Jump to content

Collectible Audio Equipment


orionflood

Recommended Posts

I have a pile of old stuff I wish someone would come collect.

 

philp

 

There was a great billboard near Healdsburg, CA (and probably in many other places):

 

We buy junk but sell antiques.

 

 

So orionflood, as research for a pending project, I've interviewed a number of collectors of stuff from Star Wars paraphernalia to musical instruments, cars, and art. And they all say that old line is true: Only collect stuff you like because it's impossible to predict what will appreciate in or hold value.

 

Right now, lots of tube gear is considered pretty valuable. But who knows if that value will increase or decrease in ten to twenty years; maybe all that tube nostalgia is a (somewhat long-lasting) fad that will fade in a decade. 

 

And think of the museum vs tool/instrument dilemma: some collectors place more value on stuff in original condition than in working condition. It's totally that way with lots of furniture collectors. So if you have some historically-significant gear, do you want to keep it just as it was or do you want it to be usable now. Example: Recapping an old console could make it useable now, but might lessen its value in the future to a "museum" collector....better example would probably be having some work done on an 1950s Fender Telecaster...

 

Tangential but perhaps useful aside/example:

There's this great BTS video of an online editor, Heather Weaver, restoring an old Ant Farm video for a retrospective exhibition (maybe it was a recording of Media Burn; I can't recall). Anyway, one of the Ant Farm artists and a museum curator are in the room with Heather (an old acquaintence)... At  some point, there's some head-switching noise. Heather asks if she should fix it. The Ant Farmer says, "yes; that always bugged us." The curator says, "no; that's part of the work and we can't change the work" or some such. Passionate discussion ensues. I totally dig that.

 

Media Burn (jump to 5:00 if you're impatient)

 

And do you plan to rent out this collectable equipment? Maintenance and insurance on old stuff gets pretty high pretty quickly.

 

Also, don't be this guy. Unless you want to be this guy:

 

And don't, for God's sake, go all Hard Rock Cafe and place behind glass instruments and tools that could be used by working craftspeople and artists. That really bugs me...Takes something alive and places it in suspended animation. This issue is well covered in Toy Story 2.

 

Anyway, I'd say collect what you want to collect. But don't look at your collection as a long-term financial investment. Maybe look at it as short-term rental opportunity...Maybe...

 

Do you like working on old equipment? I know a couple musicians who keep crazy old (and some crazy big) synths alive because it's fun for them and because they use them. But they're investing in tools that they think are cool...not in items they can sell in the future for a lot of money.

 

Bottom line: Stuff from the 1950s and early 60s may have reached peak value...Expensive to buy and not much upside. Maybe collect studio gear, old synths, and guitars from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s...still available fairly cheap (so there's lower purchase cost and greater potential growth), and you could use it now.

 

But what do I know? (Answer: not a heck of a lot).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An interesting side note to Jim's comment about "original condition," reminds me of a number of years ago when I spent the night with a friend in Chicago.  He had a large pile of discarded computer gear stacked across one side of his apartment.  He mentioned that one of the items was the original computer that had been used by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Christensen) to start the first computer bulletin board (some of us remember computer bulletin boards -- you might call them a precursor to the internet). 

 

The Smithsonian had expressed keen interest, but then declined to take it when they learned that, over the time it was used, many components has been swapped out or modified -- not at all an uncommon practice for computer hobbyists.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Neumann have just resumed production of the U47 fet in a limited edition. While the original is certainly a collectible, and can be hard to find, this one may well become one, too. Apparently they have used their original plans to recreate the mic, but I don't know where the capsule comes from. A lot will depend on it and may play a role in the mic becoming a classic and collectible

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the theatre I'm currently working in, the in-house sound chap asked me to look at a pair of speakers that they'd removed from the control room to see if I thought they were any use or if he should dump them. He brought out a pair of pristine Chartwell LS3/5A BBC reference bookshelf monitors from the late 1970s and I told him they were excellent speakers and he should certainly not throw them away. One week later, after a short Ebay listing, a Chinese gentleman turned up with £1,800 ($2,800) in cash and took them away.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was an original spring motor Nagra

On eBay some years ago ... In the late 90s . Wish I had bought it . It was priced at about $2000 .

I recently bought one, a 1957 Nagra IIci, from a chap in Rome.  Very nice machine, spring motor still works perfectly, have not got around to checking out the electronics yet.  Came with the original leather case, in very good condition too.

post-7331-0-79348400-1413510355_thumb.jp

post-7331-0-84357700-1413510631_thumb.jp

post-7331-0-35001300-1413510422_thumb.jp

post-7331-0-70269000-1413510496_thumb.jp

post-7331-0-59844700-1413510684_thumb.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. Insane.

CrewC

Yeah, it's neat to see the reels spin smoothly with no batteries nor AC connected!  You can see a lot of swiss clockwork elements in the internal construction.  Stefan Kudelski said that after the war there were many experienced clock-makers looking for work, and some of them found a home in his shop and helped with the mechanical design (especially on the compact SN model that came in the early 60s).

The IIci was a transition machine for Kudelski, the last model with the Thorens spring motor, but the first model with printed circuits (what the "ci" stands for) inside.  I personally think the Nagra III was his greatest achievement, a quantum leap ahead in portable recording capabilities that set the company on its way, innovative in its design, which stood the test of time (lasted for 10 years until supplanted by the IV series that improved on it in many ways).  But I'm glad to finally own one of the earlier machines, built in a converted house when there were only a dozen or so employees in the company.  Maybe Stefan himself did some QA work on these before they went out the door...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Damn that's cool. If you have time (and some luck), would love to hear some audio recorded on that Iici.

That's the goal - "it WILL record", as the Nagra name states!  Bit of a winter project, checking out tubes, caps, rigging up 9v batteries to provide the necessary voltage (it originally ran on 2x1.5v D batteries, and 2x67.5v batteries, which were also used on portable tube radios).  Then find some suitable vintage tape stock to lay some sound on.  Should be fun.  Another few pics for your viewing pleasure.  Solidly and neatly built, as to be expected from Kudelski.

 

Two small gears that run the spring tension gauge in the front panel

post-7331-0-24173200-1413566308_thumb.jp

Thorens spring drive, with pretty massive flywheel to help keep tape movement reasonably constant

post-7331-0-39311900-1413566378_thumb.jp

View of top and tape path, tape flows from right to left, erase head faces right, record/playback head faces left

post-7331-0-49210500-1413566628_thumb.jp

The innards revealed, after removing the bottom cover.  1.5v batteries fit in lower left, big 67.5v batteries fit on the right side.

post-7331-0-80714600-1413566523_thumb.jp

Playback-Record switch on left, spring tension gauge in middle, tape transport switch on right

post-7331-0-67002000-1413567286_thumb.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyway, one of the Ant Farm artists and a museum curator are in the room with Heather (an old acquaintence)... At  some point, there's some head-switching noise. Heather asks if she should fix it. The Ant Farmer says, "yes; that always bugged us." The curator says, "no; that's part of the work and we can't change the work" or some such. Passionate discussion ensues. I totally dig that.

 

Those people are so full of shit. That's like somebody saying, "oh, I love vinyl because of all the ticks and pops." C'mon, it's distortion -- it wasn't considered an artistic part of the work. Head switching is garbage -- it's not part of the active video signal. 

 

There are far greater discussions among restoration artists on the issue of film grain. Should they remove some of it, most of it, all of it? Is it part of the work? Should they at least try to keep it even throughout the whole film? I'm in the latter category, but there are staunch film people who are very anti-digital, like Quentin Tarantino:

 

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/quentin-tarantino-says-restored-4k-print-of-fistful-of-dollars-shown-at-cannes-made-him-depressed-20141002

 

 

Sent to Forrest at Trew audio LA.

 
If it's for Hitchcock, I'm sure they'll make it a rush job!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it's not under warranty from Nagra, since it has an extensive after-market mod (Time Code Systems), and it's not under warranty from Time Code Systems because Harvey Warnke died about 20 years ago. I hope they get it running--the TCS mod really rocked.

philp

Indeed! I don't want to disappoint Mr. Hitchcock. I hope he doesn't need 23.976.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

rstl99 thank you for the photos. It's a beautiful machine. Interesting that it has 3 different power sources, 2 sets of batteries and 1 hand crank.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You're welcome, it's an interesting machine without a doubt, and Kudelski always had a knack for elegant, efficient design, layout of controls etc.

 

As Senator said, the two sets of batteries are to power up the tubes on board.  The crank winds the spring motor which moves the tape across the heads.  As you know, the III not only did away with the crank (with the dc motor), but the tubes as well, going with the then-new transistors.  I still think it's Stefan's most ground-breaking achievement and the "classic" Nagra.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...