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Electronics : hide it Vs show it

My preference is to hide it as much as possible while not practical in our current place. We’re moving into a larger property soon and furniture plans are to hide the boxes in some sort of sideboard and just have speakers and turntable seen. It’s like large screen TVs to me. They look great when on but when turned off there’s a huge black rectangle on the wall, of course all my own personal taste.
 
Show. I have a Luxman amp, it’s pretty. And with 15” Tannoys, there’s no kidding anyone that I have a ‘discreet install’
 
Yank said:
I'm not that keen on the appearance of an "audio shrine" rack, but I can't be bothered to come up with another solution.
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I locate the electronics to the side and away from my line of sight when facing the loudspeakers. It does mean I need 8m long cables though. Thank goodness Mogami is cheap.
 
I’ve never even considered hiding my hi-fi as firstly it has be accessible. I’ve also tended to buy gear that’s as aesthetically pleasing to my eyes as my ears. E.g. my matching teak A&R A60 and wood trimmed Planar 3, both on a closely matching coffee table of even the same period.

The old Rotel amplifier I acquired a few months ago does trouble me as while I enjoy its sound its appearance and construction quickly earned its nickname of the Biscuit Tin: it is strictly functional. I have similar issues with my most of my speakers.
 
My speakers need to well away from walls. That means lots of space behind them for the rest of the system. Plus I don’t have cupboards big enough to hide it even if I wanted. Luckily it’s a dedicated music / office room so WGAF anyway.
 
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Apologies to those who have them, and despite having used one myself for many years, but one thing I can no longer stand is dedicated hi-fi racks. Too industrial-looking, most of them. I prefer furniture, and have come to think it makes no difference to the sound of electronics anyway (turntables are a different story).
 
I bought a sideboard with a view to hiding some boxes in the drawers. However, as it’s such a nice piece of furniture I wouldn’t want to make any holes etc so am probably going to get an integrated amplifier to put on top instead.
 
G.smith310 said:
Who does what ?

I prefer to hide my electronics (except turn table if I had space) but I get the feeling most people have theirs on show.
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I would add in-wall speakers, or a room large enough to have them hidden behind a curtain.
 
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everything is out in the open and the system is not ensconced in a tiny bedroom but the best room in the house. To the 'hiders' what's next, in-wall speakers? flush mount ceiling speakers? sounds like the wife is in charge.:rolleyes:
 
I would prefer to hide it all away if possible, apart from sources that is. Racks where kit is stacked in close proximity is not god for your music. Transformer EMI soup especially with toroid stray field being stronger in the vertical plane.
 
Tony L said:
Show, definitely, though all my kit is in the ‘vintage classic’ category and looks superb IMHO. I’ve never understood the desire for sparse, bland ‘follow estate-agent mentality’ rooms. My house is full of really cool stuff! I’d far prefer to look at a TD-124 or TL12 Plus than some bland poorly-framed picture of someone’s ugly children, which seems to be what many display in their empty echoey homes.
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Agree 100%. Excellent post, funny, cheered me up no end. Sparse sterile show homes leave me cold. That said I can't move my Mark Levinson No 333 power amp never mind hide it!
 
Hide for me. I have a big old linen press with large shelves. Two turntables on the bottom, 32.5, hi-cap and 110 mono-blocks, phono stage, SUT, printer, Mac-mini, QNAP, vintage Yamaha Receiver, B&O amp and tuner and still room for all the old cameras.
Records go in a separate cupboard nearby.
Works for us, my wife hates all the boxes and wires. I love the music. A good compromise. RSL cards in the Pre-amp helps to give remote volume control .
John
 
I prefer to hide "machinery" but choose to live in fairly cluttered living spaces. I don't think a preference for minimalism and a preference for hiding hi-fi are particularly strongly correlated. Much of scandinavian hi-fi has a fairly minimalist look (which I quite like) but it is intended to be displayed in scandinavian homes not hidden in cupboards.

When I was a teenager with a typical interest in popular music I wanted to use and show-off top of the range hi-fi. Of course limited funds dictated DIY and some modest second hand purchases to achieve reasonable sound quality but the desire was there for showy things like Lecson amplifiers, Transcriptors turntables and Gale speakers. This changed with age and a reducing interest in gadgets despite being an engineer. Or possibly because I was an engineer?

If I possessed a dedicated music room I would build in the speakers for sound quality reasons but would happily have had them out in the room if that was superior. The electronics would be built in to be neat and tidy but would be on display rather than hidden because they are a fundamental to the purpose of the room. Hiding them would be a bit strange. The exception would be distracting things like lights and meters which I would only want visible when being actively used rather than listening to music.

In a living space where listening to music is only one activity then a comfortable living space for all people and activities takes precedence subject to sound quality not being significantly degraded. Build in and/or hide machinery except possibly when in use. Display books, albums, CDs, ornaments, pictures, etc... but not hardware. Speakers might be an exception. In the current living room built in speakers either side of the fireplace would be the most attractive option but it would place the listening position against a wall rather than out in the room. A different location offers higher sound quality but both speakers cannot be builtin and so will be mounted on wall (and designed for this location) with a finish to match the rest of the room. Compromise. The electronics will eventually go in a cupboard under the stairs but are temporarily in a low cupboard with sliding doors with holes in the back for cabling and ventilation. Slide door open when in use and slide door closed when not.
 
puroagave said:
everything is out in the open and the system is not ensconced in a tiny bedroom but the best room in the house. To the 'hiders' what's next, in-wall speakers? flush mount ceiling speakers? sounds like the wife is in charge.:rolleyes:
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Not all audiophiles are gearheads.
Yes, a few speakers look stunishing but they take up living floor space and most of us don't have 30m2 sitting rooms, at least not in Europe and definitely not in the UK.

My playback system is a tool, no more and no less than a screwdriver or a hairdryer. I don't have those out in the open either. Do you?
 
Both!

Luckily Mrs C isn't bothered too much other than if the aesthetic of exposed kit offends. Which luckily isn't the case often.

In the ideal world, if we had sufficient space to accommodate suitable furniture there would be a degree of hide. That's the deal though for the dining room system, being housed in a purpose built cabinet to match other furniture.
 
If you hide it, you can't use the remote control to adjust the volume on the amp, unless the amp doesn't come with the remote. I often adjust the volume on the remote when the music is playing so it will all need to be out on display. Similarly with track selection.

Also, my hifi looks beautiful to me so it would be a waste to hide it. Having said that, there is no space or room for the hifi to be hidden out of sight so there's only one option left for me.
 
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