Does your amp/preamp/int amp have to look good?

No, but mine do. A mere coincidence.

Looks matter to me. However...

- would I buy something that looks good and sounds good? Of course. This is the ideal.
- would I buy something that looks bad but sound good? Yes. Sound matters more.
- would I buy something that looks good and sounds bad? Of course not. Again, sound matters more. No one buys an amp to stare at it but never turn it on (unless you own a stereo museum or something).

If choosing between various components, I would choose the one that looks best if it was a tie in terms of sound. But at the end of the day, what you want more than anything is to sit down and listen and to really connect with the music. It's all too easy to assemble a system where this doesn't happen.

It has to look like it will sound good.

YES, looks are 100% important. I really like the industrial rack handle look and rack handles are very usefull too. I was really bummed when the designs went away from this trend and towards a more "living room friendly" look, and now allot of expensive gear is being sold in little more than a folded-up sheet metal box that looks like something from Square-D Electical!!

What is the best looking bad sounding amp? The worst good sounding amp? I nominate my Atma-sphere gear for the greatest gap between sound and looks (sounds good), I don't care what it looks like (some actually like the way they look, but....) Probably not much of a market for amps that both look bad and sound bad.