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Why are vintage speaker prices so high right now?

I know how much my labor is worth, but I'll be damned if I can sell anything for even close to what it is actually worth locally. I will not sell on ePay with a shipping option, to risky after all the hours spent restoring something to a near perfect condition. Uh Uh, I ain't gonna do it! The problem is that the buyer wants it shipped.
 
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quiet said:
I don't think the members of AK represent the lion's share of the people that appreciate old speakers. I think speakers made with good cabinets and that sound acceptably good do and will always have a worldwide audience. Stuff from the 60's and 70's in general is becoming more popular at an accelerating pace as time goes by. If it's durable and made of wood, metal, or glass there is an increasing market.
So, fear not my friends, it will outlive us all well into the next century.

As for the junk, there's less of it around every day.
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I know many here that love the older stuff and pair it with period correct electronics, Something of a certain level of quality is always a solid bet. Where the new stuff looses me is manufacturers trying to build a small scale cabinet and get a large scale impact. Small speakers are fine but part of how larger cabs create a large sonic presence is via the volume of air being affected both in and outside of the box itself.
 
Bodyblue said:
I finally got a pair of Nova 8Bs for $50. The cabs were perfect but two tweets and one mid were dead. But with new caps and working drivers all in for about $125, they are a freaking steal! First set I have recapped that made a big difference. Hands-down the best sounding RS speaker I have ever heard.

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Nice , great job. One of the reasons the recaps probably didn't affect the others that much is that the caps were probably well inside of operating tolerance.
I'll bet 70% of the stuff that goes through recapping didn't need a thing. It's more of a buzzword with alot of people, and because of others posts they feel compelled to do it at all costs and it's not always neccasary , and if done with cheap parts or poor soldering skills it's more of a detracting than a healthy addition. I always give a quick visual inspection for obvious disasters. If it passes the early inspection I just listen for a while. Bench fees and premium parts are to expensive to waste on things that are working correctly.
 
FOH Engineer said:
Nice , great job. One of the reasons the recaps probably didn't affect the others that much is that the caps were probably well inside of operating tolerance.
I'll bet 70% of the stuff that goes through recapping didn't need a thing. It's more of a buzzword with alot of people, and because of others posts they feel compelled to do it at all costs and it's not always neccasary , and if done with cheap parts or poor soldering skills it's more of a detracting than a healthy addition. I always give a quick visual inspection for obvious disasters. If it passes the early inspection I just listen for a while. Bench fees and premium parts are to expensive to waste on things that are working correctly.
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I would not agree. A speaker that is over 45 years old more than likely has caps in it that are way out of spec..
 
FOH Engineer said:
Nice , great job. One of the reasons the recaps probably didn't affect the others that much is that the caps were probably well inside of operating tolerance.
I'll bet 70% of the stuff that goes through recapping didn't need a thing. It's more of a buzzword with alot of people, and because of others posts they feel compelled to do it at all costs and it's not always neccasary , and if done with cheap parts or poor soldering skills it's more of a detracting than a healthy addition. I always give a quick visual inspection for obvious disasters. If it passes the early inspection I just listen for a while. Bench fees and premium parts are to expensive to waste on things that are working correctly.
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All of the ones I have capped have been from around the early to mid 70s. All have shown a definite difference, but not a huge one. The 8Bs showed the most results for sure. One of the areas that Radio Shack saved money was by using cheap caps. And 45 year old cheap caps need to be changed at least 90% of the time.
 
In my opinion any cheap electrolytic capacitors from vintage speakers should be changed! If you can hear the difference is another story. How many of us own very good test equipment that use multiple frequencies to thoroughly test the old capacitors? I have recapped numerous old speakers and a difference in the sound is always audible to me. The newer electrolytic caps are a bit better than the old days. If you enjoy the sound from your speakers, regardless of age, then let them be. Nobody I know can possibly know how they sounded from the factory, or remember after 30 plus years, lol. Of course this has nothing to do with pricing, sorry, just saying.
 
seanserafini said:
scum was probably too harsh a word. I think we can all agree exploiting overseas labor is in a different league than reselling.

I agree reselling does not harm anyone really since its a free market. I’m personally not a fan of it though. I prefer to leave “deals” that I don’t want for myself for someone else to hopefully discover for themselves. It’s kind of similar to concert ticket scalpers imo, just because it’s there doesn’t mean you should buy it and charge the next guy more.
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I have done it a FEW times, but honestly something just seems or feels "Wrong" about doing it.

Kinda like my neighbor gave me for free a non working snowblower, a fairly pricey one, and I got it going quite easily. I thought about Selling it for a few hundred, but my inner dialog keeps saying..."Wow that is a jerk move".......It is not legally wrong, but just ehh feeling.......
 
doctorolds said:
In my opinion any cheap electrolytic capacitors from vintage speakers should be changed! If you can hear the difference is another story. How many of us own very good test equipment that use multiple frequencies to thoroughly test the old capacitors? I have recapped numerous old speakers and a difference in the sound is always audible to me. The newer electrolytic caps are a bit better than the old days. If you enjoy the sound from your speakers, regardless of age, then let them be. Nobody I know can possibly know how they sounded from the factory, or remember after 30 plus years, lol. Of course this has nothing to do with pricing, sorry, just saying.
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i will disagree.

i have recapped plenty myself...and in my experiences, in AR speakers...POLY caps always sounded more metalic or lacked the smoothness of cheaper electrolytic caps. I have regretted it many times.

does that mean poly are bad? NO. it means to my ears the original style cap just worked better with the original older design.

Im not a EE or a electrical expert, just know what type of sound pleases my ears. PLUS the electrolytics (daytons) are far less $$$.

I did 2 pair of AR 9's. the pair with Electrolytics sounded smoother and more pleasant. The poly capped pair were always a little sharp to my ears.

to each his own. Ill never buy poly caps again. I will also say some of the newer caps in later AR speakers didnt decay nearly as much as the Older ar3---ar9's did.

the worst of all---erse yellow caps.
 
Makes more sense to compare the USD to other currencies rather than just in an inflation calculator since the whole world has been battling inflation especially since the COVID pandemic. The highest value of the U$D to the Euro over the past five years was in October of 2022, but the fluctuation in value hasn't been more than 2¢ over that time. For instance, when Trump left office it was at its lowest value compared to the Euro at 0.82 Euro. In October 7, 2022 the USD was worth 1.03 Euro. Today we are at 0.92 Euro. Inflation, meanwhile has fluctuated from a "normal" of 5% to a high around 20% but that's based on the cost of goods we buy like gasoline, and food and not really the "value" of our currency.
 
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