

i love the story!!!..i would say VERY expensive for 1978...have more to ask but i will call you sometime..lately been thinking about doing just that
al

Derek said...

Whatever happened to this old 400? Were you able to get it up and running to please the ears once more?

philip said...

Alas, read on to see it's fate

http://pfh.blogspot.com/2012/05/last-post-on-my-old-radio-i-never-got.html

Derek said...

Oh shame! At least the Tivoli is a worthy successor.