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What is this Heathkit, Bell Howell ??

Galaxie65

Galaxie65

Always looking for new gear to try
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I picked up some interesting pieces today from a guy in my area. I paid 50 bucks just because I liked the interesting look. I'm not really concerned with the investment, but more along the lines of what they are? I tried looking them up and seem to come across other models but not these type. So below is the pictures of them. They had no cases since they apparently were mounted into a wall in a nice house. This is what I can find on the units

1) Bell and Howell FM-FM stereo solid state tuner
Tag inside says " Heath " Model AJD-15-2 Series NO. 01704

2) Bell and Howell Quadraphonic Amplifier
Stamped on back " Heath Company Model ADD-210 320 watts "

Both Units work and they are a fun to toy with. The amp on the back has front channels and back channels. So I'm interested if anyone can shed some light on the units, thanks!
 

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I am guessing the Bell and Howell branded Heathkit was a project provided with a "Bell and Howell Schools" correspondence course curriculum. I should have info on the Heathkit morph of that quad amp in a catalog... somewhere :-)


The receiver is evocative of, but not identical to, a Heathkit AR-15.
attachment.php

AR-15.jpg


FWIW, I once found a Bell & Howell branded Heathkit oscilloscope at my favorite vintage electronics emporium :-)
 
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Those were both from a DeVry / Bell & Howell Electronics correspondence course. The course was offered in the early 70's. I personally helped a friend through that course and constructed some of the equipment. That tuner is fantastic for the day. The amp though completely different design was comparable to the Marantz 4140 at about 25 watts per channel and had a decent SQ decoder.
I remember listening to Wish You Were Here when it was new on that amp and a pair of Advents and ADS L500s.
 
I was wondering what it was comparable to, I saw the ad-15-2 but mine has the ajd so it's killin me. I was told that amp put out 85watts, but was feeling around 25-30 based on being safe lol. I'm really considering fixing it up with a case or two since they are both naked! There is a TON of functions so I'm still learning them all, ohh well! I really appreciate the information and hope that I can get more! :banana:
 
d'oh, it's a tuner, I am so sorry! The contempoerary tuner from Heathkit was the AJ-15 (i've got one in the basement, actually) but it is (as best I recall) AM-FM. I don't think that there was an FM-only morph from Heathkit.

I'll get back to you on that...
 
Well hardy it really picks up nicely the FM stations in my basement, I was blown away when I noticed it was a FM only tuner. The Quadraphonic amp is what really interests me, never seen insides like this. It's also interesting to think that students from the 70s were building these machines at DeVry!? I think I might need to deoxit a little, the volume adjust is a little stiff to rotate.

We shall see what the outcome of these pieces are, hopefully we can figure out what the J stands for and what the true output of the amp is. I was speaking to guy at work and he swears it was closer to 75 wpc @ 8ohms, however he can be a little :banana: when it comes to memory :D
 
I did a little more searching, seems you stirred up a nostalgia bug, and you may want to search for AA-2004 or AA-2010. Your amp, IIRC, had the advanced SQ Decoder chip, by RCA or TI??, so it would be more like the AA-2010. Oh, and I think your model is AAD-210.
Somebody somewhere must still have the assembly manuals for yours that came with the Bell & Howell course. I pitched all of the ones I had 16 years ago. Who knew that someone would be looking for this stuff....
 
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Hi - I just posted a video highlighting a restoration I did on this tuner. Thought there might be some interest. BTW, I used my AR-15 assembly manual to do the alignment.

 
Very nice work. It looks beautiful. My quadraphonic system is comprised of Heathkit -29 series amplifiers/tuner and an AA-2010 quad amplifier.

And, I just won a Bell and Howell AAD-210 quad amplifier on eBay, which is the equivalent of the Heathkit AA-2010 except it has an SQ decoder in it instead of the universal (equivalent of the Electro-Voice EVX-44) decoder.

Everybody was dancing around the power output. It's rated at 35 watts per channel but is really about 50 watts, according to various reviews of the -29 amplifiers of the day. The amplifiers in these quad amps are pretty much the equivalent of the -29 amplifiers. They just use Motorola output transistors instead of 2N-3055's.

And yes, I am aware of the age of this thread and last post. :D

Doug
 
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