Best looking / worst looking amps & preamps

OMG! I just saw the Ampzilla 2000. WOW! I think I may need to vomit. Looking at it's like having a sharp object crammed into your retina. You win James. No one can top that(I hope)unless they hire some designers from the old AMC automobile company.

I like the MACINTOSH gear,have taht timeless classic look.I second on the AUDIO RESEARCH,simple look and understated but elegant.For bodacious I would have to go for the PERRAUX,were they on crack when they made up that design or style.Looks like a fireplace mantle and a real fireplace mantle looks better.

Some of my favorites have already been mentioned above, but here are some of the preamps and amps I like best, followed by those I don't much care for:

Best looking preamp/power amp combos from same manufacturer:
1. Hovland (HP-100 pre and Hovland Sapphire amp)
2. Classe Omega Mark 2 preamp and power amps
3. YBA "Passion" series (in silver)
4. Pass X-2.5 preamp and XA-150/200/300 series amps
5. Spectral DMC-12 preamp and DMA-100S power amp
6. Accuphase (sumptious quality and finish on their whole product line)
7. Rogue Audio R99 preamp and M120 monoblocks
8. Ayre K-5 pre and V-5 amp
9. Aloia pre/power combo
10. Mark Levison Reference Pre No. 32 and No. 336 amp
11. BOW Technologies ZZ Reference series
12. Bryston BP-25 pre with 4B-ST or 14B-ST power amps
(with 17" silver faceplates; amps without handles)

Best looking preamps:
1. Conrad-Johnson Premier 16 and 17 Series, and ART
2. Klyne 7LX
3. Bel Canto PRE6 (multichannel)

Best looking power amps:
1. Linn Klimax 500 Solo and Twin
2. Jeff Rowland
3. Kora Concept Cosmos monoblocks
4. Art Audio PX25
5. WAVAC HE-833 SET

Least attractive preamps:
1. Hafler DH-110 (I owned one and it did a good job for the money, but it looked a piece of equipment in the armored personnel carrier I had as a unit commander in the Army)
2. Nagra PL-P

Least attractive power amps:
1. Manley Snappper and Stingray; Manley Steelhead phono
2. HeadRoom "The Max"
3. The Hafler DH-200 and DH-220 (I owned one of each in the early 1980's and thought they were a good value, but they sure weren't much in the looks department)
4. Niro (the one that looks like a cross section of a jet turbine)

Don't know about being the "best" but very fine looking (and sounding) nonetheless:

Preamp/Amp: Graaf 13.5B, Graaf GM-20 OTL (stereo block) -- I own this (italian) preamp/amp combo at the moment.

Also Supratek "Syrah" preamps are something to look at. I have one in order. Also agree with Hovland Pre and Tenor OTL amps.

The prize for "expensive but ugly" goes to LAMM.

Worst: the current Krell stuff is ugly, they lost their way sometime after the first series of heat-sunk amps. The early fan-cooled amps up to '88 or so were cool--even under the hood (ever seen the inside of a KRS2 preamp from that vintage?). Early VTL was ugly, even the interiors showed signs the PCBs were laid out with marking pens! VTL always sounded much better than it looked. Naim comes to mind as well, I initially liked it for it's minimalist sensibilities but when you really study the cosmetics, it's ugly.

Best: ARC (past and present) and Levinson up to the very early '90s(silver knobs and pretty engraving) are so classic in my mind, that they transcend what is thought of as pretty or ugly. Early Krell was even cool looking, as was the natural aluminum look of Cello gear with instrumentation-style knobs--it looked serious. Most of the open chassis tube gear of today is pretty, current stuff like the big Wavac HE-833 which has a chassis milled from solid is especially sexy. Italians have a flair for style, like the Pathos and Unison Research but I'm told they don't sound nearly as good as they look...