Everything you always wanted to know about VINTAGE AUDIO

Hey Steve...I always say that VINTAGE means the year...not how old. Like when referring to Wine...vintage 1983. It means THE YEAR MADE....you don't say a new wine isn't vintage...a new wine is Vintage 2023.

Super nice!

If DACs are now vintage ... I'm officially now fossilised ....eeek .... this video has scared me. 😵...this is making me feel like I'm just a few hours from the grave. ☠💀

I remember valve testing machines at every drug store that sold valves.

Same with cars late 80s up to mid 90s is now vintage.

Quality Vintage imo is in the range of 50 years old and it Aint Cheap for High quality stuff from then ! Unless its Junk and then why have it? So you have to Spend good Money to get Nice Stuff, my System for instance is a Mix from 1978 to New!!

Come on. Three minutes should more than suffice for any vintage specialist to express their thoughts on "What's the cutoff for what is vintage audio?"
This really made me appreciate how you actually don't waste our time beating around the bush in your usual (i.e. solo) videos. This one had its strong points, but I'm older for having watched it.

I got into vintage audio by buying a tired HH Scott 299C
and rebuilding it. I hooked up my turntable and just fell
in love with t he sound. I now own several Scott amps
and receivers I have restored and units like
the 222C, 299C 210f, and 340 when brought back up
to original factory spec can rival the best of today's
tube audio. I also have a Jadis Defy 7 and to be frank, it
really does not sound that much better then the pair of
Scott 210F amplifiers. But, the thing is that you need to
know exactly how to properly refurbish these 60 or so year
old pieces of audio gear... Back then some of the best electrical engineers
worked in audio. Their goal was to produce equipment that
was as accurate as possible and when running a signal generator
through a properly restored Scott, the wave form looks as
good as anything made today on a scope...

Sort of agree that the 70s is the end or vintage currently, but you can also think of it as an era , like Levinson or threshold from the 90s

I got into sound im buying an old radio and putting a Bluetooth receiver on it I want unquie set pice

It’s the 90s that I keep trying to “ find “

It HAS to look right.

the vintage car example hits the nail on the head. A lot of folks who either had a nice muscle car back n the day , or wanted one but couldnt afford it at the time are now older and able to buy that dream car. When I was younger , I lived in the local stereo stores and lusted for a Marantz or a giant Pioneer or Sansui receiver. I always ended up settling for something more affordable. Now ,years later I can afford those vintage pieces and find myself having a ball buying ,restoring and listening to these vintage pieces. Like that old muscle car, they wont outperform the new high end equipment , but it still performs very well and the pride of ownership is something that cant be discounted! Keep up the great work Steve!

HH Scott 222c —> Dynaco A25!

I suppose half the fun of being an Audiophiliac is listening to ourselves wax eloquent on all things audio. But I think we must keep things in perspective. I have often read (including an article on Proxibid) that anything 50 to 100 years old is vintage and anything 100 years old or older is considered an antique. Within each of these examples, there are subcategories for vintage style. For vintage cars, they are considered classics. For vintage furniture, it’s considered retro. I believe this applies to audio equipment as well. The term “used” does not in any way convey vintage because something bought today automatically becomes used, even if it’s a few hours old. Ironically, used items almost always lose some value within moments of their purchase. But vintage items often (not always) but often hold or gain some value with age - especially if it is a rare item. So in short, I think vintage audio equipment was manufactured in the early 70’s. Just my opinion.

How about we define ventage like cars, so 25+ years of age and without planned obsolescence. And as I type this I heard the older gentleman make car reference regarding an older Porsche vs a newer Porsche.

vintage used to be a more than 20 years old wine ,now refered to old stereos from 40 to 50 years after that is modern , my 90´s system is modern against my 66 ,72, 74, 76 and 79 systems that i didn´t buy all but ofered me by old family that weren´t using them anymore and being the more interested in music in my family compared to my cousins ,all came to my hands , my cousins would say that is old it´s bad

always interesting videos , keep on making them, i would sugest if you know someone with a 70´s pioneer system, they were expensive and my father bought one(76) but after he bought a Revox system and gave the pioneer to me

I'll go out on a limb here, if you can plug it into the wall without modification then it's not vintage. If you need power supply mods then it probably falls into the category of vintage,

in audio vintage is re-BPC, digital, etc. the cutoff is about 1980 or so.

to me vintage stereo gear is the way to go vintage gear sounds better and looks better also and vintage gear is easy to repair todays units look like a jigsaw puzzle

Why not discus vintage audio components that the AVERAGE audiophile would purchase, new or used, NOT the "million dollar" stuff that is on those shelves behind you. I am talking about brands like: Dynaco (Dynakit); Hafler; Harmon Kardon; Pioneer ;etc., or are these VINTAGE components just considered old JUNK?+

DAC’s are not vintage yet. It’s like calling any CD player vintage. Older record players can be vintage but old CD players are not vintage.

Vintage is when you can fix it, most of the Macintosh from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s you can fix. Same thing for most of other brands. Once we got into to digital age circuitry, it tough to replace a 100 pin chip that went bad.

This is random, but the story of why Amar Bose founded BOSE corporation seems silly to me. He supposedly researched measurements, bought the best stereo, and then was disappointed with its sound, so he made his own speaker company. Soooo….. did he not audition the speakers before buying them? Did he not at least give another system or two a try before concluding that he had to do something himself because nobody else was doing it right? That doesn’t sound like someone who I would take stock in 🤷🏼.

I hv collected many vintage hifi, amps before 1970s, and mostly tubes amp. I have kept them for more then 20 years. Last few years was serious stress time due to lock down.
Coming out of the lock down, i hv to re tune my emotion again...
Wonder how other vintage lovers feel?

Speakers I prefer new, but all my other gear is secondhand/vintage ( Yamaha, Dual, Oppo, Harman Kardon ) ... saved me a lot of money and I enjoy the sound.

For me vintage would be the first 20 years since audio hi-fi was invented which is the mid-1950’s….so 1950’s to 1970’s , and early 1980’s

I think 25-30 year old gear as "vintage." Less than that, it's just "dated."

That said, my 30 year old Yamaha CD player does not feel vintage -- the 50 year old Marantz 2270 next to it does (of course).

I think it's a perspective thing.

I'm glad you haven't edited this. Very funny, and engaging chat about vintage gear. As a car guy, I found the Camaro analogy especially relatable. I was born in '83, and I love 70s aesthetics the most. Be it cars, audio gear, and design in general. That's why I have a collection of 70s SS receivers. I just can't get enough of their looks, or the knob feel! I even like the smell. I like different things from the 80s too, but not audio gear. I'm talking aesthetically here. Everything from the 90s on is just 'used' to me, not vintage at all.

everybody wants what they couldn't afford when they were in college.

if it's digital, it can't be vintage.

Knob feel, the heft and liquid speed of a dial, is what initially turned me onto audio as a little kid.

Hi all, I'm 15 and I've recently fallen in love with hi-fi and look is a huge part of it for me. I like that it looks old and that I CANT just use my phone to connect up to it. It's all a part of the listening experience for me now. I just wanted to say love your page and I'm glad to be a part of the next generation to keep hifi alive!

I have been teetering over into the obsessive range ever since my uncle traded me his Cornwalls 2 years ago. Thanks for all your videos!

Newly subscribed. We are of a similar age. I’m encouraged by how much energy and pleasant demeanor you possess. Good reminder we don’t all grow cranky😝. Oh and i do appreciate the audiophile info.

When we were young we all had good stereos in our bedrooms. We all wanted the best but could not afford it. Now that our age group has disposable income we finally get to have the best from that era.

listening to the music for 45 years

to me, comparing new and old gear is like going to the forrest

new gear = you see trees
vintage gear = you see forrest

back in 1980, i bought Acoustic Research AR17, love at first hearing, after that, heard a ton of speakers, and i always compared them to AR....conclusion, two years ago i bought AR9, top model, 40 years old, never ever heard speakers like that

fun. thx

I love my old Kenwood amp tuner KA7300 from the 70's still works great

I’m a younger fella 27… I like most vintage receivers, especially sansui because they can be had at a bargain and sound better then any other affordable receiver, plus love the green lights! Also like vintage headphones from the 90s Sonys in particular!

How's this work?

Modern: Tech you can't fix it...often with digital control or design last 10-15 years?

Modern Vintage: This is where the deals are. The only gear from mid 80's on worth owning today was nascent high end audiophile gear not so much any consumer gear..so let's say mid 80s to 2010 or so..

Vintage: Tube/SS... Mid/late 50s to late70s ...this is the fat belly of vintage where flippers abound selling a lot of gear that needs lots of work and gear ranges from outstanding to shoddy especially parts quality and restorations.

Antique Vintage: Where the truly "dedicated" reside...more about historic sound than the best sound...more about midrange reproduction and some very large systems to boot.

JMTC YMMV

Flapping lips doesn’t make good videos

How about vintage as pre-digital; systems designed to play records.

These guys know nothing ? I love Sansui , JBL threaten of sound speakers. $$$$$$ age mean nothing these guys are bs. One has to change all Capacitors and.
Love my Thoren TD turntable with new rosewood arm board and new Jelco 550s tonearm and a Grace F-9 nude Elliptical Diamond and Boron cantilever.
U guys are just to sarcastic and hate me, I could never have coffee with the three of u

I have been around the block 1,000,000 of times

20 years = vintage

I recently purchased a Pioneer SX 780. Two reasons I bought this were it still has the original box and packing, and it just looked beautiful. The guy I bought it from got it at an estate sale and said it was tested. FedEx notified me that delivery has been delayed.
Anyways I’m hoping it’ll sound good paired with my Focal chorus v bookshelf speakers.

Haptics = the "feel" of a switch or knob. And yes it matters!