When your vintage collection becomes worthless.

Robisme

Robisme

Sansui Enthusiast
I was thinking about this the other day. What if the value of vintage gear falls dramatically?

Will I be bummed if my receivers that are currently approaching the $1000 mark are suddenly worth nothing? Someday that could happen. It did with my baseball cards and my sons Beenie Babies.

Right now I would not be bothered, but what if in ten years I am not into this any more and can't give the stuff away?

Just thinking out loud.

Rob
 
Baby Boomers are at the peak of their earning power right now plus music and nostalgia are universal currency. Don't see too much happening in the near future, unless e*** mucks up the market with more stupid rules.
 
My ego/feelings might get hurt a bit, but ultimately, I don't really care. I have accumulated what I've wanted over the years and enjoy it still. It was never intended to be part of my retirement portfolio, and I am not a for-profit "flipper". The upside would be that I could reduce the amount of the insurance riders that I have to cover loss value.
 
Me and my hifi buddies are having the exact same discussion from time to time.
The same topic applies to the hundreds of thousands of parts that I collected over the years, not to mention the 1000+ original service manuals.
Lost money, or future treasure?

We observe more and more 'desire' for flatter and smaller devices, specially more and more with younger generations.
That 'bulky' stuff is becoming increasingly unpopular, taking into account the responses I get from visiting friends and family.
Mobility and remote control (from portable device to another place in the building) is becoming the minimum standard amongst more and more people.

And the longer good sound is unknown, the more generations won't even know what good sound is.
The number of times that my good old analogue stuff blew young and older generations from the couch... initiating their own hifi journey

But..... an educated colleague at work is convinced that his Sonos is as good (if not better) as any vintage highend stuff, simply because technology moves on, so by default newer is better in his believe. And that's the general trend that I observe everywhere
Ignorance is bliss ..... I guess....

So, more collectable Ferrari's and Porsches for me, for less.
That's the positive side.

To answer your question: giving away a renovated vintage amp/receiver is probably the best gift to friends and family, so why not?
 
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From a different angle...... which standards will still be there in future?

To start with analogue FM: fading out gradually across Europe and Asia in the near future (decisions have been made; the curtain has fallen), probably in the US as well in some years?
Hence I don't poor any money anymore in highend tuners, and I will sell off all my tuners/recievers in the near future (except for two master pieces), before the big public realises it is a mortal standard.

Then.... will we keep the 1~2Vpp analogue interface standard (balanced and/or unbalanced) ?
It is not unthinkable that a serial digital signal will take over one day, with analogue RCA/XLR connectors fading out.

Who knows?

I know people who are selling off their respectable audio gear collections, for all the above reasons.
Collecting them was fun, keeping them not so much.
 
I admit that it would bother me to just give the quality gear I have away for zero dollars. I have a number of pieces that are quite good, but being as I am a COB I don't have much money invested in any of it. Many of you will go to little tiny setups, and be perfectly happy. There is a LARGE difference in the sound they can produce. If you have harder to drive speakers, in a large room, there is no chip amp that will perform well, so I doubt the big old stuff will die completely. The masses of people across the world, could care less about the last 10% of perfection we seem to be searching for, many don't like music or have any knowledge about it because they have never been exposed to it. For me it is one of the best tranquilizes in my life and I am addicted. When I go, I will have my wife put everything up on AK and you vultures can all pick over my bones, so be kind.
 
Freddymac2 said:
When I go, I will have my wife put everything up on AK and you vultures can all pick over my bones, so be kind.
Click to expand...

I have virtually no family left, and none that are interested in this hobby--a few audiophile friends that I would bequeath stuff to, but not many. My threat is that the minute I get diagnosed with a serious/terminal illness, I am going to buy pads of PostIt notes and start pricing everything.
 
Beanie Babies were made and marketed as something to collect. Once the hysteria wore off they became essentially worthless, and rightfully so. They served no other useful purpose beyond being a "collectible"

Things that become collectable only because they were a superb product tend to hold their value better, at least in a good economy. Rare books are a good example. Even as digital books edge out print versions, a first edition of The Catcher in the Rye or To KIll a Mockingbird etc. will still be desirable and collectable. I'm guessing certain models in vintage audio fit this category. As in rare books, "condition is everything"
 
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I think that value of vintage hi-fi gear may only be higher in the future. As long as there are quality replacement components to maintain old stuff, it will live forever. Standards change, that is true, and some great formats haven't survived, unfortunatelly, such as minidisc, vhs etc. Soon the target will be FM. But, what will never change, is the fact that signals need to be amplified. So amplifiers are safe in that (negative) trend. That's why amplifiers are among the most desirable vintage gear. You can have good amplifier even today, but compared to vintage stuff it seems so ordinary and not interesting.
 
Not being a sadist, just a realist, hopefully I'll be gone if/when vintage gear no longer has any real value.
I purchased a fair amount of gear and spare speaker parts the last few years.
Three of the receivers and one of the amps have risen a bunch, close to double what I paid.
Speaker parts are creeping up as well.
When I see what sellers are asking for stuff now I often think maybe I should sell off some of my collection.
But nah, ain't gonna happen.

Like savatage1973 mentioned, I've considered making a list and assigning realistic pricing to each piece, hopefully my stuff will be passed on (sold/donated/given away) with the option for someone to make $$ if they choose too.
 
"When" ? You seem to imply that mine isn't already worthless :)

Dunno, I place little real value in what other people will pay for stuff. I already bought it, and if it brings me enjoyment the rest of the world can F off with how many dollars they think that is worth.
 
I think it is inevitable that all of these things will reach a zenith of value and then decrease over time. I don't know that they'll become completely worthless:dunno:
 
I was into vintage long before the prices boomed. I paid $25 for my 9090DB. They are getting to be worth about 40 times that. I was buying vintage when people were getting rid of their big heavy old stereos.

I collected them because I liked them, not for a retirement. I never thought they would jump in value like they have. But they have. So the thought is, would I miss them if they were gone.
If I get to a point where I would not miss them, but they were worth nothing at that point, would I feel like I missed the bus?

The only receiver I use in a system is the Sansui S-X1200. My work room amp is a Sansui AU-X711. My main system (until my AU-719 gets rebuilt) is a Sansui AU-G99X.

So the vintage receivers are mostly eye candy displayed on metal racks in my work room.

At this point I can't imagine selling them, but who knows what the future will bring.

Rob
 
I'm sort of in the same boat. I started just when prices were starting to rise. Remember when SX-1250 and G-9000 were $400 all day long on ebay? Stuff could still be found in the wild so I kept the keepers and flipped the rest into some really nice stuff. Most of it is paid off or has very little cost. The collection peaked a few years ago and it has been in shrink mode since. There are a few pieces that will never leave. But the feeling of been there, done that is getting stronger and the thought of moving on is there.
 
My collection is made up of Realistic brand items. Not worth much in most peoples eyes....but worth everything to me. My daughters understand my passion for them and have grown fond of them also. So increasing/decreasing values really don't mean much to me. Hopefully when I pass on to the Hairband concert in the sky, someone will just take them and use them like I do.
 
djwhy60 said:
My collection is made up of Realistic brand items. Not worth much in most peoples eyes....but worth everything to me. My daughters understand my passion for them and have grown fond of them also. So increasing/decreasing values really don't mean much to me. Hopefully when I pass on to the Hairband concert in the sky, someone will just take them and use them like I do.
Click to expand...
Sorry but the hairband extravaganza is scheduled for a different venue and rightfully so. :D
 
Rob, still needing that knob, lol?

I have had this conundrum awhile now. Sold many pieces simply because I didn't have the space, AND the offer was so much more than I had given, it helped pay many a bill.

Now I have my final system (with endless tweaks, but the speakers and pre are end of the line for me) and I don't know what to do with the following -

Recapped AU-G99X (sitting idle)
Recapped/rebuilt Pioneer SX-1010 (also idle)
Recapped/rebuilt Pioneer SX-1250 (need I say it?)
Marantz PM-84D (hardly played since I bought it)
dozens of other great pieces.

Do I sell now, and move on?

It's anyone's guess.
 
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