Looks vs. Performance - How would you mix and match?

I hope that one day someone builds a SS amp that looks like a tube amplifier with gloriously lit valves on display.

Best of both worlds.

My JVC micro system has a couple of valves on display (purely for cosmetic purposes), but sounds none the worse for it. The wood cone speakers I'm using with it probably help too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/JVC-UX-D150-Wireless-Micro-Amplifier-Silver-Black/dp/B01DACR3FY

Always wanted to install a nice turntable in an old victrola...

That's the kind of imagination I was looking for, @thecarpathian

I just always wanted a Victrola never mind stuffing anything into it. My grand mother had one and in spite of my insistence that I inherit it it dissipated into the ozone:(  I was only 5 years old. Anyway I always loved the look of old Marantz stuff. May be stuffing an ARC preamp into a 7C?
I would certainly stuff a Model 9 into a Model 9. I heard them driving K horns with an Ampex reel to reel.Think of the impression that made on a 13 year old who was building a Dyna Stereo 70 and trying to drive AR 2Axs with it. The FuzzLinear 700 was still years away.

mijostyn, old victrolas are really cool to have. Pretty cheap too if you get a model they made a bunch of. I got one in great shape here in CT. for $150. Tiger stripe oak, bunch of needles and about a dozen 78s. Love to wind it up, put on an old classic love song, and grab my sweetheart’s hand for a dance. It really transports you to another time. Check out your local Craigslist, you might be pleasantly surprised.....