For the Audiophile with a taste for good design(looks)....a question.
What are your favorite audio components and speakers based on the way they look (looked). Yes, I know that sound is what counts and that is my major influence, but I do enjoy well designed/good looking products. I no longer do, but did have a collection of art deco radios, both table models and consoles.....and that was all about design rather than their audiophile qualities. Thanks
"...their minimalist design which had been part of their DNA since the 70s, was not embraced into wider product design until Johnny Ive created the iPod and Apple made the look ubiquitous."
I believe that Jony Ive "took cues" (plagiarized?) the design from Dieter Rahms rather than from Naim.
No one should miss the The Wall, The Diamond, The Reflection, and especially The Minatour in your choice of Stainless, Bronze, Marble and more by Audiovisual Art.
Well, back in the day, Bang and Olufsen was the "design" audio company. Their stuff was middle-of-the-road in sound and it broke pretty much like the rest of the stuff in that sound range, but it was pretty.
We made some oak stands for it that we sold to our customers who wanted their stuff to be seen, but we were in the custom cabinet business as well, so we did like to sell the wall units and free-standing stuff more.
I don't follow them any more, but in the '70s and '80's we sold a ton of their stuff, and it was "designed" by people into Scandinavian design.
We also kept a Transcriptor TT in out shop; it does not actually play records, but it is pretty!
My home is designed in an "ultra-modern" way. 1. The Focal Sopra No 2 including center and sub are a very striking piece of speaker art, and have great sound too. 2. The Dalie Menuet SE is a beautiul small speaker that makes a bold statement, along with impressive sound for such a small package. 3. The Devialet Phantom Gold with Oak Stand doubles as both sculpture and audiophile heaven, especially on the bass. My audio equipment is spaced throughout my home, and is often seen while it is not in use. My goal was to "have it all," looks and sound. I believe that my system is getting there.
I privately study modern (post 1950) product and interior design. Hi-Fi design is of particular interest. To my eyes two Hi-Fi brands are at the pinnacle of design, where form meets function in perfect industrial design.
1. Naim ’olive’ series. This was the Naim design in the 1990s when they were arguably at their peak. So simple, so perfect. The ultimate interpretation of the stripped down ’black box’. Naim were ahead of the curve: their minimalist design which had been part of their DNA since the 70s, was not embraced into wider product design until Johnny Ive created the iPod and Apple made the look ubiquitous. Clean minimalistic interiors moved out of Scandinavia into the rest of Europe in the late 1990s - whilst Naim were there already.
2. Vitus electronics. To the OP - you will know better than anyone the beauty of Scandinavian design if you ran a shop selling it, and to me the Danish Vitus brand is the epitome of sleek, cool, minimalist Scandinavian design. And even better, they make the best sounding amps I have ever heard!
I’ve always felt that Musical Fidelity equipment was nice looking, even though I don’t have any. McIntosh and Pass Labs gear is always great looking. Dodd preamps sound and look good. Most tube gear is cool especially in the evening. I think it’s a combination of good sounding gear, stands, room treatment, organization and decoration. The system I idolize the most on Audiogon is by Lalitk, he calls it “A slice of Heaven”. His combination of cool gear and room treatment is outstanding. I’d love to hear it.
Good to have friendly input. Tis not the season to be curt or ill mannered. If you are somewhat new to AudiogoN, the mood around here is generally one of camaraderie.
I sold Tandberg receivers in college and I would agree that they are really beautiful. Rosewood cabinet and blue lit dials.
My 17 year old self was enthralled by the look of the GAS Ampzilla in Popular Electronics. I saw the real deal a few months later in an audio show, and had to have them. Cool meters!
So I built it...and after three rebuilds, it anchors my system yet again. I love looking at it, and it sounds remarkably good too, recapped with better capacitors and better driver and output transistors.
Millercarbon, I may not agree with your comments sometimes, but you obviously put great care into the details of your system and I am sure it sounds stupendously great. Your amplifier is beautiful.
Don't know much modern gear so I'll list some vintage. Tandberg receivers, Marantz 2130, REL Precedent tuner; if you like Art Deco you'll like those last two.
+1 on the B&O, Luxman, vintage Mac and 80's Technics gear. JBL 250Ti speakers.
Dan D'Agostino amps are kind of cool looking in a ridiculously overbuilt and in-your-face steam punk kind of way.
Miller carbon from what I can see your system is not very good looking. As for well designed I can't make any comments about that cuz I haven't heard it.
Another vote for Luxman, at least their amps. If you are into vintage equipment, Bang and Olufsen years ago made a beautifully designed turntable. Their Beogram 4002 model was on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in their Architecture and Design gallery. I like the current look of much of the current Magico speaker line. Kind of a modern industrial look to them.
Black boxes--since everyone buys them, that must be what everyone wants. Serious answer?-- Dodd Audio. Gorgeous wood fascia. Or how about putting marble faceplates on those black boxes--and the buyer chooses his/her favorite rock, like kitchen counters? (Acora makes speakers out of granite...and they even sound wonderful too). P.S. I like exposed, glowing tubes.
If my room looked like a science lab in front of me, even with a million dollar system in it, I would have very little enjoyment.
But what if it looked like a science experiment accompanied by a backdrop created with cheap, red, pealing wallpaper paired with wainscoting reminiscent of Kandy Kitchen in the malls? Would that help your overall sensory experience and musical enjoyment?
I don't care about the looks of my equipment per say, since I never really look at it as most of it sits by my side. But I do care greatly about the looks of the wall behind my speakers in my house of stereo since that's what I always look at. Hence it features artwork and color tones I can relate to and relax in. If my room looked like a science lab in front of me, even with a million dollar system in it, I would have very little enjoyment. To me the music experience is more than just the ears, it also involves every other senses. Just me.
It would be best not to say which country, but when I had my Modern/Scandinavian furniture store, an excellent company made furniture for a market that they did not sell elsewhere. When I asked the company about this, the owner said the _______ buy their furniture by the pound.
Some turntables appear to be on steroids recently. Hundreds of pounds of metal, chrome, brass, you name it. A few quite impressive. But I’ve always enjoyed the aesthetics of the more modest Oracle Delphi.
I like the looks of Accuphase gear and their solid state stuff is decent as far as solid state goes. For tube gear, VAC is nice looking and the no-nonsense look of Engstrom Sound sort of appeals to me.
But, I must admit I care very little about the look. An Audio Note dealer once had be listen to the top of the line AN-E speaker he had in the shop. It sounded really good, so I inquired about the amps that were running the speakers. He looked at me like I was an idiot because the amps were the Audio Note Kageki; I own a pair of Kageki. I did not recognize the amp because the first thing I did when I put it in my system was to install it backwards (ass forward) because the power switch is hard to reach at the back of the amp. I had only seen the backside of that amp for years.
When Vitus Audio first came on the market, a friend and I saw their room at CES. There was a very young man who was manning the room. After we had listened for a bit, he came over and asked what we thought of the gear. My friend responded: "It sounds like crap, but it looks really nice." The young man was thrilled with that response; it turns out he designed the casework and had nothing to do with the circuitry.
So, are you telling me I should not post images of my 1969 Craig system with the 8 track and 4 "slider" equalizer section? It does have those wonderful speakers with the inverted funnel over the speaker to "disperse" the sound in a "360" pattern so everyone can enjoy "Perfect Sound Forever"...?
With his rat's nest of cables and random boxes spread across a sea of 1971-vintage Marriott hotel red carpet, MC's room looks like a collision between an accident reconstruction lab at Failure Analysis and a Las Vegas brothel. I'm shocked MC hasn't been contacted by Home & Garden magazine or Architectural Digest for a cover shot yet.
Thanks, I will take a look. I have spent most of my audiophile adult life based on the sonics...and I just kind of recognized how much cosmetics have been part of my private life, business life and enjoyment, but seemed to hold that back on being a factor in my audio pursuit. The only overt "liked the way it looked" product I can remember was the CJ ART preamp.
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