Why is black so popular for components?

Black, silver, gold, brown or gray - certain audio manufacturers have their approved color and when they try a different color, it just looks wrong, while other manufacturers can get away with it.

- cj in black is a violation, because their gold or champagne color is what we are used to
- ARC in black is also not recommended because silver Audio Research products just look better
- Threshold looks better in silver than black as does Crown.

Let us not turn this into any kind of race thing, because that’s just insane, but it just now occurred to me that when certain manufacturers makes their products in silver, IMHO, they don’t look as good in black, as per the above examples.

But when a manufacturer makes their products in black, then makes a smaller number in silver or white, they tend to look better and more interesting in a color besides black.

For ex: B&K - the majority were made in black, very few in silver, but the silver ones look really cool. Adcom in white, Tandberg in silver, Nakamichi in silver. But early Haflers looked better in brown than in black. NAD has always been gun metal gray, anything else would be uncivilized. I’m sure there are many more examples, but I can’t think of any at this time.
It’s kind of the same thing with sports teams and team jerseys. As an Eagles fan, I always liked when the Cowboys came out in their dark uniforms because I don’t think they play as good in their dark blue jerseys.

In summation, I think color is just what we get used to from manufacturer to manufacturer.

lou -- I'd swear my long gone, very early NAD gear (1970's?) was brown.

Yes, my NAD amplifier and both NAD tape decks were all a shade of brown, with small variations. Not enough for incongruity but certainly noticeable.

NAD have stuck with brown, albeit a much darker near black shade nowadays.

Arcam on the other ditched the distinct brown shading of their gear in the 90s (curvy NAD?) and went for a more modern clean look with their Diva range and especially FMJ ranges.

Gone were the slight gentle curves and in came sharp straight lines. Both were available in dark brown and silver with the Full Metal Jacket Range managing to look very upmarket. As they should have with their more upmarket price.

Yet strangely enough Arcam seem to have changed the design once more and now their products once more look a little those of NAD, with a near black / brown finish.

You can only assume that these various changes have been carefully considered. NAD’s have been quite conservative but Arcam’s haven’t.

At a guess I’d say that the Diva and especially the FMJ range were adding unsupportable manufacturing costs so hence the revision to a basic functional look.

I bet Arcam now wish they’d copied NAD a little more.

Seems like tube equipment has more color choices than solid state.

Yes, you guys are correct and I am colorblind. The NAD’s were brown. I have a later model an NAD 4300 tuner which turned gun metal gray I think and not as nice as the older brown.

Funny how colors and cosmetics can be such a big thing!

Anyone remember when Perreaux changed their cosmetics from the ever classy white components to the stainless steel fat looking ass. I always thought the 80’s Perreaux was one of the greatest looking components out there.