Worst: the current Krell stuff is ugly, they lost their way sometime after the first series of heat-sunk amps. The early fan-cooled amps up to '88 or so were cool--even under the hood (ever seen the inside of a KRS2 preamp from that vintage?). Early VTL was ugly, even the interiors showed signs the PCBs were laid out with marking pens! VTL always sounded much better than it looked. Naim comes to mind as well, I initially liked it for it's minimalist sensibilities but when you really study the cosmetics, it's ugly.
Best: ARC (past and present) and Levinson up to the very early '90s(silver knobs and pretty engraving) are so classic in my mind, that they transcend what is thought of as pretty or ugly. Early Krell was even cool looking, as was the natural aluminum look of Cello gear with instrumentation-style knobs--it looked serious. Most of the open chassis tube gear of today is pretty, current stuff like the big Wavac HE-833 which has a chassis milled from solid is especially sexy. Italians have a flair for style, like the Pathos and Unison Research but I'm told they don't sound nearly as good as they look...
Best: ARC (past and present) and Levinson up to the very early '90s(silver knobs and pretty engraving) are so classic in my mind, that they transcend what is thought of as pretty or ugly. Early Krell was even cool looking, as was the natural aluminum look of Cello gear with instrumentation-style knobs--it looked serious. Most of the open chassis tube gear of today is pretty, current stuff like the big Wavac HE-833 which has a chassis milled from solid is especially sexy. Italians have a flair for style, like the Pathos and Unison Research but I'm told they don't sound nearly as good as they look...