advertisement


Name a 'beautiful' amplifier.

I guess it may be possible that the designers know that most blokes actually like ‘biscuit tin and lights’ designs and are just playing to that market? Nah, I know. Well then I think we have stumbled on the fact that a Designer never saw the product at all. Engineers yes but designers? The big companies must have however, so in their case??? Going back to the Alfa analogy it may just be that aerodynamics and sexy curves go well together, whereas heat sinks, knobs, dials and small boxes don’t encourage the unique. Ergonomics needs too much priority?
 
51095833710_f8a2ba6ebc_m.jpg
51095574633_57502b627f_m.jpg


Jadis Orchestra Bespoke. "Biscuit tin and lights" again I suppose, to quote @Rockmeister, or
form following function.
 
Whilst I probably wouldn't use the word beautiful to describe an amp i find these all fairly tasty and appealing.

Cb Naim Nait
Alchemist Kraken ( Green hammertone finish)
Sugden A21a (late 90's cursive print)
Copland pre and integrated amps from the late 90's.
Unison Research SR1, Mystery pre and Smart 845 monos.
Michell Alecto.
Sugden Headmaster pre and Music master power amp.
Pass labs Aleph power amps.
Hovland valve pre and valve power amp.
Tron Atlantic power amp
SJS pre, phono and power amps
Anything by Sugden in the Stealth finish.
Airtight amps.
90'S CJ pre amps and most CJ power amps.
Luxman valve pre.
Triode Corp amps.
Anything by Thomas Mayer.
LYRA Connoisseur pre and phono stage.
Brinkmann pre, phono, stereo and mono amps.
Various Allnic phono, pre and power.
Papworth 'burgundy' valve amp.
SF Musica.

Hopefully little in the way of 'biscuit tins with flashing lights'.
 
Last edited:
I was struck tonight as the day ended how subtle and pleasing were the two power lights of my old mission Cyrus integrated amp plus it’s PSU. Side by side, same size and just disappearing into the gloom of their cupboard. A single point source light behind an oblong piece of coloured plastic, long enough that the illumination fades towards the edges.
In contrast, the never-changing glare of the digital information panel of my Arcam Alpha Plus on the next shelf is just unrelenting. So my most beautiful amp is when I can hardly see it...
The half width Cyrus amps are a minor design classic. Instantly recognisable in any of their iterations
 
7 pages in, and more of the same-old same-old, and precious little innovation. Naim black boxes and Meridian brown are neat enough, but beautiful? Hardly. This is a product that could be put in any enclosure, and we still go with variations on a biscuit tin. The tables some of the stuff is standing on are the only bits with any beauty. It's proof, if any were needed, that this hobby is doomed to die when the last of this already middle aged generation drops off the perch. It's like asking the BSA owners ' club to name a beautiful bike and they can't get past the 1968 A10.

The fact that none of the manufacturers feel the need to depart from the biscuit tin, choice of grey or silver, model tells you what you need to know about the market.

Find myself completely agreeing with this. Even as a Naim fan I wouldn't say their boxes are anything more than.... not ugly! And any thread that puts a Nagra product in the 'beautiful' category has jumped the shark. Very very few audiophile products are beautiful... they don't need to be to appeal to the likes of us..... the best we seem able to hope for is 'not hideous'. It's sad really.
 
Don't think 'beautiful' is quite the right term for these, but despite never even hearing them, I have always lusted after a Mission 776 and 777 combo since I first saw them back in the day..

aYnsLVah.png
Me too. Ace stuff!
 
Very very few audiophile products are beautiful... they don't need to be to appeal to the likes of us..... the best we seem able to hope for is 'not hideous'. It's sad really.

There seem to be three schools of audio design; a) don’t try at all (lazy black boxes with no discernible aesthetic design or ergonomics), b) get it right, which is anything from vintage Braun, Quad, Lescon, B&O, Meridian, silver-face Pioneer, Marantz, chrome-bumper Naim etc, and c) try way, way too hard and fail catastrophically, e.g. all the hideous oligarch bling-fi Daytona600 is posting. Some of it looks like the design team was Donald Trump and Homer Simpson FFS!

As ever good design tends to be form dictated by function and ergonomics. That has never changed and just because it is incredibly easy to CNC bizarre shapes does not make it a good idea! The best audio design is a real asset to any room and timeless IMO, e.g. you could put say a Pioneer SX980 or a Quad 34/306 in any room decor and they would look great IMO. Same with a lot of proper vintage valve power amps (Leak, Quad, McIntosh etc) as they are beautifully executed form dictated by function design.
 


advertisement


Back
Top