To me, vintage is (rebuilt) tubes and idlers from the 50s-60s! 1970s-80s Japanese transistor gear with lots of switches and silver fronts are mid-fi at best.
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.
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I'd agree that most of the japanese 1970-80's stuff is mid-fi at best. What I meant by vintage was anything before the 1990's, and not just tubes. Since antiques start at 30 years, I beleive the same would apply to audio equipment. Although there is very good sounding stuff from the 1980's (I had AVID and Mirage speakers, Thorens/AR turntables, Shure V15, etc.) there was a lot of stuff considered high end back then, and some of it still is.But there was also lot of bad sounding stuff. The list is long.
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@deadhead1000 Now, I feel old! 1994 is not antique. That's just silly. |
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)
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@mahgister I can still hear the grainy transistor sound of those "stereos!" |
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