Definitions - What constitutes Classic or Vintage Hi-Fi?

[The Grand Wazoo]

In the world of old cars a Vintage is pre-1930 and a Classic is generally thought to be from after the 1940's and older than 25 years.

Some cars are obvious Classics, but others qualify that no-one would ever have thought to have any merit as a collector's car - any offers for a concours condition Morris Ital, anyone?
No, I thought not!!

THEORY A:
Classic hi-fi is defined by what was current (or cool but unaffordable) in the youth of whichever drooling casualty is defining it. Or it's the stuff that was around when they first got interested in hi-fi (not necessarily the same thing).

DISCUSS

THEORY B:
Ebay has turned the whole thing on it's head

DISCUSS

THEORY C:
True classic or vintage items must have some degree of 'merit' in addition to age.

DISCUSS

[Beechwoods]

Ha ha ha some interesting thoughts there Grand Waz. 'Classic' definitely is an overused word in some circles. I'd definitely like to think that Theory C is on the money, but there's a fair bit of hubris and 'Theory A' at work, particularly on some of the American fora

Often it seems that anything with a silver or - even better - a champagne fascia that's more than 20 years old is considered a classic As far as 'vintage' goes I draw the line at the end of the 70's, when VU meters were replaced with LED's. LED's ushered in 'the modern age', along with plastic fascia's, lightweight chassis and feather-touch logic controls

Classics can be other than 'vintage' there are some very classic tape decks from the 80's that are no-way vintage. So the two terms can definitely be exclusive...

eBay... eBay confuses people TBH. With reel to reels in particular there are a lot of vintage items that sound like crap, aren't worth much more than doorstops, though the listings seem to indicate the seller thinks they've got something really rare and high quality

It's funny how with eBay having the original box can significantly increase the potential end price of an auction. I've even seen empty boxes listed for upwards of £25. There's a lot of profiteering going on. High priced BIN items that sit around for months waiting for some sucker to bite; when a long-term search and a steady hand can score some real bargains. An Elcaset demo tape I got for £17, perfect nick, is currently on eBay as a BIN for £78. Has been for months. These inflated BIN prices from people with the attitude that 'I'll sell if I get x for it' x being 4 times market value, probably are driving up perceived prices for old equipment.

Some items are just collectable too. Like the Elcaset wired remote that went for £150 - I think there were maybe 3 people bidding against each other that day, I was prepared for to £115. Oh well!

Be interested what other folks think about your conundrum, GW!

[Mike]

Sorry, slightly OT here, but it's a nice example of eBay silliness!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TECHNICS-SL-12...ewItem?ebay=68

[Beechwoods]

Where's the headshell? It comes with a stylus but no headshell

[Mike]

Dunno... but considering Gromit has just bought a BRAND NEW SL-1210 for a hundred quid less than that, the headshell would be the least of my worries!

[Ali Tait]

It's the same thing with amps like the Quad II, Stereo 20 and Radford gear.Always were collector's items in recent years,but ebay put the prices through the stratosphere.The Quad and Leak are nice amps,but not world-beaters,yet command very silly prices now.Radford gear was always in a different class IMHO,and never was cheap secondhand,but again ebay has a lot to answer for here.

[The Grand Wazoo]

It's the same thing with amps like the Quad II, Stereo 20 and Radford gear.Always were collector's items in recent years,but ebay put the prices through the stratosphere.The Quad and Leak are nice amps,but not world-beaters,yet command very silly prices now.Radford gear was always in a different class IMHO,and never was cheap secondhand,but again ebay has a lot to answer for here.

The magazines also have an effect on the price of older gear - For example, I remember seeing the begining of the rise of Radford gear straight after HiFi World tested a rebuilt STA15. (I paid £250 for mine!!)

[Beechwoods]

Dunno... but considering Gromit has just bought a BRAND NEW SL-1210 for a hundred quid less than that, the headshell would be the least of my worries!

I know... I wuz pullin yer leg

[Filterlab]

Something that I never understood is the term 'logic controls'. Does this mean that all controls that went before were illogical? To me an illogical control is a button with an incorrect label or one that performs in an unusual manner, but whether before 'logic controls' or after, a play button is a play button, a pause button is a pause button and the wind buttons are wind buttons regardless. Is it a term for something specific or is it just a sales term added to the exterior plastics of tape decks to go with the LEDs?

[Ali Tait]

I'd be very happy to pay 250 quid for one these days.