Unless you go for the shut away in a cabinet look of the old Radiograms and custom cabinets.
Isobariks are dainty ornate little things what with their fluting etc!
I would convince myself this is a great sounding amp regardless of anything!
More than would care to admit if my experience selling is anything to go by.I adore this hobby but I wondered how many of us choose hifi components because the design initially attracts us rather than actually going to audition a load of things and buying because it sounds good and say screw it to the looks.
Especially in this the classic section? As loads of people love the classic gear, but surely it's as much aesthetic as the sound that comes out?
Furthermore as all amps sound the same etc etc, surely it's at least a 50% visually driven hobby?
Isobariks are dainty ornate little things what with their fluting etc!
Purely on looks it would have to be... Pink Triangle PToo, with a Swedish Audio Technologies arm, Koetsu Red K Cartridge, Icon Audio PS3 Mk II Phono Stage, Marantz SL1 Pre, Marantz MA24 mono blocks into JBL L300 speakers. I suspect I could probably live with the sound it made as well.
Both, though since discovering (through much comparative testing about a decade ago) that it's quite difficult to buy poor sounding hi-fi electronics, and that sonic differences are often trivial, the visuals are dominant today.
If something looks crap I wont buy it, however good the sound because there is just so much great looking kit around that sounds absolutely great.
A hair shirt amplifier from a backroom boffin, however good it sounds, just wont get a look in when I can pick up a vintage Pioneer or Marantz, built like a tank and sonically more than good enough.
I strongly disagree with that! Both phono stages and power amps (I tend to use only passive pres) can sound so different from one another that some can render the system unlistenable to me but others can transform the sound into the truly sublime