Why is vintage audio equipment booming? - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyjvn658n6o
…discuss? There certainly are some interesting stats in the article.
Could it not simply be that for the first time since high quality audio existed, that there is finally a lot out there released into the wild as owners die or move on to other things eventually. After all, a 40 year old Naim amp today is something some people would still potentially have from new, but 40 years ago few people would be still rocking their 1940s RCA Victrola.
In other words, we’ve just started to enter the era where really old stuff is still really good stuff whereas before, it was, mostly junk.
Is the first thing that popped into my head.
12 Likes
That seems a very possible explanation, at least for a significant part. Also possibly “vintage” may have simply become fashionable in some quarters, as certainly has been the case with vinyl, according to one of my sons, so perhaps it has widened to other formats, which also couples with inheritance as a possible trigger for some. Also, possibly, as money gets tighter secondhand gear becomes more appealing, though that is unlikely to explain interest in things like cassette.
True about the perceptions of the yoof: I almost collapsed in shock last week when a 16-year old girl told me not only that she thought vinyl was great, but she thought that ‘CDs are really cool too’. No, really.
I’ve been predicting a CD revival for years, but never quite believed it would really happen. Make the most of those cheap prices on Discogs etc. before the revival really takes off and we end up paying inflation-adjusted 1980s prices for CDs!
Mark
2 Likes
I prefer the older stuff,
My serviced CB160 is 53 years old and sounding awesome,
How Much modern kit will still be around and repairable in 50 years,
5 Likes
Speakers place in the corners of the room, with speakers that have underdamped/overblown bass?
7 Likes
Possibly wrong thread?
2 Likes
I think you’ll find it’s a joke about why vintage audio equipment is ‘booming’
6 Likes
Aaah!!!
It’s all about getting physical apparently.
There is a movement that wants to see something for their money, so whilst many enjoy and will do most of their listening via a streaming platform they also really like having a physical copy of something, be it CD or Vinyl.
The same is happening with DVD’s and associated formats, people can and do stream a movie but there are a good number who actually want that a physical copy.
Another example is books, it wasn’t that long ago that Kindle and Apple Books were believed to be the death of the hard copy, strangely books are more popular than ever.
Not just vintage audio, film cameras are becoming sought after too. The humble but rather likeable Olympus trip was once a charity shop find for a fiver. Now they range from £60 - £150.
Having a lot of fun with this at the moment
Processing: IMG_1125.jpeg…
6 Likes
Fashion and fad.
2 Likes
Because it’s cool.
Young folk - if you can remember - literally feel somewhat removed from older folk.
Any artafact from previous generations sometimes take on a special quality unfathomable to the peers - which in all respects are discounted as being different to them selves. Ownership always has a potlatch relationship regardless of jargonisms.
Another good thing about vintage hifi the good stuff always keeps its value,
Also an investment opportunity.
my kit has risen a few hundred pounds in the last year,
(Not that I’m going sell any of it)
Nice, now that’s a beast of a camera it puts my FA and FM2n to shame. Gorgeous camera.
Lovely. I have a 1973 F in the barn somewhere along with a Pentax Spotmatik and a couple of lenses for each. A hobby/obsession long forgotten. The Durst and other darkroom stuff got sold but I originally kept these on display until we moved here.
Why not get one out and shoot a roll of film? Plenty of places to process
Thank you, nothing wrong with the FM2, high point of film bodies I reckon.
I use an F3 and a F4 too, they all have their strengths
1 Like
I have my F5… built like a tank… however really hard getting replacement nicad cells.
My daughter wants to borrow my F80, a cracking camera, to take on her delayed honeymoon… she says she loves the look and texture of film… and has just got the latest iPhone… ok she is a graphic and branding designer so perhaps more of an eye for that sort of thing… however I can’t get her interested in my hifi.
5 Likes
I have a phone. 
Its no longer a hobby I want to make the time for. I was into the whole thing, pushing fstop on the film, grades of paper, masking in processing etc. No photoshop back then. Did play with cibachrome but the expense meant that it was reserved for shots that were important or being wall hung. Simpler now means that this poor shot
can be corrected to this using the phone.
