Why Vintage Audio Equipment is Making a Comeback
In Manchester, Mars Tapes is one of the last shops in the UK dedicated exclusively to selling music on cassette tapes. Co-owner Alex Tadross says business is thriving. “When the Oasis tour was announced, we sold out of pretty much everything related to Oasis,” he explains.
Cassettes from the 80s, especially those of Kate Bush, are also big sellers. Tadross attributes this surge to the popular Netflix show Stranger Things, which featured her music. He adds, “We get a mix of customers. Many are in their 20s and teenagers discovering cassettes for the first time, but we also have customers in their 40s and 50s buying them for nostalgic reasons.”
The shop’s own branded cassette players are also in demand. “We’ve had people come in to buy their first cassette players,” says Tadross.
Mars Tapes’ success is part of a larger trend of people seeking out and restoring vintage audio equipment. Between 2020 and 2024, Google searches for “CD player repair near me” increased by 23%, while searches for “audio equipment repair near me” grew by 91%, according to data from SEMRush. A Statista report also forecasts that the global electronics repair market will double in size, from $122 billion in 2021 to $240 billion by 2033.
But why are music lovers turning away from digital music services and seeking alternatives?
For some, modern devices like Bluetooth speakers and earbuds lack the unique character of older equipment. “The market is flooded with devices that prioritize price and convenience but offer a sterile, impersonal experience,” says Sarah Dodge, strategic design manager at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. “When you repair something, you develop an attachment to it, which makes the experience more empowering and rewarding.”
Mark Maher, who runs Perton Electronics in the West Midlands, was once a manager for a multinational power transmission company. But as demand for repairs grew, he decided to leave his job and focus on fixing audio equipment full-time. “It got so out of hand that I had to close the contact section of my website,” Maher explains. He has been restoring a wide range of audio gear, including Sony Walkmans, radio tape decks, and portable CD players—items that customers are eager to restore for nostalgic reasons.
Maher believes vintage equipment is more durable and repairable than modern gadgets. “Things were built better back then,” he says. “They’re much easier to fix, and there’s a shortage of people who can repair them now.”
Maher also runs a YouTube channel, Mend it Mark, which has nearly 100,000 subscribers.
The refurbished tech marketplace, Back Market, reports that its audio equipment category has grown by an average of 123% annually since it launched in 2016, with record players being the top sellers. At the Fixing Factory, a repair center in Camden, London, manager Dermot Jones says audio equipment makes up a large portion of the repairs they handle. “Old gear lasts longer, and we can often find service manuals for equipment up to the 1980s,” he explains. “In contrast, modern equipment is often designed to break and is hard to fix.”
Jones also points out that older equipment often comes with diagrams inside, making it easier for technicians to repair.
This growing interest in repair is in line with the circular economy, which aims to keep products in use for as long as possible. Sarah Dodge explains, “Instead of sending products like CD players to landfill, repairing them ensures that all the energy used to create them isn’t wasted.”
For many people, restoring old audio equipment brings back powerful memories. Mike Hammond from Wolverhampton shared the story of fixing a record player his wife, Ellen, received as a gift from her parents in 1960. After it broke, Mike found Mark Maher to repair it just in time for Christmas. “On Christmas Day, I asked Ellen to go into the utility room, where she found the record player playing A Hard Day’s Night by The Beatles,” Mike recalls.
Ellen’s reaction was emotional. “There were tears,” she says. “Some of my cousins visited and said, ‘Oh my god, we remember seeing that record player at your house.’”
This heartfelt story exemplifies why vintage audio equipment is experiencing a resurgence—not just for its sound, but for the memories it helps revive.
