What's up with the price of Vintage equipment?

You are completely right... I even buy some and sold them back...

@mahgister I can still hear the grainy transistor sound of those "stereos!"
My comment had nothing to do with price, and everything to do with construction. Often, the sound passed through so many potentiometers and tone shaping cheap capacitors that later manufacturers removed or defeated tine controls and extraneous functions in an effort to improve sound.

Here thats my point ...

Obviously, not all failed and not all succeeded. My own gear is notably on the inexpensive side but high on the construction and attention to detail side. Apologies if feelings were hurt, or my remarks were interpreted as generalized. I’m sure there are many exceptions, your Sansui included. ;-)

No need to any apology i only want to precise that generalization are always only that : generalization...

we understand better now each other and thats was my point ...

I apologize to seems rude in a way ...

but between friend we can understand each other ...

I thank you for your understanding ...

my best from the heart ...

 

Generalization do no good...

my Sansui Alpha being mid-fi at best is not even wrong nor right ...It is a mischaracterization ...

What is a Schiit amplifier then ? Low-Fi certainly compared to its design and functions and quality and durability ? 😊

What is Hi-Fi for me is not price tag but acoustic concrete experience of each balanced factors in a room ... This is a real fact not based on price tags ...

I listened 100,000 bucks system which i considered low audiophile experience because of the unbalanced acoustics factors implied ... (acoustics with an (s) is not mere room acoustic without an (s) by the way )😁

My Sansui alpha is not mid- fi and not even my vintage unique AKG K340 who trounce any headphones save very few and the costlier on the market... It is the only one Hybrid well working in history ,...."out of the head" speaker-like soundstage and natural timbre with deep clear bass i felt with my toes (bone resonance, and Kennerton because i asked for one said to me that it will be too costly in research for way less profit to make one today they tried )

Mid-fi ?

😊

Stop evaluating gear by price tags and study acoustics concepts...

The beginners audiophiles is programmed by these false distinction rooted in price tag ...

these distinctions between low-fi,mid-fi, and high-fi, are not even wrong they are BESIDE the main point : audiophile experience rooted in acoustics parameters balance . ( not  mere room acoustic , i said acoustics concepts)

 

 

 

1970s-80s Japanese transistor gear with lots of switches and silver fronts are mid-fi at best.

I can say with absolute certainty that my vintage gear holds it own with the rest of my gear. It’s just different. Everything has it’s own sound and I keep the stuff I really like. The vintage gear is going nowhere!

 

i think exctly the same...

People who own 20,000 bucks amplifier and speakers or costly headphone cannot approve, if they did they will be in the obligation to admit that sound quality is not linearly related to price tags... It will be embarassing and contradictory to their choices...This is why there exist negative opinions about vintage...

People BELIEVE in technical progress forgetting that companies are ruled by profit first not by S. Q. ideals and technological innovations at all cost...

My Sansui amplifiers so good they are can be replaced by today technology at way higher cost  but not my AkG K340 at any cost ... There exist no headphone as it is designed  because it is too costly to design a new one and impossible to make a good profit margin designing one ... His soundfield experience is UNIQUE... Like it or not...

 

If i could buy speakers i will buy them... Good choice...

 Alas! no more room for me for the incoming future...

 

That said, I still love my Epi 100 speakers from the same era, though I've put in a new capacitor/crossover and of course refoamed the woofer (mid-late 70s).  Nothing I've heard speakerwise has convinced me to part with them; everything sounds good on 'em, and they're not picky about set up with that widely dispersive, sweet tweeter that still manages to image even far off axis... 

The problem with Vintage gear is that there is no generalization that is useful to be made...

I dont give a damn about general opinions about vintage...There is too much products and too much possibilities to made general dogmas ...

And no, i dont buy mine for the look or for nostalgia...Only S.Q. motivated me... And low price..

The only reason for me to buy vintage is : HIGH Sound quality / low price ratio ... In some case for sure...

 

 

My two Sansui had so many positive factors about them:

The Sansui AU 7700 had a power amplifier separable from the pré-amplification...

An insane numbers of controls ( all of high quality design say my repairman)

i pay it 100 bucks and another 100 bucks to be reconditioned by a very well knowleadgeable guy...

The other Sansui AU alpha 607 i i paid 300 bucks is so good that beating it will cost way, way more...I used it for my K340 ...It work with a better low noise floor which is absolutely necessary with the K340...

 

But these two amplifiers can be replaced by contemporary improving upgrade at higher cost for sure but they can be replaced...

But no modern amplifier had all the versatile set of functions of the Sansui AU 7700... NONE...

They can be replaced anyway, nevermind their price or even their advantages...

 

But there is vintage and vintage...

 

Nobody can replace a technology so good that the sound quality is UNIQUE... I did not say BETTER over 5,000 bucks headphone here ,.. i said UNIQUE compared to anything ...

No contemporary headphone is like the AKG K340... NONE...

The only successful hybrid ( dynamic and electroacoustic cell with a croosover at 4KHZ) in history, and an headphone integrating in it a dual acoustic chamber created by an array of 5 tuned Helmholtz resonators Patented by Dr. Gorike...

The guy at Kennerton headphone company said to me they tried to create an hybrid but it is too complex to design well , and too costly to research, and too costly to assemble for a profit and they quit this almost impossible commercial task...

For AKG too it was too complex and too costly... But Dr, Gorike was one of the two founders of the company and a physicist and acoustician... He decided that this K340 could be done and it would be their FLAGSHIP in 1978...Nobody said to him it is too costly and too complex to manufacture at low cost...He was the boss...

They did it for the sake of an ACOUSTIC problem and challenge...it stayed their flaghip for some years but they decided once the challenge completed that it is better commercially to revolutionize the headphone market again but with a less costly product to assemble...it was the AKG K1000... ( The k340 with its electroacoustic cell give a perfect high range but thanks to the dynamic cell and resonators give bass only subwoofer can give then the K1000 dont interested me at all , add to that that the soundfield of the k340 is speaker like out of the head and is COMPLETELY recording dependant for the soundstage dimensions.)

 

Now think about that: this K340 vintage i paid 100 bucks and which i optimized with 6 months of listening experiments is now so good, all my otger 9 headphones are trash for me compared to it, i never use them ...( two Stax, 5 dynamics, 2 planar)

More than that no headphones at any price can give this soundfield which is completely different from any other headphone... is it better ?Not necessarily. But it will take a very costly headphone if you want to beat the K340 on ALL acoustical factors not only on one... This k340 is irreplaceable by anything...Especially for his price used...

After the lost of my dedicated room i will be in depression if i did not work with it...

I do not recommend it to newcomers though because it is too difficult to figure out how it work and with which components to pair it and which modifications will improve it... it is the most difficult headphone to drive... And very picky... And the design is 45 years old now and fragile...

 

 

 

Conclusion : There is Vintage, and there is another vintage etc etc...

No general rule here, only specific case...

 

But my 600 bucks system is very good i dont need upgrade ... Even if there is alway possible upgrade the K340 will not be the first component to be upgrade i really want to do it... I dont need i listen music in ectasy... Sound do not bother me at all...

 

Now alas! in much case the price are too higher... good deal are rare...I bought mine many years ago, 5 years for the headphone, and much more for the Sansui.. And with vintage there is reparation or conditioning fees, and risks... Then.... I was lucky...