How important is aesthetics to you in purchasing

I love to have good looks along with my good sound, but I have some good looking stuff, and some not-so-good looking stuff. Sound is the first priority, but good looks never hurts, if nothing sonically is sacrificed to get it.

I prefer the looks of open architecture tube amps and would not purchase a "boxed in" amp or one where the transformers sit in front of the tubes hiding them from view. I also would not purchase an over-styled garish product such as the current Musical Fidelity products or an ugly horn type speaker so yeah I think aesthetics are very important.

Good sound is my first priority; I'm willing to buy most components unless they are truly ugly (WAF), like the old bulbous Perreax stuff (sorry, just my taste).

The look of a product is important to me. Symmetry, simple layouts of controls, thick & shiny aluminum fascia, they all get my vote. The more wild a component looks, the more suspect it is. Swooping curves, spaceship looks, gimmicky mood lighting, wood accents and flourescent displays, all spell junk to me. It could be the best sounding, state of the art unit out there but if it screams "look at me, i'm modern looking" i'm not gonna have it in my home, even for free. Gimme understated elegance and classic lines everytime.

Looks definitely is a consideration. How some manufacturers design some equipment aestically is beyond me. Everyone has different tastes though, which is why many manufacturers off the choice of silver or black. There is enough good equipment out there that I don't find myself torn into buying a gorgeous sounding unit in a hideous box. The closest I've come to that is the VAC Renassaince 30/30 mk III. Sorry, it does sound fabulous, but visually it looks like it was designed by Mr. T. I don't mean to offend anyone, it's just not my cup of tea. I couldn't sit and look at that. Another example is I recently saw a used pair of Jeff Rowland Model 7 monoblocks, they sounded good, bit unbelievably ugly. Two blocks of what look like solid gold. I guess I can take the silver and black, but too much gold appears gaudy to me. I would prefer my stereo system to call attention to itself by sound, and not because it visually screams for attention. Though some of my equipment looks good, some doesn't, but I don't own any hideous things. Of course hideous is in the eye of the beholder.
I meant no offense to those who like the looks of the above mentioned equipment. Someone must like them or they wouldn't be selling. To answer the original question, yes, to some extent visual appearance comes into play. It is very rare for me though. My wife will complain about appearance long before I will, hence the dreaded term WAF.

Cheers,
John