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I understand your point perfectly. I'm not a child, I understand inflation. The comparison is valid.
The Sansui was not a high end unit in '77 so your Mazda vs. Mercedes comparison doesn't really work. It was mid-fi stuff that you could find in any consumer electronics store in its day. They went for about $550 back then which would make it a comparable inflation adjusted price match for my friend's $1200 Sony. The only reason that you can get them for $150 on e-bay is that people don't realize that they were made with better components and often have superior sound. In other words, it's old so it must be junk.
I don't want to sound like a know it all, but this has been a life long hobby. I know what I'm talking about.
In my experience you could buy crap in the "Good Old Days," just like today. People tend to remember things selectively. Grandmas refrigerator that lasted 60 years sticks out, but her stove that only lasted 5 is quickly forgotten.
A couple of quick points:
1. Cars go more miles and have more features today. 200k was unheard of 30 years ago. Fairly common now.
2. Most manufacturers don't design products to be poorly made. They design them to be the best possible product FOR THE PRICE POINT. Products at a lower price point will naturally be inferior to those at a higher price point. This does not mean they are poorly made. It means you get what you pay for.
That might be true with cars, but for the most part the OP is right. I'm an audiophile. I'm into audio equipment the way that some guys are into hotrods. Most of my gear was made in the 70's and still going strong. When you open them up and take a look at the components inside, the newer stuff doesn't even compare. They put a lot of effort into making it look nice and flashy on the outside, but inside it's all junk. You're lucky if you get five years out of them.
I am also an audiophile, and I agree with you. I think most modern consumer stereo gear is built to have a lot of features, and to meet a relatively cheap price point. Thus they sacrifice in three areas. #1 is the area you mention-parts quality. Directly related to this sacrifice is #2: sound quality. A lot of the mid priced consumer audio gear just doesn't sound very good. And #3 recording formats also sound poorer.
Even music reproduced on a midlevel stereo can, and should, sound nearly lifelike. It should be three dimensional, with heft in the bass, breath in the midrange and a sparkle to the treble. A quick story from last weekend may be illustrative of points two and three:
A friend saw my stereo system and asked about the phonograph. "Why do you have a record player, Keim? Do you ever listen to it?"
"Yes, John, I do. It sounds great."
Sounds great? How could that be. CDs are the best sound available.
"Well, lets test that. I'll play a song twice. Once on the LP and once on the CD."
A few minutes later...
"The 2nd one was definitely the CD."
Why?
"It sounded much more full, alive and real. It was a marked improvement over the LP."
Is that so? "Well, John, you preferred the LP."
Before anybody asks: Both the CD player and the phonograph were midpriced units.
I definitely believe that todays mid-priced units tend to sound worse than mid-priced units from yesteryear.
In my experience you could buy crap in the "Good Old Days," just like today. People tend to remember things selectively. Grandmas refrigerator that lasted 60 years sticks out, but her stove that only lasted 5 is quickly forgotten.
A couple of quick points:
1. Cars go more miles and have more features today. 200k was unheard of 30 years ago. Fairly common now.
2. Most manufacturers don't design products to be poorly made. They design them to be the best possible product FOR THE PRICE POINT. Products at a lower price point will naturally be inferior to those at a higher price point. This does not mean they are poorly made. It means you get what you pay for.
You are absolutely right.
There are a lot of new homes whose construction & materials are nothing short of pure crap. But there are also new homes that are spectacular, and will last indefinitely.
I remember well the days when any car with 100,000+ miles was either in the junk yard or headed that way. Now, as you pointed out, 200,000 is very common.
It really does come down to supply & demand, which I think is excellent. If I had wanted a cheap cheap cheap miter saw, I could be a little off-brand 10" for $99.00 at Harbor Freight. But that's not what I wanted, so I bought a top of the line 12" DeWALT slide-miter - and believe me, I paid nowhere near $99.00 for it!
Grandmas refrigerator that lasted 60 years sticks out, but her stove that only lasted 5 is quickly forgotten.
I remember when my mother got her new refrigerator. It was 1960. She just replaced it in 2008. In all the years, she has had only one stove. An old gas one that never stopped working. It's nearing 65 years. She likes it because it has a wide area between burners. Her clothes dryer was new in 1958. She is still using it. Her first vacuum lasted 20 years. After that went, she has had to buy 3 others in less time. She raised 5 kids using those appliances.
A family member has a refrigerator he used in his kitchen over 60 years ago until he got a new one about 10 years ago. The old one is still used for beer and watermelon in the garage. They raised 5 kids using that old one.
In my experience you could buy crap in the "Good Old Days," just like today. People tend to remember things selectively.
This. From products to morals, people have an amazing ability to pick things out of memory that was either strongly negative or positive since it made an impression.
I too am sorry to see how some things are cheaply made nowadays. I specially hate many things made in China such as furniture, clothes, even food-I wish those could be done as in yesteryear and in America. However, I will make an exception for technology including cars. I really don't need my old LP player from the 70's...or our 1978 family TV. Technology is always evolving so there is no need for most tech items to last more than 5-10 years. If they did, you will be missing the next best and safest thing. Even the TV I bought 5 years ago is obsolete because it is too heavy and the screen too small for today's lifestyle. It is in perfect condition though so I am going to hand it down.
I too am sorry to see how some things are cheaply made nowadays. I specially hate many things made in China such as furniture, clothes, even food-I wish those could be done as in yesteryear and in America. However, I will make an exception for technology including cars. I really don't need my old LP player from the 70's...or our 1978 family TV. Technology is always evolving so there is no need for most tech items to last more than 5-10 years. If they did, you will be missing the next best and safest thing. Even the TV I bought 5 years ago is obsolete because it is too heavy and the screen too small for today's lifestyle. It is in perfect condition though so I am going to hand it down.
While that in some ways are true, you also have furniture from places such as Ikea, which closely emulate designer furniture 5-10 times the price, and I can guarantee first hand that Ikeas furnishings have increased greatly in value over the last ten years, while I might still steer clear of their sofas and beds, their bookshelves, kitchens, etc holds a very high standard at a very competitive price.
So as much as there's plenty examples of cheaply made products that break easily today, there's also plenty examples of cheap products of high quality.
That said though, adjust for inflations and average purchase power of today compared to the 30-70's and I'd be very surprised if you find many product that were indeed cheaper in those years, with the same quality.
It's well known that memory is selective, and we've been saying this very thing for decades, every generation will always think "things were better in the past", selective memory however does not make it true.
According to my DH, who is woefully aware of the lack of Yankee quality goods, the Sims fly-fishing supplier maintains a quality consciousness. Probably there are others.
People get what they shop for. We've become a nation of Wal-Mart shoppers, a company that uses slave labor off-shore, and sharp purchasing practices to obtain their price breaks. As long as we empower the Wal-Marts of the world, we get what we deserve.
According to my DH, who is woefully aware of the lack of Yankee quality goods, the Sims fly-fishing supplier maintains a quality consciousness. Probably there are others.
People get what they shop for. We've become a nation of Wal-Mart shoppers, a company that uses slave labor off-shore, and sharp purchasing practices to obtain their price breaks. As long as we empower the Wal-Marts of the world, we get what we deserve.
While I agree that a great number of people do shop at Walmart with the off-shore thought processes, I try NOT to buy goods made anywhere but the US of A...and....they DO NOT last as long as they used to. I still contend, the integrity today is far inferior to yesteryear! From 'my' experiences.
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