what constitutes vintage?

[dingus]

how old must a piece be to qualify as vintage, where's the cut-off date?

[thekid]

You have raised an issue that comes up from time to time. There is no set standard in audio as there is in say automobiles. Some argue that it is only a question of the age of the gear. Some say it is the quality and the age of the gear (i.e. a 30-year old Sound Design all in one system is not vintage). The real hardcore argue that anything solid state can not be vintage. It really does not matter IMO what you want to label your gear others will use their own standards anyway.

[02audionoob]

I agree with thekid. Vintage is old and good, not just old...and how good matters more than how old.

[Feanor]

how old must a piece be to qualify as vintage, where's the cut-off date?
This is an old debate, one to which there is no definitive answer. The issue is not only age but quality. (I mean, strictly speaking "vintage" applies only to grapes, and this year's vintage is just as much a vintage as 1917's).

Personally I like to think of vintage typically as things built in the 1970s or earlier. '70s gear tended to have certain characteristics (which I consider appealing):

No, (or very few), integrated circuits, i.e. all discrete components, (though possibly one PCBs, not necessarily point-to-pointed wired)
Analog vs. electronic controls and ...
... certain types of analog controls
Rotary volume controls vs. sliders
Rotary selectors vs. push-buttons or electric touch switches
Flip switches vs. push-buttons
Analog meters, (if any) vs. electronic
Silver or champagne colored faces vs. black.A classic example: this Kenwood KA-5700 integrated amp:

http://www.vintage-audio.com.ua/pict_mod/cat_items/569_pict_big_kenwood_ka5700_b.jpg

[dingus]

sounds like pretty much of consensus so far, and i would agree with the criteria given to this point.

what about anything meeting the above, but expanding the time range to include everything in the pre-digital age?

[TheHills44060]

I always think of 50 years as the cutoff for something being vintage. The 1970's definitely seem too recent for me to think of it as vintage.

[Feanor]

I always think of 50 years as the cutoff for something being vintage. The 1970's definitely seem too recent for me to think of it as vintage.
If you a tube and point-to-point wiring guy, then you'll certainly feel that way. Good ol' Melvin Walker felt that "vintage" should be restricted to the acknowledged classics such as the Marantz 7 preamp, (which he happened own).

See internal pic ...
http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/image.php?image=466254&is_user=0

Such things are collectors items, of course, and fetch such high prices that nobody would buy them for the usage value. The guy above wants $3900 and HERE (http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatube&1308846577&/Marantz-7--Tube-Preamplifier)'s one on Audiogon: $4375.