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My "audiophile" weakness(es)...ie: how the item looks, and you?.

It's all about the sound.....right?  Well, with me mostly and most always.....however I am influenced by the cosmetics of audio gear.

The Maggie 20 are impressive, as are many Martin Logan's, and tubes....the glowing of tubes does have impact beyond the glow and heat.  Still love the "looks" of my original CJ ART preamp. 

As I look at the cosmetics/looks of audio gear I do give myself much slack...I know in sports cars, furniture, art and many other things how something looks does impact my thoughts......perhaps that explains some of the very pretty women I was with that were not actually very good people.....but they did look nice.  As a p.s. the best sports cars I ever drove were not very "pretty" as they were race cars...and the "pretty" street ones were much better looking but not nearly as fast/fun to drive as those race cars. 

Have you been influenced by how audio items look?  If you have, what are some of your favorites in the "looks" department?  Thanks for your thoughts/experiences. 







whatjd
cwlondon
1,210 posts
 
I support you in this excellent post, and wish the answers weren’t so binary.
I don’t know but I am pretty sure that Enzo Ferrari fought for his cars to be 1) high performance but also 2) beautiful.
So every time I hear some stubborn "audiophile" arguing that nothing matters other than the sound, that they don’t care what something looks like blah blah blah
I perceive them to be a) a Subaru (WRX STI) customer but more importantly b) someone I hope I never sit next to at a dinner party.
Cheers,
jjss49's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
@cwlondon 

not just wrx sti...

evo 9
996 gt3
alpine a110
lancia stratos

all are beautiful because of how well they do what they are meant to do


ebm
9,311 posts
 
What a revelation.
cwlondon
1,210 posts
 

I propose that any GT3 and the Lancia Stratos were also beautiful, and thus a higher expression of engineering and human achievement than the ugly ducklings (whether audio or racing) touted by the purely "objective" types.
Most Evo 9s disappear into the car park alongside the Subarus and the Alpine A110 is just low production weirdness, although I will give it points for being eccentric.
whatjd OP
1,139 posts
 
...I am not sure which was more stupid on my part, selling my CJ ART, or not buying the 246 GT Dino for 14K when I had the chance in the early eighties.  

This is an extremely non-politically correct joke:  

Do you know the difference between owning a Ferrari and being with a pretty woman?......in the long run, the Ferrari is cheaper and more reliable. 

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