Vintage Audio News

audionut373

Member
With the popularity of vintage audio, I don't understand why none of the current print audio magazines have a column dedicated to vintage equipment. I think that they are missing out on a rather significant audience that would subscribe if they did. :confused:
 
1) It's used equipment
2) It's only popular here, not many people in the general population uses old equipment. You might have a few city wide in ones area, and the old folks that still have a stereo they bought 40 years ago and don't use much.

What's the worlds population? 7.5 million maybe 8 mill now. AK has 250,000 members worldwide. Lets say 10x that have old equipment in use that are not here. Then the fact a publication would be only in one country.

Anyway the long and short of it, no sponsors for used equipment and not enough interest.
 
Well, I have to heartily disagree that not many people in the general population use vintage equipment. All one has to do is look at the Marantz, Sansui and Pioneer blogs here to see that there is a large portion of the membership here that is into vintage! (By the way, the population of the world is in the billions, not millions! :D) The majority of the posts are about vintage versions of those marks. Also, I was not talking about mags published outside the US. I think that Stereophile and Absolute Sound could benefit from having columns on vintage gear. :lurk:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have collected vintage cameras over the years. Modern Photography used to have column titled The Camera Collector. I found it very interesting and very helpful in identifying and giving me history on some of the pieces I had collected over the years. It was a main reason that I kept subscribing to the magazine. I for one would read a monthly column like that with great interest. There are probably a lot more people that invest in vintage gear than invest in ultra high end gear, but that gets covered all the time.
 
That would absolutely be a great read...The English hi fi mags are so well done that it's a shame we don't have a healthier culture for hi fi in print over here. It's either ultra high end ( that often has no widespread resale interest or decent resale value, unlike vintage Marantz , Pioneer, etc. that still brings nice prices.) Regardless of vintage gears performance plus or minus it has a huge following and tons of existing restoration stories, searching for a certain elusive piece stories and interest in product that's still in use...throw in vinyl reviews, tape advice, recone projects, and it sounds like a winner to me.
 
That's what I like about people on this site.....

They just write the first thing that comes to their heads !

1) It's used equipment
2) It's only popular here, not many people in the general population uses old equipment. You might have a few city wide in ones area, and the old folks that still have a stereo they bought 40 years ago and don't use much.

What's the worlds population? 7.5 million maybe 8 mill now. AK has 250,000 members worldwide. Lets say 10x that have old equipment in use that are not here. Then the fact a publication would be only in one country.

Anyway the long and short of it, no sponsors for used equipment and not enough interest.

Billion....

China has over 1.2 billion people alone !
 
AS much and we would like like to think those mag articles are for the reader's benefit, they are not. THe real reason that there is not much in the way of vintage articles in published rags is that there is no money in it for them, not for lack of interest. The primary reason for any magazine is to support sales for their advertisers, and there are zero companies selling vintage because well, it's vintage.

Just follow the money trail.. Its isn't about reader interest, but advertising revenue
 
Last edited:
JUst follow the money trail.. Its isn't about reader interest, but advertising revenue

This is true, that's what forums like this are for. This is where you will find the interest, there is just no money in it. I'm a fine example, I don't even subscribe...yet.;)
 
Well, the Marantz, Sansui, and Pioneer blogs here are representative of this site, but not representative of the general population, as you claim them to be.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
There are indications that a considerable amount of the vintage supply is being shipped to Asia. I wont say this has anything to do with either the perceived or actual quality of vintage though. A few years back they were buying up all our old Levis pants! Go figure.. :wtf:
 
Wrote a collumn on vintage a few years ago. No ad money associated with the vintage coverage. Still, a survey of readers revealed that over 50% had no interest in vintage. But vintage likes did come in at around 40%, with about 10% having no opinion. We hoped to tap into the vintage interest here and at the Audio Asylum - didn't happen. We had a print medium that had to be paid for... many audiophiles wanted their stuff for free. All gone.
 
Well, smart ass, I have to heartily disagree that not many people in the general population use vintage equipment. All one has to do is look at the Marantz, Sansui and Pioneer blogs here to see that there is a large portion of the membership here that is into vintage! (By the way, the population of the world is in the billions, not millions! :D) The majority of the posts are about vintage versions of those marks. Also, I was not talking about mags published outside the US. I think that Stereophile and Absolute Sound could benefit from having columns on vintage gear. :lurk:
AbsoFRICKINlutely! It can offset all the sprained eyeballs caused by Turntables and Speakers that cost roughly as much as the GDP of some small third world countries......
 
1) It's used equipment
2) It's only popular here, not many people in the general population uses old equipment. You might have a few city wide in ones area, and the old folks that still have a stereo they bought 40 years ago and don't use much.

What's the worlds population? 7.5 million maybe 8 mill now. AK has 250,000 members worldwide. Lets say 10x that have old equipment in use that are not here. Then the fact a publication would be only in one country.

Anyway the long and short of it, no sponsors for used equipment and not enough interest.

Wrong, wrong , and wrong again.
Equipment still in service speaks volumes about quality. I think your proportions are in reverse regarding vintage vs modern usage.
Also this forum is clogged with advertisers dealing in vintage gear.
 
AS much and we would like like to think those mag articles are for the reader's benefit, they are not. THe real reason that there is not much in the way of vintage articles in published rags is that there is no money in it for them, not for lack of interest. The primary reason for any magazine is to support sales for their advertisers, and there are zero companies selling vintage because well, it's vintage.

Just follow the money trail.. Its isn't about reader interest, but advertising revenue

I have numerous friends working in publishing, and there core interest bar none is reader interest. Credible mags don't treat adverts. as payola. Many magazines that do onsite articles, comparative hot list type articles etc. Actually barter with advertisers...no one advertises in magazines that don't have large demand based on reader interest.
Also 60's and 70's vintage copies of Stereo Review etc. sell for as much as $50.00 so as for no demand about vintage gear in print, I'd have to disagree.
 
There are lots of magazines out there that cater to vintage and classic cars - but there’s also a whole industry that caters to them.

For vintage audio the main companies that benefit are the parts distributors - and frankly our orders are more than likely not very profitable in raw dollars. The typical order probably includes small quantities which are a PITA to pick.
 
I have numerous friends working in publishing, and there core interest bar none is reader interest.
Sure, reader interest must be there for someone to actually pick up the mag in the first place. We are all interested in stereo EQ thus their whole reason for being in the publishing biz. However the readers are not ultimately paying that much for the operations. The cover price after a 50% retail markup likely pays for the paper and ink, but it is the manufacturers WHO keep their lights on and pay employees,and make their profits etc. Imagine some scathing review at a advertisers product, and what that would do for that company continued participation in that publications ad revenue.

This is precisely why Consumer Reports doesn't take advertising dollars. If they did out would go their objective reviews!


Many magazines that do onsite articles, comparative hot list type articles etc. Actually barter with advertisers...

So this barter that they do wouldn't entail the financial excgange of a big ad for a great review the next page over? I see this quite often,not just in stereo mags,but all sorts of other interest mags from boats to cars to cordless power tools.

Also 60's and 70's vintage copies of Stereo Review etc. sell for as much as $50.00 so as for no demand about vintage gear in print, I'd have to disagree.

When did I say there wasn't interest? What I said is that there isn't any interest from ADVERTISERS for vintage gear because manufacturing isn't MAKING vintage gear anymore! True that there are relatively small companies selling used parts and whole used amps etc,but their advertising budgets are tiny compared to Yamaha, or Macintosh etc. That's where the mainstream advertising is, and those are who the writers are going to support. Of course YMMV on this. If you want to believe something else is going on that's your business.
 
Wrong, wrong , and wrong again.
Equipment still in service speaks volumes about quality. I think your proportions are in reverse regarding vintage vs modern usage.
Also this forum is clogged with advertisers dealing in vintage gear.
Audio has dinky segment of interest, AK is even a far far smaller segment, and the members on AK who only want old equipment are even a smaller segment. I would also say, if good new gear could be bought for the price of old equipment there would be an even smaller segment dealing with it.

As far as very old equipment goes, like what's in your sig, it's in service because it's been serviced. Some people like working on equipment and that's fine, but that's an extremely small segment of the audio world.
 
What I said is that there isn't any interest from ADVERTISERS for vintage gear because manufacturing isn't MAKING vintage gear anymore!
Quoted for truth..

Funny how people that buy used equipment actually think they are part of the current audio world and what they think matters.
 
Back
Top Bottom