Ugly vs Gogeous speakers

I find the form factor (as well as the sound) of my Janszen Valentina Active speakers to be just gorgeous.

twm3,

I'm on the fence with the looks of the JansZen speakers (I've been interested in hearing them).   They look promising, sort of a mix of retro and modern.  It's the type of thing that would look chintzy if the build quality is average, but if the build quality is such as to have more of a premium feel I think they could be nice to look at.

Imhififan

Really uggllyyy C'mon man

The thing that enhances the experience for me is knowing I got the best performance for the money.  (That doesn't mean buying from someone who doesn't know what they're doing or ripping anyone off in any way.)  I like the idea that I got something that performs better than stuff that costs far more but that most people wouldn't want because of the looks or not being a recognized brand, etc. 

I most like the looks of giant metal and or wood horns like the one in my moniker.

Otherwise I like sleek and unobtrusive. I like the looks of the latest home monitor speakers from ATC for example with the magnetic metal grills.

I tend to be ambivilent towards the looks of most tower speakers. Too passe. Later generation Thiels are nice. I much prefer the looks of a good old fashioned box speaker over most towers though. Harbeth does that well. OHM Walsh is elegant in its simple and most unobtrusive  appearence.

A great quote about seeing- “We see what is behind our eyes, not what is in front of them”. Us humans make up, in our minds, what is beautiful. This process is cultural, part of your own personal upbringing, and what your aesthetics, bias, attitudes, values have created. Even a “one eyed baby” is the most beautiful child in the world to it’s mother!

Oddly enough my wife thinks my Heresy III in cherry are very attractive.  

Every time I see a pic of the Lawrence Violin Speakers I think about cashing
in my Funeral funds at my Credit Union .

Heresy III very classy, nice looking, not too big box speakers on low stands. Me like! WAF very good too!

soundsrealaudio wrote:
 " When I was younger I designed and built a pair of speakers that looked like Pamela Sue Anderson. Thought I could mass produce them and they would sell like,,,well sell like Playboy magazine. I had some venture capitalists interested but all they wanted was a proto type to take home."  

These could have been big sellers if the port had been strategically located.  :-)

Have not seen for a while, but I suppose the speaker I recall that I found perhaps most visually appealing of all are Jadis Eurythmie.

http://www.monoandstereo.com/2015/01/jadis-eurythmie-special-edition-horn.html

Me like! Gotta convince wife.... Or settle for something similar but a bit toned down and more practical:

http://www.hifi-review.com/151568-jbl-studio-580.html

...also more WAF.

This one was very cool:

http://centralcal.com/ds.htm

Wife like Victorian!   Could be....

I like exotic woods liked striped ebony and at one point nearly bought a pair of Thiels just for that (and they sounded good of course). Alas, I have generally bought speakers for sound only…Vandersteen 1Bs years ago…a large sock…Silverline Preludes vinyl veneer in fake rosewood (looks more like walnut, but very resistant to damage), lots of all black stuff, rosewood Viennas. My recently acquired Heresy IIIs I yammer about were ordered as simply black, but I was sent the more pricey Capitol Edition Ebony that's sort of a dark purple with matched veneer you can't possibly see…fine with me. Note that the stock "salt and pepper" grills are prone to sagging (weird) and Klipsch offered to send a new set although they noted it's an issue with that grill fabric. I had already ordered a set of standard black grills that are sag free, and it was easy to move the Capitol badge to those since they use a rubbery sticky stuff that seems to have staying power. The black grills look great with the "purple" finish.

I like exotic woods liked striped ebony and at one point nearly bought a pair of Thiels just for that (and they sounded good of course).

Same here.

When I first started contemplating buying a Thiel 2.7 or 3.7 years ago someone had offered to sell me the most gorgeous looking 2.7s in ebony.  I knew they would be perfect for my room, but couldn't help be tempted by going all the way to the flagship 3.7s, so I got the 3.7s in a finish that is high quality, but not the perfect shade for my room.

Letting those original ebony 2.7s go nagged at me ever after and when a pair miraculously appeared (never seen them before or since) on Audiogon a while back I grabbed them as quick as I could.  And at a killer price!

They are among the most attractive speakers I've ever seen and are also a perfect color/aesthetic fit for my room. And fortunately I like their sound better than just about anything else I've auditioned (except they are neck-in-neck with my bigger Thiel 3.7s). So it's a win-win-win situation of having the sound I want with exactly the aesthetics I desired.

I'll buy for sound, even if the speakers are butt ugly.  I presently own a pair of Ohm 1000's painted black.  They look good to me, but I want speakers that let me forget I'm listening to speakers and allow me to concentrate on the sound rather than the source, which the Ohms do.  You CAN get the best of both worlds, but the whole point is basically what appeals to my ears, not my eyes.

Careful what you ask for:  I bought a pair of racing red KEF LS50s for the living room.  My wife loves their appearance so much she wont consider replacing them with KEF Reference 1s.

Look like Goldmund.  Super expensive!

B&W 800 Matrix. I remember looking and reading about them in stereophile when they first came out. I was in awe back then. I used to look at the pics and dream of owning them one day. Today they are now in my room and love looking at them and the sound is amazing. Don’t know what I like better the sound or their looks. 😂

Tannoy Definition 10T in cherry,  they ended my speaker merry go round, with both looks and sound.

My list of good looking speakers that I had at one time or another...

-Monitor Audio Gold GX50’s in Bubinga Rosewood, book matched
-Paradigm studio 60 V5 in rosewood
-Paradigm Signature S2 V.3 in piano black
-Kef LS50’s in Piano Black / Rosegold
-Kef LS50’s in Piano Black / Blue
-Kef Qx5’s in Graphite 
-Kef Qx5’s in Piano Black
-Dynaudio Xeo 6 in matte white
-Jamo Concert 11
and quite a few others that Im sure I’m forgetting!

I love the look of mbl systems, triangle art, focal, b&w, kef, magico and a ton of other high end manufactures.  

I like the exotic woods, shiny metallic paint, gloss white / black, matte colors. I like attention to detail and high build quality and sometimes you can’t really appreciate that sort of thing except for up close and in person!  Big horn systems are pretty damn impressive looking as well.

My Quad ESL57s without grilles look awful. Fortunately, they sound most excellent. See Virtual Sys.

Life is too short for ugly speakers.

Very true. Even if I won the lottery I wouldn’t have Wilson speakers no matter how they sounded. Sonus Faber, maybe. Rockport Avior, definitely. Tannoy Kensington GR, why not!

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0177/0142/files/Kensington-GR-2C6BF934-Grille-Off-Walnut-Fisheye_l...

I wonder if anybody has ever hired a decorator to help blend in fabulous sounding butt ugly speakers to a room?

I don't care what speakers look like, I just want to love how they sound. Having a dedicated room allows for that. When I listen it's with eyes closed, always. Focused, critical listening. Just me, sometimes also a friend. Saturday mornings for a couple of hours.
The living room and master bedroom systems have speakers that my wife likes the looks of and we both agree sound just fine. Those are for movies or background music.

"Decorators" pretty much NEVER incorporate speakers into room design, other than the ceiling mounted stuff that high end houses always seem to have. I like design as simply a minor interest, and thumb through Architectural Digest noting basically zero audio components anywhere...maybe a speaker shows up once in a decade...I think it's funny when speaker manufacturer's advertisements show their stuff set up near windows with a lovely view, with no speaker cables, and no regard to why it would be sitting in the middle of some spectacular room...lame, but I get it. "Hey Marge, you mind if I stick these yellow WiIsons under the Matisse?" I found  the Heresy IIIs to be relatively unobtrusive due to their short stature excepting their fatness, and they allow me to see my tube amps and other items more readily from my listening spot which allows me to stop those pesky tube explosions from destroying my house.

I get that many audiophile don't care what their speakers/gear looks like, it's all about the sound.

That explains the look of many audiophile dens (and...maybe...many audiophiles)....;-)

I used to watch an HDTV show where on one episode she designed a room around a bright gold grand piano(family heirloom).Quite challenging,but it looked really nice.On another episode the owner had some large Martin Logans that he was going to leave in the room.The designer and his wife banished them to another section of the house and they went for tiny in - wall speakers.So the garish piano can be incorporated but not the speakers?Silliness!

I would choose sound over looks 95% of the time but it’s not hard to have both. Mine are Paradigm Studio 100 V5’s in the cherry wood finish. A very good looking speaker as long as the grills are attached. Without, they are ugly. Brands that make the prettiest speakers are Sonus Faber and Salk. Jim makes gorgeous speakers. 

Given what is available in today’s market, it is not necessary to compromise on sound or aesthetics - especially speakers that are available in different finished or woods. The advantage of competition. The exceptions are electrostatics or large (or multiple box) speakers or those requiring positioning that dominate the room. 

Looks shmooks ... while I think most of my gear is beautiful to the eye, if I could replace my speakers with a pair of paper plates and amplifiers with a pair of potatoes while retaining the audio quality I'd sell my gear, replace it from grocery store items, and spend the savings on music.