What do the statistics say about the age of Audiophiles and the replacement rate?

I have had a very similar discussion / debate with many others in the ’vintage’ audiophile community... you know, the ones that have storage lockers filled with 50 - 60 year old equipment and won’t part with any of it because it is an "investment"...

Mark my words. In the next 10 - 20 years the vintage branch of the HiFi market will dry up faster than that firewood you have stacked up next to your garage. And the vast majority of these ’investments’ won’t be worth the cost of having 1-800-GOT JUNK come and take it all away (which is what your kids are going to do after you are gone...) And I would think similar to the modern audiophile industry as well.

Look at the ’musclecar’ market on a large scale to see what the future holds. Yeah, if you have a fully restored Hemi Superbird or a 70 Chevelle SS LS6 you are still golden... but that 1969 Nova with the 350 that cost you 20K to do a full-on rotisserie resto in 2015..? You aren’t even going to recoup that 5 -year old restoration bill anymore... in fact, you would be luck to get back HALF that cost today.

Now, in fairness, there will ALWAYS be at least some demand and interest in the most high end and rarest audio equipment, whether of the vintage or modern variety (or classic musclecars, for that matter). And there will always be high net worth individuals willing to spend a premium in order to acquire said equipment. But all those folks with the Marantz receivers and the 1980 Klipsch Heresy speakers and the JBL 100s, etc. who think they are sitting on a goldmine of ever increasing value...

IMO the time to sell and get what you can is fast approaching. Holding for longer than maybe another 5 years will almost certainly bring no better than current prices - and quite possibly you will have missed the peak, and maybe even less than today’s pricing.

There just won’t be as many people interested in this stuff anymore. Period.

@mylogic  there's some logic behind the comparison as:

 - Classic Car enthusiasts by and large grew up when these vehicles were actually being produced and have memories and experiences with these vehicles; young people who were born after the muscle car heyday have much less interest as they simply don't have any memories or experiences with these things:

 - It was a period of time more conducive to these types of vehicles in terms of lower car prices, lower fuel prices, relaxed emissions standards, etc. Driving for pleasure / relaxation was much more of a thing than it is today, with $3 a gallon gas, etc;

- These types of cars at that time were a little more likely to be seen as something to recreate and get pleasure from, as opposed to simply utilitarian vehicles to get from point A to point B. Many younger people today simply view a car in that utilitarian aspect only - and many have no great desire to even own ANY car at all (hence the rise and popularity of services like Uber)...

Now, change it over to higher end audio products...

 - Audio enthusiasts by and large grew up when component audio equipment was  actually being mass produced and have memories and experiences with this type of equipment, their parents or relatives had it, or they saw it commonly in electronics stores, even department stores;

 - Audio components were most popular in a period of time when people listened to music by buying physical music media and then needing equipment to actually use the media, vs. streaming and apps like Pandora or Spotify today;

 - Good audio equipment was a little more likely to be seen as something to recreate with and get pleasure from, relaxing and listening to music was a bonafide leisure activity, as opposed to today where so many simply use more utilitarian devices such as cellphones and headphones, etc. to listen to music while simultaneously doing other things (working, exercising, etc.)...

See how that works..?