Jackson business owner loves finding, collecting vintage audio equipment

Walking into The Audio Video Guys store on Old Cape Road in Jackson, expectations should be checked at the door. Instead of TVs, the walls of the company�s headquarters are lined with vintage audio equipment.

Business owner Brett Smith said the business, which deals in custom installation of entertainment systems, came about five years ago, and with it, his massive collection of used technology.

�The customer has some stuff in their storage room, �Hey, you know, do you want that?� That�s kind of how it really started. And through that, you start discovering the history of some of this stuff,� Smith said.

He said the collection is a representation of hi-fi audio at its peak.

�In the late �70s and early �80s, these manufacturers were at the top of their game and looking for market shares,� he said.

A vintage turntable from the 1970s is seen in the home of Brett Smith, owner of The Audio Video Guys, on Thursday in Jackson.Andrew J. Whitaker

That market resulted in the hundreds of affordable and high-quality products now in Smith�s possession; items such as Bozak�s Concert Grand loudspeakers from the mid-1960s, and Bower and Wilkins 801s from the early 1980s.

The Jackson native said collecting has become like an addiction, and many of the antiques, after some light repairs, perform better than most of this century�s products.

�Ironically, there�s no better quality recording than an analog vinyl recording,� he said. �Any digital recording is compressed, so you�re losing something.�

Smith said he often repurposes the equipment rather than it being retired or tossed out. The 6-foot-long record console in their office, he said, has been suited to stream Pandora.

�It all has such different characteristics,� he said. �It�s about putting the pieces together; system matching and finding what works well together.�

Brett Smith, owner of The Audio Video Guys, shows off his personal audio collection at his home Thursday in Jackson.Andrew J. Whitaker

Smith dreams of one day opening a shop specifically focused on vintage audio equipment, but said that goal is still a ways off.

�The opportunity, if there�s any, lies with the young people, the nostalgia of it,� he said. �Something that sounds really good for a fraction of the cost and a piece of history.�

At Smith�s home, the collection continues. The entertainment room in his basement displays the functionality of his hobby.

�It�s kind of the old versus the new. It�s a home theater, but I�ve integrated all this old stuff into the new technology,� he said.

For context, he puts on a Dire Straits album, flooding the room with crisp guitar licks and rich ambient bass. The speakers responsible for the rich tone, Smith explained, were the same model used in-studio for the creation of the Beatle�s �Abbey Road� album.

Brett Smith, owner of The Audio Video Guys, shows off his personal audio collection at his home Thursday in Jackson.Andrew J. Whitaker

Smith said there is some revenue in the buy, sell and trade that accompanies his hobby, but the majority of his business comes by way of solutions for home-entertainment systems.

�We focus on the entire package,� he said. �What�s the experience like when you turn on a movie or put on a record?�

Smith is content to stumble upon the items that make up his collection while he awaits the right opportunity to open a vintage audio shop. He said he would be the only guy in the area dealing in the business and believes there is an interest.

To people who know nothing about it, he said, they are just a bunch of old speakers. To Smith, though, those old speakers are a legacy.

Pertinent address:

1335 Old Cape Road, Jackson, Mo.