So I was in Des Moines Iowa a few weeks back taking care of funeral arrangements for a relative. While there I stopped into a place called Skylabs Audio in a kind of eclectic shopping area in Valley Junction, a vintage audio dealer. The owner makes dozens of videos on YouTube so I thought what the hell, it was Saturday, check it out. Very small, a one showroom operation with a small collection of stuff. The shoppers were mainly young and I spoke to a few, basically looking for their first stereo system(kudos to them) and buying new and used records. They told me that there's not to much choice in Des Moines for real audio equipment What surprised me was they had playing a Yamaha 2020 receiver and Advent speakers. My older brother has these in college and I remember back then how much I loved his system. Today? I don't know, $1500.00 for the receiver and I don't remember the speaker's price but you're talking about two grand and change. I could definitely do much better today with that amount.
What's up with the price of Vintage equipment?
The reason I am asking is, I sold stereo equipment in the 1970's and 1980's and some of the stuff I see selling for big bucks today were not well thought of during the 70's and 80's and lots of it sounded pretty mediocre (think Class D amps with amazingly low specs like .00007% distortion or other such nonsense). I won't get into brand names, but just by the era you should be able to tell.
As a quick aside, it annoys the hell out of me that I'm at an age that 1970's and 1980's equipment is considered Vintage. Was it really that long ago? Rats.
Anyway, again there were some really good sounding stuff back then, and the price today may be high, but it's still good sounding stuff and worth it. But I see prices today for 40-60 year old equipment that I sold back then because it was heavily advertised, popular/known name and design (and sometimes gave me a good commission), but not because it sounded good.
So I am assuming some of this high price vintage stuff is due only to nostalgia (both in looks and sound) and collecting fun, not for listening compared to today's stuff.
I'm open to hearing other opinions, especially from someone who does like vintage (mostly 1970-80's) stuff, listens to it, and what brands they have.
- ...
- 52 posts total
@moto_man I had that Phillips turntable. Loved it. Besides the cool lighted buttons, the arm on it was actually pretty good. Although, once the electrics went on it, it was not worth fixing. I had a friend who had the Phase Linear stuff back in the 70's, along with a Emprire turntable. Talk about lust...... I would agree the 70's stuff can't match today's technology. |
@deadhead1000 On flip side, I’ve had my parents 70’s album collection for decades and finally assembled a system two years ago. I tried various new gear but went with good, all original 70’s gear (except stylus), not SOTA but holds its own. More importantly, new gear is no match to me when visualizing my Dad getting up to put on his favourite T.Rex album on gear he would have used…time travel is priceless. |
- 52 posts total