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Investing in Vintage Stereo - Is This Stupid?

I flip gear all time like many of us I can sell 140 dollar units all day long to people who believe that audio gear is an investment. I put something of more value up for sale it sits took me 1 years to sell a Fisher 500c for 700 bucks.
 
joe_tex said:
I guess you could compare this to people who invest in collectable vintage cars.
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Few genuinely invest in collectable vintage cars. Most who "invest" in vintage cars -- or vintage motorcycles, furniture, stereos, or anything else -- are collectors and hobbyists who try to justify their collections on the basis of a serious financial purpose rather than mere frivolous fun.

How many vintage anything "investors" get a better return on investment from their collections than if they'd left the total cost of ownership in a typical savings account?

I bet it's very, very few.

Collect because you love the collection and an investment in your happiness and preserving things of value, but don't delude yourself into thinking it's a sound financial investment, because it isn't.
 
Any "Investment" is a good one...If you guess right. If you guess wrong, it was a bad one. They all have inherent risk. Buy low and sell high! And, good luck.
 
You have to consider that ANYTHING is only worth what someone is willing to pay. I have a houseful of antique furniture, classic guns, and a ton of vintage audio gear that are "supposedly" worth far more than I paid for them--but only if I find the right buyer. I know what the value of my stocks, bonds, CDs and annuity funds are worth, and I can cash them in at any time and be guaranteed to get that amount of money--right now. If I need to "cash out" my furniture, guns, or audio gear, there is no guarantee as to what amount of money I can/will get, and how long it will take to make the sale at an "acceptable" price. So although these could be considered "investments" in that they are physical assets that have some monetary value, there is no guarantee as to what that value is if/when I choose/need to liquidate them.

The audio market is particularly "fickle" in that certain brands/types of gear come and go in and out of favor (and subsequently value). I agree with many others that the "bubble" is about to burst. All of us that have hoarded and restored all of this gear (and it is a finite supply) will eventually be "downsizing" for any number of reasons, so the "holy grail" pieces (of which you see one overpriced listing on Eprey), will eventually turn into 20 listings of that piece competing for a sale--happens with everything--classic cars, homes, and yes, audio gear.

So I wouldn't bet the ranch or my retirement on audio gear.
 
If I were to invest $20,000 in vintage stereo equipment this weekend, you can expect Monday's headline news to be that University of Cornhole researchers, in conjunction with the US Dept.of Hobbies and Leisure, have determined that electronically reproduced music causes brain scabies, ear rash and impotence. Professor Priscilla "Dusty" Snatch explains, "Although music as naturally produced is benign, the processes involved in recording and re-creating it, and squishing or forcing it out of a couple pieces of old silver faced electronic equipment and artifically moving the soundwaves through speakers just screws up your brain. Not to mention what it does to the environment. That **** should be outlawed".
Immediatly after the announcement, Congressman Sparkly Tooth (I-NJ) called for hearings as early as this Wednesday, or at least before the TV cameras are moved on to another hot story.
When asked about the financial impact of this announcement on the Vintage Audio Industry, Rep. Tooth replied, "Well, this industry may be too big to fail, but right now all I can say is that the players in that market might have been a lot smarter if they would have invested in UPS or Fedex. Those guys make a killing moving all that heavy crap from one investor to another".
 
One point I should make, and I don't know where you cut off the "hipster" designation, but I see kids all the time getting into this stuff. While many of them are getting garbage Crosley players (or the equivalent), I have also seen many get into vintage gear and realize it's worth using. This doesn't answer for the bubble, but I do believe that there will be interest as the kids that are currently teenagers continue to play along. It'll be another 5-15 years before they're out of college and in jobs - which means disposable income - but I think that'll be the next wave (but like I stated before, I still think prices will be around half of their peak). At any rate, I don't think we'll see all this wonderful gear simply stacked up at the dump, which is something. It's all speculation, but that's my 2 cents!
 
Honestly, I do not buy/collect gear as a means of a 401k plan. Upgraditus, I guess. Just looking, (listening for the sound my minds ear is seeking). Excess gear is
sold off, (at a small loss at times) to recoup funds for another upgrade.
 
Waiting until an Investment seems to be "Taking Off", is probably too late to take advantage of any significant earnings. The typical investor invests after something is already reaching it's peak price and then sells too late. Which is not "Buy Low and Sell High". It is "Buy High and Sell low" Not the way to make money. The ship has already sailed on that particular investment.
 
Played the "I can make money buying & selling gear" in another area. Here's two points; 1) you make you money on the buy - if you buy at market value you are not making money, and 2) the per transaction value is so low you'll have to do a lot hustling to make real money.
 
That ^^ is very true.

I do buy gear and keep it, but for me it's more a savings account than an investment. A way to put my money in things I can sell without much (preferably without any) loss when needed. And the trick is definitely to find bargains way below market value, which is why I often buy stuff that needs repairs and get it fixed. But that works only because I have access to an obscenely cheap tech.
 
The vintage boom has probably peaked, but prices are still higher than 5 or 10 years ago. So this is not the time to buy and rehab if you want to make money. Wait for a crash, buy at or near the bottom, fix 'em up, then wait (hope?) patiently for the market to go back up.

Shouldn't be more than 10 years.

On the subject of markets, supply, and demand, twice now since summer I have run into people who were absolutely euphoric about the wonders of vinyl, but neither had vintage turntables or amps / receivers. When I told them that I rehab beautiful old gear, it was obvious from the blank stares that they didn't know what I was talking about.

An insignificant sample, but it may be a mistake to equate the current enthusiasm for vinyl with enthusiasm for vintage gear.
 
OP here. Thanks for the replies. I was just toying around with this idea as something that could be a profitable hobby. It was never meant to be a quick flip type of thing. The talk of a price ceiling bubble has been around for several years, yet some vintage gear just keeps incrementally going up in price. I have actually given my pioneer and marantz receivers to my 2 daughters with a pair of pioneer cs-99a speakers for each one. I know they don't really appreciate it like I do. It just amazes me how some of this stuff remains in high enough demand to keep appreciating. One daughter has really developed an interest in vinyl, so I gave her my dual 701 and old record collection from the 70's to use.
 
Years ago when I was a young Furniture rep, one of my best dealers was an older gentleman who had been in the furniture business for forty plus years. I'll never forget what he told me one day, 'I never made a dollar when I sold something, I made it when I bought the merchandise."
 
Invest in delivery/shipping companies! At least until drones take over.
Like anything, buy low sell high. But for fun only.
 
onwardjames said:
Personally, I think this whole vintage thing has peaked. Baby boomers are starting to thin out, and while the hipster quotient will keep things alive a bit longer, my gut tells me that those with disposable income and desire to obtain will drop soon like sh%$ty diapers.

But like chef free said, do it if you want to, and yes, I doubt you'd lose much money.
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Therein lies the problem. I am at the front end of the boomers. Over the last several years, I have collected, bought and sold some nice equipment. I have bought pieces that I craved but could not afford in my youth. I am not really actively seeking more equipment, although if a piece that I like at a good price comes along, I will pick it up. I am actually thinking of downsizing and thinning the herd. My kids and grand-kids are not much interested in my stuff and I am sure this applies to a lot of us. That means there will soon be a lot of stuff dumped on the market which will knock down the current prices. As others have said-buy for your pleasure. There are better and safer investments.
 
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