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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
5,375 posts
 
Great, I am happy for you. Not everyone possess the know how or inclination to build their own class A amps. 

However, I do hear that one can easily build a class D amps with available DIY kits (thanks to HYPEX).  Whether they sound as good as Class A is purely subjective (please, let’s not debate class A and D merits here). 
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jssmith
309 posts
 
Well, since I don't believe in differences between amps (given the standard caveats), aesthetics is paramount. That's why I have a collection of vintage gear ... 77-80 silver-face and late 80's Pioneer Elite. When it comes to looks and feel, they don't make 'em like they used to.
yyman23
146 posts
 
It must look good. Even before I went off the deep end and into high end stereo, I've replaced a silver face plate DVD player in my old system to a black one. I like my cars silver and my stereo black. In my opinion, the prettiest ones to look at are McIntosh components. MC352 hands down the prettiest item in my system.
fynnegan
111 posts
 
I personally find it cheesy to get a stereo system with matching colors just for the sake of... matching colors.
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