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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
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.
zavato's avatar
zavato
903 posts
 
Funny how in the right context a simple industrial design can be viewed as truly attractive. It’s almost that the more sophisticated the system, the less style seems to be in play. However, sometimes I also find very costl6 gear is overstyled. Makes me wonder how much $ is the bling part and how much $ is the real performance. 

That said, I think all of my gear is aesthetically ok. A friend has asked if he can have sex with my Bottlehead headphone amp. I guess that’s a compliment. And with the lights off or dim, the MR78 is amazing. 
erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
I don't want ugly gear, but as I have had to move and adjust to different living conditions I have to say: Smaller is Better!

What I long for are big CJ tube amps, monoblocks...what I have are Class-D monoblocks that fit on a shelf over the TV.

Even for simple things like pre-amps. Why do solid state pre's all need to be 18" deep? Why can't they be oh, 10" deep?
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