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How important is component “aesthetics” to you?

Obviously, performance, sound, etc is what matters most. However, some super fine, high performance products are just plain ugly. Aesthetcs does play an important role for me since we have placed a lot of emphasis on furnishing our home. 

Anyway, my search for a preamp has led me to the conclusion that ugly is more the norm. I love the look of glowing tubes with the Primalunas, mystere, Atma-sphere, Rogers, Decware, mapletree etc. In the solid state world, the macs have those famous blue meters. Even the “fake tube” older Peachtree components looked really nice. 

Just curious how “ looks” play a role when choosing components?
aberyclark
inna
5,245 posts
 
Aesthetics is a subjective thing. Generally speaking, I don't care when it comes to equipment. I do care when it comes to wives, though.
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
My F5 resides in a topless HiFi2000 4U case with no markings or adornments. When people see it the first thing they do is gaze down inside it and I beam with pride. The case itself looks beefy as all hell, but it's the stuff inside that gets the attention when people look at it right before they're blown away by the sound. I kinda wish commercial products showed off their guts because that's where the real beauty is to me. 
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
1,105 posts
 
@kosst_amojan, 

“When people see it the first thing they do is gaze down inside it and I beam with pride”

I believe this would be a normal reaction for any topless component...what’s so special about your F5, do you care to elaborate?
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,645 posts
 
Speaking of topless components, a friend of mine used to leave off the top of his Krell KSA-250 claiming it helped with cooling but he was really showing off the jumbo coffee can size transformer. This practice stopped promptly when a guest left her wine glass on top of the transformer one evening......
larryi
1,972 posts
 
Most of my gear is either really plain boxes or has truly ugly form-follows-function utilitarian looks.  I don't care at all.  When I had an Audio Note Kageki in my system (now on loan to a friend), I installed it ass-out because the power switch is on the back of the mono blocs and it was easier to use with the back panel facing forward.  I once was at an Audio Note dealer and asked about a particular model in a rack because I did not recognize it; it was a Kageki facing the right direction.
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