How about those Aluminum tweeters that you would “add” to your system, they would sit on top of your speakers, they were the sheet.
First outboard Equalizer I ever bought was at the shack, had to buy it in payments on layaway.
But when we had Class Day at the end of senior year, they all came to me for the sound system and I delivered with the help of that EQ and a JVC Quad receiver and 6 large speakers.
Those old Mach 1 speakers were not bad, didn’t own them as the JBL’s and old EPI’s were the rage then and that is what we rolled with.
I’ve been a customer since around 1980 when Leo was still alive. I bought my Beckman DVM’s, vacuum tubes, Weller soldering irons, tips, and stations, etc from them over the years. Did you know they moved from that location on Robbins Lane to a much larger space right behind the old location?.
BTW, I live around 6 miles from there.
Yep… I too miss radio hack. Use to buy all kinds of electronic parts there, sure they were not the cheapest way to source parts… but when you ONLY NEED ONE 47k resistor, and you need it NOW to finish a project.
When I was a kid I had battery club memberships to two stores… every month I had a couple new 9V batteries to power my hand held electronic games.
Wow, I didn’t realize how many other old geezers there were hangin’ out here. Yeah, the world has changed, not all of it for the better. I certainly can’t see well enough to solder SMD stuff. I have boxes and boxes of parts in my basement ( all antiquated), and yeah, it was nice to drop in when all you needed was a fuse for your multimeter, or soldering tips, or …… I miss the old days.
Worked there first coupla years of college, and there was this father/daughter “team” (60s/40s or so, both quite adult) who had quite literally a stack of BOTM cards, each, who’d quite unabashedly come into the store probably every other day just to get their “monthly” battery. Never bought a thing, though.
I’m not sure whereabouts you are in the “left coast of Michigan”, but I see there is a MicroCenter in Detroit. It’s where I now have to go if I want any soldering equipment. They actually have quite a nice selection.
And I do miss Radio Shack. Not sure where I’m going to get my 15-Amp ceramic fuses when my dish washer decides to stop working. I probably go through about 2 of those per year. Everytime someone decides to let the garbage disposal clog up, the dishwasher tries to drain. When it can’t drain through the disposal, the fuse blows. Used to be my favorite store as a kid. I’d buy the CB radio crystals for my huge walkie talkie we used in the Boy Scouts. And I dreamed of saving my money to buy one of those robotic arms to play chess with. I might still have a Tandy computer in my parent’s basement somewhere too.
Yes, I miss Radio Shack. Brings back memories when you had a battery card where you can get a free battery. Use to love that when I was a kid back in the early 80’s Also, I love the Realistic name brand. Cassette decks, recording tapes, etc… I wished I kept the Transformer Toy named Astro Magnum AKA Black Shockwave. That guy is going for decent bread if still sealed mint in box.
I wish that I knew Radio Shack when it was good. Ever since high school and college I’ve gone to Radio Shack as a last ditch effort for something electronic and I have been let down nearly every time. The only time they had something I needed was a replacement 3.5mm male jack and it was $7 for something I can buy several of for $1 online. I’ve never found anything useful for soldering or potentiometers in values I needed. I did grab a few LEDs one time. There’s really no stores that I know of near me that supply soldering supplies beyond cheap irons.
As a computer enthusiast I would kill to have a microcenter near me. Almost every black Friday I contemplate driving a few hours out to one for PC deals.
When I worked there, whether someone asked about a BOTM card or if I wanted to give a good customer a card unsolicited, I’d use hushed tones or even whisper, sometimes pull them aside, and slip them a card surreptitiously as if I were asking them to join a Secret Society™. Sometimes even caution them to keep it to themselves, not show the card around.
I had one of those. One free carbon zinc battery per month
Growing up in Los Angeles in the ’60s and ’70s RS was part of my life.
I don’t miss Radio Shack one bit. Most of what they sold was not very good. By the mid 70’s it had already started the long decline. Resistors only came in 100 pack of mixed values. I remember stores full of junk toys.
I moved to San Diego in 1982 and discovered Mouser Electronics. Their main warehouse was in Santee. I could order off the catalog and collect from the will call counter if I didn’t want to wait. I bought my Beckman 310 DMM from Mouser or Fry’s. I bought my Weller WTCPN from Mouser. 37 years later I still use both of them.
From 1982 until we left the US in 2008, I stuck with Mouser, Digikey and MCM.
Here in rural Wales, I use RS, Farnell and occasionally Mouser. There is a Maplin store about 20 miles away. Been there a handful of times. Maplin is what RS should have become. Maybe. America is a different market. A Cellphone only RS wouldn’t have lasted a day here.
DSE - Dick Smith Electronics. went bankrupt at the beginning of 2017 taking alot of un-redemable gift cards from christmas sales with em i might ad.
over the past 2 decades or so they went from my easily accessible childhood electronics shop selling components in isle long collections and electronics kits to a rip of of cheap imported rebranded Chinese electronics.
the only other shop to take DSE place in my area is Jaycar, an hours drive, and they seem to be slowly heading in the same direction,.
i haven’t been into Altronics in a while but there online shop shows similar. roughly an hours drive too
not to many options for western Australia considering the small population and isolation, so online shopping it is, pity, i loved looking over component and project housing boxes trying to come up with ideas to fill em with what pocket money i had.
wonder what the next gens will beg their mothers to drive them to on the weekend?
Edit. Not to mention Tandy electronics, also long gone.
Yep, Floppy was running under CP/M but could not afford it.
It was before a Commodore VIC20 with its huge Floppy drive and right after the great AMSTRAD CPC464 / 664 :disguised_face:
