Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
To be honest, I’ve put on a pound or two during lockdown. Need to get more exercise.
Aesthetics - how important are they?
- Thread starter tiggers
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To be honest, I’ve put on a pound or two during lockdown. Need to get more exercise.
Barrymagrec
pfm Member
Don`t call it a false cupboard, it`s an alternative cupboard.
Chris
pfm Member
All right floor to ceiling unit with 2 cupboard doors at the top and two at floor level with LP sized shelves in between. Built in living room wardrobe, then ? There is a gap behind which acts as a flue for theSuggie.
James
Lord of the Erg\o/s
Aesthetics are very individual, and of course we all care about it to some extent.
I like good design, and especially where form is dictated by function. My precious Pioneer M-22 amplifier is a stunning design, but I accept it is not to everyone's taste. Especially when loudspeaker cables have to be routed from the front. Bling it is not. I just like purposeful design.
OTOH, when I had a run of olive Naims, the varying shade/hue of the green/brown fascia drove me nuts. Why couldn't Naim make them the same colour.
I like good design, and especially where form is dictated by function. My precious Pioneer M-22 amplifier is a stunning design, but I accept it is not to everyone's taste. Especially when loudspeaker cables have to be routed from the front. Bling it is not. I just like purposeful design.
OTOH, when I had a run of olive Naims, the varying shade/hue of the green/brown fascia drove me nuts. Why couldn't Naim make them the same colour.
Martyn Miles
pfm Member
radamel
Music Fiend
This is an interesting thread.
Although consciously I put sound quality above everything else, I also love beautiful things. Some say the key for happiness is wanting what you have, and it's easier to want a beautiful well designed object.
It's also tempting to correlate aesthetic appeal and build quality with durability.
That being said, sometimes I have bought equipment despite its looks... My current Mytek Brooklyn DAC is a good example.
Although consciously I put sound quality above everything else, I also love beautiful things. Some say the key for happiness is wanting what you have, and it's easier to want a beautiful well designed object.
It's also tempting to correlate aesthetic appeal and build quality with durability.
That being said, sometimes I have bought equipment despite its looks... My current Mytek Brooklyn DAC is a good example.
Big Tabs
looking backwards, going forwards
Aesthetics - How important are they?
We have a room for the stereo, and I buy hifi, so it is my choice.
Black boxes apart from the record decks and the speakers.
I did buy a silver-grey coloured pure ipod dock/dac, but painted it black.
Nearly completed new shelving for the hifi (this has been going on for years), just one longish glass shelf on L-brackets for the turntable PSU, phono stages and aforementioned ipod classic dock. Also I need a bit of space for stylus cleaning paraphernalia, pencil and special tape.
I am also constructing a slide-in-from-the-side cable shield, which will be colour matched to the paint on the wall.
The effect is very pleasing. It also hides part of the shelving supports, giving the impression of floating shelves.
Aesthetics are important to me.
"we first covert with our eyes..."
I think it is a quote from Silence of the Lambs.
'Form follows Function' could also be part of this discussion, but I ain't there yet.
We have a room for the stereo, and I buy hifi, so it is my choice.
Black boxes apart from the record decks and the speakers.
I did buy a silver-grey coloured pure ipod dock/dac, but painted it black.
Nearly completed new shelving for the hifi (this has been going on for years), just one longish glass shelf on L-brackets for the turntable PSU, phono stages and aforementioned ipod classic dock. Also I need a bit of space for stylus cleaning paraphernalia, pencil and special tape.
I am also constructing a slide-in-from-the-side cable shield, which will be colour matched to the paint on the wall.
The effect is very pleasing. It also hides part of the shelving supports, giving the impression of floating shelves.
Aesthetics are important to me.
"we first covert with our eyes..."
I think it is a quote from Silence of the Lambs.
'Form follows Function' could also be part of this discussion, but I ain't there yet.
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I am with you on this. However, a move to valves meant a move to visibility and Psvane grey valves get pretty oppressive after two years. I have recently started playing CDs again. I know my ears tell me my Arcam alpha 9 transport in my ancient alpha 7 DAC is just as efficient in terms of sound as the more expensive ones I have tried, I nevertheless, just bought Bel Canto. Purely a matter of visual aesthetics. Until faced with the dilemma, I think I would have said I didn't give a damn about the visual aspect. Invisible speakers, to me, would indeed be a godsend.
BrianS
BrianS
Wolfmancatsup
Empire State Human
I do too. Not individual items particularly, but I do like a system to have a certain amount of uniformity as far as looks go. A system made up of three black boxes of varying width and a dull silver one doesn’t look so neat, to me.
Mick
Mick
The above should have been addressed to Martyn Miles backless cupboards.
Martyn Miles
pfm Member
Re. the iPod dock, I assume the Rolling Stones’ Paint it Black was the first track played.
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
How about two full width silver, one small form factor black, and three red, of two different sizes...
Tony L
Administrator
I appreciate good design and build quality and will always happily pay for it. I never confuse that with bling. Just really good industrial design along with long-term serviceability. To be honest it is another reason I have little interest in so much modern hi-fi as things have moved way too far from ‘form dictated by function’ to my mind. I certainly have no time for all the huge CNC-machined ‘bling for the sake of bling’ high-end stuff, it is extraordinarily ugly IMHO. I’ll take the timeless classics every time.
I guess it is a question of knowing yourself. In my case what I find aesthetically offensive seems to have a larger impact than what I find aesthetically pleasing. The former has a continual small negative impact every time I see it that doesn't seem to diminish with time and has in a couple or instances lead to items being impulsively given away before replacements were available (neither were home audio items). The aesthetically pleasing tends to comfortably fade into being part of the room over time. After a while there is no small positive impact when seen although I believe they do contribute to the background feeling of being comfortable in the room.
If technical hardware cannot follow my preference of being hidden inside a cupboard (e.g. displays, speakers to some extent, some controls) then they need to meet a minimum acceptable level of aesthetics. Since mainstream aesthetics seems to be progressively moving away from my conservative tastes established decades ago towards what looks to me like bling it has become a noticeable issue. I suspect I am not alone in this and it is part of getting old.
If technical hardware cannot follow my preference of being hidden inside a cupboard (e.g. displays, speakers to some extent, some controls) then they need to meet a minimum acceptable level of aesthetics. Since mainstream aesthetics seems to be progressively moving away from my conservative tastes established decades ago towards what looks to me like bling it has become a noticeable issue. I suspect I am not alone in this and it is part of getting old.
Chris
pfm Member
My phono stage has a yellow light which turns green when the heaters reach operating temp. Does that qualify ?
wylton
Naim and Mana member
Aesthetics are important, but it shouldn’t take precedence over good engineering. I’m a big of CB/Olive era Naim, but some of the issues, particularly with the NAP250 are down to a poorly designed case. Yes, it looks minimal and elegant, but it’s no good for getting rid of excessive heat and the height restriction limits the transformer choice too. I will admit that I do like my black boxes though!
Tony L
Administrator
Not one single thing ‘matches’ in any of my systems, but I have no issue with that at all. The only thing I don’t like aesthetically here is I obviously ran out of space and need a better solution for the reel to reel (which now has a Walkman Pro cassette deck sitting on top of it).
Not one single thing ‘matches’ in any of my systems, but I have no issue with that at all. The only thing I don’t like aesthetically here is I obviously ran out of space and need a better solution for the reel to reel (which now has a Walkman Pro cassette deck sitting on top of it).
Please change that lone Crabtree plug to a matching MK one will you?