The frontier between ''vintage'' and ''junk'' ?



Seems that the word ''vintage'' is used more often than need be.

Once person's vintage may be another's junk, and vice-versa.

Is there a stretching of the word in your opinion ? When can an audio component be classified as true vintage?
sonicbeauty
Tpreaves, I don't think anyones has confused "vintage" with Asian boats either.
When it comes to stereo equipment, I guess vintage refers to a specific age. Whether or not it matters to you and me depends on the sound.
Sonicbeauty, I agree with your implied position.

Scanning posts on Vintage Asylum I'm amazed and amused by many of the products discussed. Lots of amps, receivers, speakers, etc. were not considered all that good when they were new so why get excited over them today?

It seems many folks use the vintage label strictly based on age, not quality or any other enduring qualities. Even age is arbitrary as some consider 5-10 year old equipment to be vintage.

So maybe it is like the evolution of antiques. I remember when an item must be 100+ years old to become an antique. That was adjusted to mean pre-WW 2. Now I see items from the '70s called antiques. So I guess vintage audio is just staying in step with the times.
It seems many folks use the vintage label strictly based on age, not quality or any other enduring qualities.
Which is arguably correct, as TPReaves and Rrog have indicated. "Vintage" can indicate superiority in the making of certain wines, such as Champagne, but outside of that particular context it arguably relates just to age and not to quality.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vintage

Regards,
-- Al
Also, there is ambiguity in the term "vintage" even in the field of wine. For many kinds of fine wines, such as French Bordeaux, every year is considered to be a vintage, with some years considered to be great vintages, other years considered to be poor vintages, etc.

While with wines such as Port and Champagne only excellent years are declared to be "vintage years," and bottles so labelled will consist of wines that are just from the year indicated. Champagne that is bottled in non-vintage years, on the other hand, is usually a blend of wines from several different years.

Regards,
-- Al