[R-390] R-390A: Soul of the Machine

[Mark Richards]

I am sitting here soaking in the wonderful sounds of a Real Radio 
Receiver.  Having fixed most of the issues in my sad-case of an R-390A 
(Stewart-Warner S/N 2786) the tubes glow and the signals now flow.  I am 
like an eager child, opening the holiday gift before the sun rises.  I 
have the wonderful and esteemed members of this list; all those whose 
inspired work made such miracles as this so possible, to thank.

Working on the R-390A I have reflected upon this concept: Soul of the 
Machine.  Today's modern, ultra-compact, digitized, flat-screen 
flat-world  E-devices, laden with useless facade and equally-useless 
features, lack the heft, presence, and character of an earlier time, 
where electronic wonders actually took a few minutes to come to life.  
Those 30 dramatic seconds from dark to signal are a deeply satisfying 
pause... this receiver's way of saying, "I have something worth waiting 
for".  And, she's right.  Her individual character, warm tone, and 
satisfying rich sound are all made possible through the magic of that 
which our modernity lacks: a beating heart.  This machine has soul.  In 
her presence, the false and vacuous melt into the goo from which they 
were molded.  Tonight there is the R-390A, and nothing else.

There's more work to be done on this old and venerable Real Radio 
Receiver, but tonight I am taking in her wonders as band after band 
speaks in ways the transistorized, processed, and homogenized modern 
gear simply can never achieve.

I am, to put it plainly, in love.

/K1MGY