Heathkit AR-1500A (c. 1974–1975)

Almost everything known about the Heathkit AR-1500A comes from Heathkit's own advertising in 1974 and 1975. The Archive hasn't turned up independent test reports, pricing, or production figures. What survives is the marketing lineage and the claims Heathkit chose to make.

Heathkit presented the AR-1500A as the third milestone in a celebrated receiver line. A "Milestones in Stereo Superiority" ad in HiFI-Stereo (June 1974, p.94) listed the AR-15 (1967), the AR-1500, and the AR-1500A as a succession of landmark kits. The headline of the AR-1500A ads themselves - "We've improved upon the Classic Receiver" - made the pitch explicit. The technical claims, per an ad in High Fidelity (August 1974, p.21), were two computer-designed five-pole LC filters and a four-gang front end. Together they gave FM selectivity better than 90 dB with 1.8 µV sensitivity. The same ad pointed to outputs for two separate speaker pairs, one of the things, as Heathkit put it, the specs wouldn't show you.

It was, above all, a kit. Heathkit's marketing stressed that anyone could build it. By October 1975 an ad in High Fidelity (October 1975, p.39) promised the AR-1500A was even easier to build, and the company's 1975 catalog leaned on its step-by-step assembly manuals for kit-form stereo and 4-channel components alike. Beyond that, the documented record is thin. No independent review, no confirmed price, and no production run figures have surfaced in the Archive's collection.

Type: stereo receiver, kit form
FM sensitivity: 1.8 µV (claimed)
FM selectivity: better than 90 dB (claimed)
Tuning circuitry: two five-pole LC filters, 4-gang front end
Outputs: provision for two separate speaker pairs