Do you care about the LOOK???

Oh...and about the look of audio components, as well as watches.

I would vote a resounding Y-E-S!!!!! for audio, for cameras, kitchen appliances, furniture....for that matter just about anything.

Not to say that looks are everything, or that a beautifully designed, mediocre component is desirable. I I have never owned B&O for example, and dont expect to until they hire a new team of engineers.

But to say that looks dont matter is a chippy, naive, provincial position, IMO.

An English Caterham 7, or for that mattter, even a "pimp my ride", Fast and Furious Honda CRX can probably leave many Ferraris in the dust.

But WHO CARES. Unless you are economically challenged, I dont think anyone would say they wouldnt prefer the Ferrari.

The Ferrari is a powerful, magical brand because it combines performance with craftsmanship and beauty.

If more so called "high end" audio companies thought like Enzo Ferrari, instead of Japanese car tuners, there would be fewer people in the world who viewed us as the lunatic fringe.

Cheers

cwlondon

Cwlondon, Found some dirt bag versions of the Rolex in Souel, Korea e tia won dong street for 35 USD but some nice ones in Hong Kong. They were all cheap pin-lever movements though. It was amazing but, not amazing enough for me to own one. Cheers!

Sure, looks are important, though not as important as the sound. It's nice to see a little artistic or archtectural flair to go with the good sound, so the piece just doesn't loojk like another black box. The Art of producing great Audio sound should be complemented with a pleasing appearance.

Looks aren't important unless you have money to burn.

I'll take the ugliest, cut corners $1000 anything that sounds like a $5-10k anything over a great looking $1000 something that sounds like a $800-1000 something

kwim?

All of us contributing to this thread OBVIOUSLY care about how our equipments sound AND look. The truth of the matter is that we are blessed with so many choices of components in performance and aesthetics. Two different amps with similar price, performance, and sound, and one is "visually more pleasing" to you--which one would you choose?