Articles & News

How to Buy Vintage Audio

Alright, before you begin you should know that this is NOT your simple four paragraph ‘buyers guide’ so often seen everywhere else. This article contains reams of information and is very, very looong. If you wish, you can simply skip to certain areas but I strongly recommend reading this article in it’s entirety at least once…

Vintage Audio Glossary

The following is a glossary of terms relevant to vintage audio equipment:

AC: Alternating current. An electric current with periodically changing polarity. In popular parlance, often used as a synonym for electrical house (or mains) current.
Acoustic Feedback: Unwanted acoustic interaction between output and input of an audio system, usually between loudspeaker and microphone or turntable cartridge. Can lead to “howl”.

Back on Track

When did you throw out all your 8-track tapes? Mid eighties, right? I remember the day. I’d already switched to cassette and was contemplating a move to CD. A lot of my 8-tracks had bitten the dust anyway, victims of deformed rollers, tangled tape, or being left too long in my truck under the hot Texas sun. And I didn’t even have a working player anymore.With considerable pride in my ability to kiss the past goodbye and embrace the future, I tossed my last five or six dozen 8-tracks into a box…

$1000 Worth of Sound

The following article is re-printed by permission of Audio Discourse. (A big thank you to Mr. Dave Clark)

Analog is a smarter bet than ever for audiophiles on a budget. Excellent turntables are available from Pro-Ject and Music Hall for around $300, although that may still represent a big investment for those who want to experiment with analog before making a high-dollar commitment…

eBay Do’s & Dont’s

Special thanks Paul Gill, and to guest eBay author, Joanna Gurnitsky, for this list. This is part of the Become a Power eBayer reference series. This article is written with permission from the author. For more great tips and information about eBay and the Internet, go HERE.

EBay “Do” #1: Ask Questions

Never place a bid, or “Buy it now”, without a careful examination of the auction first.

Record Care and Cleaning

Record Care & Cleaning

Believe it or not, even stored records will still accumulate dust, and when that happens, you’ll have to clean your records before playing them.

To clean vinyl (LP’s): Use a solution up to 20% isopropyl alcohol (one part isopropyl alcohol to four parts water), and gently wipe the record in a spiral motion, using a soft cloth, from the center out to the edge. Pat it dry with a clean, anti-static cloth. A fine camel hair paint brush can remove visible …

Murphy’s (Audio) Laws

I.1 – All warranty and guarantee clauses become void upon payment of invoice

I.2 – Dimensions will always be expressed in the least usable terms. Velocity, for example, will be expresses in furlongs per fortnight

I.3 – Identical units tested under identical conditions will not be identical in the field

Innovative Audio Cassette Deck ‘Shootout’

A quick introduction… It should be clearly noted with regards to this ‘shoot-out’ that certain factors were simply unavoidable. The first being that each deck was used, had one or more owners/users before being in the possession with the current owners, and that the actual amount of hours on the heads are almost impossible to determine. In essence, absolute ‘perfect’ results would be impossible to produce but we certainly took the extra steps by insuring that each deck had been given attention to detail and was working to the best of its ability at the time of the shoot out. The only exception to this was the Aiwa, as it was believed that there may have been a misalignment during this event. It should also be noted that we did not drag out oscilloscopes…

What About eBay?

Please note – the following is a rather dark view and should be read as an opinion only.

EBay, for the most part, can be a great place to find those marvelous treasures of yesterday and today. Literally thousands of items are at your fingertips, just waiting to be ‘won’.

I have personally bought and received many items through this site and, except for a problem or two, have been relatively happy. This is true for a great many people out there…