7 ms·

Decent used equipment from the 1970s might well have more useful life ahead of it than a brand-new Sonos setup purchased today.

taneq 7y ago
It's the same with tractors from the 70s and 80s.
- vvanders 7y ago
  Not always the case, we old our '81 Ford specifically because parts were getting harder to come by and no one made them any more.
userbinator 7y ago
It seems to be like that for cars too --- you can still easily get parts for a complete "classic 60s-70s" American car powertrain (carbureted V8 with points ignition, 4-speed manual/3-speed automatic, RWD live axle), with lots of aftermarket support and performance enhancement, but later models when computers were introduced are far more difficult and expensive to find parts for.
bogle 7y ago
My Sonos system is bridged to the perfectly fine 1980's hi-fi setup in the lounge but that bridge is now out of support from Sonos. Feeling a bit ripped off here as I only bought the bridge four years ago.
Timberwolf 7y ago
What I like about the '70s stuff is almost everything uses standard parts you can get from any reasonable factor, and the few unique components are usually still simple enough that some hobbyist or small machine shop will be turning them out and selling them. Providing it hasn't been abused it's possible to refurbish something using only simple tools and a bit of testing, and some of the equipment is seriously good even by modern standards. (One of the main reasons I ended up with a '70s turntable is I couldn't find anything new under £1000 with the same sound quality, or that didn't require directly fiddling with belts and pulleys to change the speed.) By comparison, whenever any of my modern kit breaks down I find the offending part will be unique to that unit, the spare parts supply is nonexistent, and there will be no published specs allowing one to cobble something together.

taneq 7y ago

It's the same with tractors from the 70s and 80s.

vvanders 7y ago
Not always the case, we old our '81 Ford specifically because parts were getting harder to come by and no one made them any more.

userbinator 7y ago

It seems to be like that for cars too --- you can still easily get parts for a complete "classic 60s-70s" American car powertrain (carbureted V8 with points ignition, 4-speed manual/3-speed automatic, RWD live axle), with lots of aftermarket support and performance enhancement, but later models when computers were introduced are far more difficult and expensive to find parts for.

bogle 7y ago

My Sonos system is bridged to the perfectly fine 1980's hi-fi setup in the lounge but that bridge is now out of support from Sonos. Feeling a bit ripped off here as I only bought the bridge four years ago.

Timberwolf 7y ago

What I like about the '70s stuff is almost everything uses standard parts you can get from any reasonable factor, and the few unique components are usually still simple enough that some hobbyist or small machine shop will be turning them out and selling them. Providing it hasn't been abused it's possible to refurbish something using only simple tools and a bit of testing, and some of the equipment is seriously good even by modern standards. (One of the main reasons I ended up with a '70s turntable is I couldn't find anything new under £1000 with the same sound quality, or that didn't require directly fiddling with belts and pulleys to change the speed.) By comparison, whenever any of my modern kit breaks down I find the offending part will be unique to that unit, the spare parts supply is nonexistent, and there will be no published specs allowing one to cobble something together.