$100 spent today on Audio Equipment compared to 10 years ago quantified

i notice the same thing .. my speakers from the 70s-90s just weren't anything close to what you can get now.. the "vintage" market is inflated though , imo.. everybody with old junk thinks they have "vintage audiophile" equipment...

gajCA said:

Especially for us older members this comes as no surprise.

"Since 2009, the price of audio equipment in the US has been plummeting. Advances in manufacturing and supply chain management mean that $100 spent on speakers goes almost twice as far as it did 10 years ago. "

This is a bit of a surpise though my first widescreen HDTV was $5000 and 60" (IIRC) in the mid 2000s, so about $7000 today. A 60" today can be had for $500.

"Incredibly, inflation data suggests Americans can now buy the equivalent of the typical TV sold in 1999 for about 4% of what it cost back then."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mar...e-expensive-under-trumps-trade-war/ar-AAFQoJO

My first 5.1 system with a "real" subwoofer back in 1984, (Velodyne ULD15), not including the TV and consisting of separate amps, a Shure surround processor, HiFi VHS and mid level 6" bookshelves cost about $10,000 in today's money.

I could replicate that quality for about $1500 or so today I would think.

So those who come in here with "only" a $1000 budget for speakers would be spending well over $5000 to achieve similar results back in the early days of surround sound.

Or said another way, new members can get better first surround systems than us old farts could for pennies on the dollar!

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I paid $1500 for 2 Cerwin Vega 12" speakers and HK amp in the early 90's. There was no need for subs and could easily blow the roof off. I'm in for the same $$ on LS50 and Denon X3500. Though I can't even come close to the levels on the CV &HK, sound quality on my current setup is miles ahead of what I could achieve with the old setup.

pase22 said:

I paid $1500 for 2 Cerwin Vega 12" speakers and HK amp in the early 90's. There was no need for subs and could easily blow the roof off. I'm in for the same $$ on LS50 and Denon X3500. Though I can't even come close to the levels on the CV &HK, sound quality on my current setup is miles ahead of what I could achieve with the old setup.

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For music you don't "need" a sub as there is usually not much content below 40hz or so, if that. Especially music of that era.

$1500 in 1992 is $2600 today.

gajCA said:

For music you don't "need" a sub as there is usually not much content below 40hz or so, if that. Especially music of that era.

$1500 in 1992 is $2600 today.

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Growing up in the mid 70's & 80's, every house you went into had a pair of refrigerator size speakers a tuner, amp, record player, maybe a tape deck and that's about it. No one had subs, centers and so on.

I'm a fan of that era's music and I'll say that listening to Pink Floyd with a sub(s) and without subs are 2 completely different experiences, even with modern towers.

I paid about $700 in 1998 for Polk Audio RT7 bookshelf speakers. Now the Elac B5 speakers at $300 are better in every way, except maybe for overall build quality.

For about $120 and some change, I can buy a near audiophile amp/speaker combo today consisting of a set of Pioneer BS-22's and a small little class T/D amp. There's no way one could duplicate this type of sound for anywhere close to that in the past.

This is what I did in my son's room and every time I hear him listening to it I wish I'd of had something like that when I was a kid.

From 1986. Not even a mention of a center channel though the Shure HTS5000 supported one and I used one, (powered NAD speaker flopped on its side).

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1986-07-05-0230350165-story.html

gajCA said:

Well, yes and no.

My friends who lost their home in the 2017 fires put me in charge of replacing their old 2.0 system and initially I was going to do 3.1 for them but it was clear they wanted just 2.0 so I pulled my old dead Sansui 881 out of the garage and had it repaired.

I have it sitting here waiting for their home's completion along with a new pair of LX16s and an old but "like new" 5CD changer my friend pulled out of his garage.

It sounds fantastic in 2.0.

That old 63 watt/channel receiver has zero issues driving those 5ohm speakers to massive SPLS with clarity and punch.

I played Michael Jackson's "Beat It" on them yesterday with its great dynamics and guitar riffs and it blew me away; every detail was present and accounted for.

I almost think it sounds better than my LX16s being driven by my 30 year old NAD 7250PE.

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i too think there are some good vintage amps out there .. my old early 80's technics was pretty nice.. only had about 40 watts a side but was nicer sounding as i recall, than my current avr's.. speakers i think are a bit different..

Lp85253 said:

i too think there are some good vintage amps out there .. my old early 80's technics was pretty nice.. only had about 40 watts a side but was nicer sounding as i recall, than my current avr's.. speakers i think are a bit different..

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Yes, the LX16s and Concept 20s at around $500/pair were every bit as good as the B&W CM1 Concept 90s I paid $1500/pair for in today's money in the mid 80s.

gajCA said:

Yes, the LX16s and Concept 20s at around $500/pair were every bit as good as the B&W CM1 Concept 90s I paid $1500/pair for in today's money in the mid 80s.

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i can't think of a real reason to try vintage speakers , too many good choices at good prices these days..

Lp85253 said:

i can't think of a real reason to try vintage speakers , too many good choices at good prices these days..

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gajCA said:

Yes, the LX16s and Concept 20s at around $500/pair were every bit as good as the B&W CM1 Concept 90s I paid $1500/pair for in today's money in the mid 80s.

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In the Zero Fidelity video linked below he answered some questions that were emailed in. One of them was what is your favorite speaker under $1000. He said he doesn't really have a favorite, but interestingly said if he was to spend $1000 right now on speakers he would buy a pair of vintage Polk SDA's.

djp2k7 said:

In the Zero Fidelity video linked below he answered some questions that were emailed in. One of them was what is your favorite speaker under $1000. He said he doesn't really have a favorite, but interestingly said if he was to spend $1000 right now on speakers he would buy a pair of vintage Polk SDA's.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L59TJ7nGYh8

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interesting , i'll give that a watch.. i like zero fidelity...

In 1966 I bought a brand new Sansui 500a receiver, complete with 17 tubes. I bought them in the Naval Exchange in Yokosuka Japan. I think I paid around $125 for it. I think it would have sold for over $200 in the states. Once I got stateside I bought a used pair of Acoustic Research AR2's, IIRC I paid $100 for them. It was a fair deal back then. Seems to me prices started raising pretty quickly around 1970 with the coming of high power solid state electronics. Today tubes are very expensive for decent equipment, and solid state is dirt cheap. My my, how things have changed.

I don't remember exactly how much it cost, but my dad bought a Sony Receiver, The Advent Loudspeaker, an AR turntable with a Shure cartridge and a Teac reel to real in the early seventies. Well over a $1000, probably more like $1300 in early 1970's money.
It was considered a top notch budget audiophile system, and it wouldn't even come close to something you could get for less than $1000 now in modern money.

drh3b said:

I don't remember exactly how much it cost, but my dad bought a Sony Receiver, The Advent Loudspeaker, an AR turntable with a Shure cartridge and a Teac reel to real in the early seventies. Well over a $1000, probably more like $1300 in early 1970's money.
It was considered a top notch budget audiophile system, and it wouldn't even come close to something you could get for less than $1000 now in modern money.

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I don't know...some of those vintage Sony stereo receivers put out some incredible sound. Liquidy and so powerful. SX-1250, SX-1980, etc. People say all amps/receivers sound the same. Put up the Sony against a modern $1500 avr and they won't sound anything alike. The Sony will crush it. It's the quality of the power supply and how much current it puts out.

Speakers are another story but it's a different sound today. One of my favorite speakers was the Polk Monitor 10. I bought a pair, upgraded the crossovers, and replaced the tweeters with the RDO 198's. Such a great sound and so enjoyable to listen to. Kind of like the Wharfedale Denton but far more bass and a much better tweeter (RDO-198).

If anyone wants to go down the vintage route sometime pick up a pair. Granted they are big and the looks, well let's just say they're vintage, but they sound fantastic.
http://www.audioreview.com/product/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/polk-audio/monitor-10.html

drh3b said:

Man, I really wanted some of those when they came out. Some goofy looking speakers that were hooked up in a strange way. I did read a recent review of them a few months ago, and the impression I got was they wouldn't touch any good modern speaker, although they were quite good for the time.

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Can you find it? I'm curious to read what they said. There was a recent review by highfidelityreview.com on the lower SDA-2 and they said...

"25 years later there are definitely speakers with better detail retrieval and more sparkle and air on top but the overall musicality and bass extension are hard to beat today and especially for anywhere near this price (and a used pair of SDA-2’s would only cost around $300 or so). The SDA technology is the finishing icing on an already tasty cake.
A quarter-century later I’m still enchanted and I recommend these highly if you come across a pair. They were a landmark product when they were introduced and are still competitive with speakers of greater cost today. The magic hasn’t faded, believe me."

And that was the poorer sounding SDA-2 with the two horizontal tweeters.