How Much Do Aesthetics Factor Into Your Decisions?

36-24-36 … good aesthetics…

is there an “understood” metric equivalent?

Aesthetics are not high on my list - to the point where unless they are disgustingly ugly (and I have seen some that are) I only look for good sound.  I did have a minor battle with my wife when I acquired big Wilsons - first when three large crates weighing 1100 lbs. showed up and again when I had to explain that the speaker grilles had to be taken off  for listening (presumably viewed by he-who-must-be-obeyed as making them even uglier).

To me if it sounds beautiful it is beautiful. 

In a living area aesthetics are very important. Therefore small and unobtrusive.  In a listening area (home theater, music room) aesthetics mean nothing. Performance is everything.

Lucky me I’ve loved the look and sound from all my audio equipment. But I would say it has to be something that I would also love to look at while playing music. For example I love to look at all those tubes glowing from my Audio Research Ref 750 mono blocks at night in the pitch black of my music room and get memorized by them and the sound quality of them. Now for my B&W 800 matrix speakers I’ve always loved the way they looked ever since I saw them in Stereophile in 91. Had to have them from looks alone. Bought them without even hearing them. And love the sound from them just as much as looking at them. Same with my ARC Ref 750s. Bought them without even hearing them. And couldn’t be happier. 

Yes

My two systems couldn’t look or be more different especially the amp

For me, it's a hobby. It's always been about the sound

for me a lot.

...spouse laughed at the line "...cocaine and a bottle of gin..."

Not a gin person, myself...🙄

(Yes, I put this on my playlist....)

@tvrgeek ...."...I can relate, man..." ;)

Some mornings, your eyes open and flashback to an alt surreality with a desire to spend the day with this on the car tunes, windows down, and frighten the kids with yourself playing this obscenely Loud.....

...just because you can... 

Personally, I've never descended to this level of crud underfoot (hate face-planting on mystery muck) but can remember those who did in their wasted youth...

It’s a factor.  Lots of good sounding gear but they all look different. 

Tony, an advantage of being retired and grey haired, is we can get away being a crumedgon so brown shoes, or blue sneakers, with a tux are just fine as long as my feet don't hurt. :)

Speakers?  They have to pass the wife "not in my living room" filter.*

Electronics?  ZERO  In a cabinet.   Even when I was 20-ish, I never fell for the big stack to impress anyone. It is all about the sound. Use the money for better circuits. 

I don't pick on Mac for their style. Their products were always at least good. Decent, well built and durable. That was their market.  In the tube days, their transformers rivaled Luxman as the very best.  Sound per dollar; Denon, Yamahammer etc. Kenwood made tuners that smoked a Mac. Oh, well Mac speakers were both ugly and terrible. 

OK, I do like the metal case of my Atom+ amp over the plastic case of my Atom+ DAC?  Yea as they sit on my desk, but is it worth $10?  Well, I can buy a handful of 69 cent CDs from Goodwill and get far more music listening from that. Do add value to the billet machined block a Quetest comes in?  No. I would rather pay $500 less for plastic. 

* Vetoed the 2Ce's.  Only stand mount are acceptable. 

Depends on the room it's going in for me but, I guess the look/vibe of equipment plays a big part and weighs on my psyche when purchasing. No other explaination then for the 20yo Chord power/pre I just purchased. Looks incredible and rolled the dice on Chord after studying their reviews; was a great call. They play wonderfully! Oh, I gotta add something super annoying to me... people, when you post your pics showing you setup, or you post an add featuring your gear for sale, my God, PLEASE don't include your nasty-ass feet in the pics. It's vile, gross and no matter what you're trying to show or sell, it makes us all take a hard pass; it's disgusting. Just my opinion...

Me never. Sound is all that matters.  Now having said that, I kicked the old lady out a couple years ago, so I no longer have to worry about WAF.

WAF  rules in my house so I had a special hardwood cabinet made to house all of my equipment including 2 turntables, 2 monoblock Classe amps and all sorts of other electronic components. When not listening to music, the cabinet remains shut and being a nice piece of cherry wood furniture, adds a complement to my living room. However changing cables is a real pain(I didn't think about this when I had the cabinet designed!!!!)

@jnovak 

From what I read, McIntosh is a primary example.

Sometimes, good looks can earn a product more respect than it deserves. Some of the Japanese receivers from the 70's commanded a lot of respect due to their good looks. The sound was FAR from great though. IMHO

I purchased each piece of my gear based on lots of research, my ability to afford it and each piece just happens to look good. I never really considered aesthetics.

Aesthetics were very important to me when I CHOSE my current wife of 34 years.

I win.

Aesthetics were very important to me when I met my current wife of 30 years. Her, not so much. I win.

On the subject of audio. I’ve owned great-sounding (to me) gear over the years that was so ugly it looked like it has been ate by a coyote and s--- off a cliff. In my older age, I’ve been hypothesized by big blue lights, so the "military surplus" look has gone to the wayside. But, still safely stored in my loft (with original packing, manuals, etc). My hand-built 6’-4" Alpine white monoliths have remained in the living/listening room for decades. So glad asthetics are not a high priority for my wife. She likes the sound. And, tolerates the additional "furniture" in the room.

I think for most people In this hobby their audio purchase is a combination of both performance and aesthetics.  Then there is the will the component be accepted by their significant other factor.  

thecarpathian

Flamingo's name is Mitchell, due to one of Donna's best friend's husband's name. They like Flamingos. Perfectly logical right?

For me it's in line with "variety is the spice of life". There is so much variety out there in our wonderful hobby, I would argue that for a desired sound, at a desired price point, one would find many variations aesthetically to float ones boat. 

I dig gear that looks a little different. Scale too... There's a lot of art and design in HiFi. 

I have some pristine and flawless pieces, (my Margules ACRH and recently acquired Cary SLI-80HS) and I have scratched and dented ones (my Mac240, Cary 2300A amps, TDL Compacts). I love them all. 

I have some that are sort of stuck in time. (an Ariston integrated amp that just screams "Miami Vice 80's".

I wish i could say it's all about the sound, the HiFi.. but I cant honestly. The way things look and speak to me on a visual level matter. 

I look at it like this. if someone gave me a choice between a group B Audi S2 monster rally car, and a Porsche 356, I'd choose the Porsche every time. 

This all may not have made a whole lot of sense, I have two new puppies and I'm sleep deprived. 

@dekay it lasted 20 years but it died about 5 years ago and we couldn't find it anywhere.  I can't remember the brand, but I think it was European, but it made American style waffles.

I recently replaced my beautiful looking amp with a plain Jane looking one that performs much better, especially at higher volumes.  Would I go back to the pretty one?  Heck,no.  Most of us want to close the eyes and just listen anyway.

lots. if i dont like lookin at it i wont buy it. 

I do like the flamingo!

1. Prior to Appearance and Relative Locations of Equipment (which is important to me):

2. Listening Space. Private Listening Cave (perhaps ’perfect’) or Natural/Shared Living Space (best achievable within that space) (influenced by WAF).

My Current Listening/Living Space:

Daylight; Plants; Artwork; Donna’s ’pretty’ stuff, life acquired furniture, including meaningful family heirlooms; listening position(s); lighting control.

Equipment: Each piece individually has it’s personal appeal, and work together based on my happiness whenever I simply see the equipment prior to listening. Some, like a SACD player, not visually interesting, perhaps annoyingly slow, but excellent sound makes it special to see/hear.

Next: Operational Height: Turntable/CD/Reel to Reel/Preamp Controls/Remote line of sight: Best achievable, i.e. Turntable lower than ideal, but highest relative to height of windows behind. Tape a bit low.

NOTE: Dining Table??? As all horizontal imaging is Phantom, speaker created, the dining table is not problematic once you have achieved the ability to ignore it's presence.

Of course I have compared:  removed the table, placed a carpet over the large exposed wood floor, listened with friends to same content: makes no difference to horizontal imaging perceived by me or my friends. Probably surprises many, but happily it is true. Height and Depth are Mind Created in any case.

Placement/Heights more preferable in my Office:

@mgattmch .....Nice, but the poster was briefly mistaken for a family portrait....;)

I've owned pretty, currently not so much.  Looks more like a lab done with a too-tight budget and wired like an old telephone switchboard....😏

Speaker array is the best part, surrounding the 50" LG screen.

The owner, @ 73, looks the part....never been much of a clotheshorse....don't have the physical frame to pull it off @ 5'-11" & 130 lbs.

Knit this 'who dealt this mess' by trying to be 'charming' in my own obscure way....

How something looks comes into play in almost everything we humans do. People go to the car dealership and want to buy a particular vehicle because it looks good to them but they know little to nothing about it's fuel economy, reliability, or safeness. They'll buy a dog based on literally nothing but how it looks. A lot of audio components are quite literally audio jewelry (Dagostino stuff being one of the best examples) with prices to match but not sound quality.

Personally, I've been a function over form person for as long as I can remember but I think I'm definitely in the minority.

If it sounds good enough, I'll like the looks guaranteed. 

Maybe did so in the 70’s. Maybe once in the 80’s when needing WAF. Doesn’t occur to me now at all. I mostly listen with my eyes closed. 

To me Aesthetics make 60% of my buying decision

 since I believe cables don’t make any difference DACS make difference but it’s not day and night 

speakers make huge difference but good looking always come first 

the most ugliest speakers I know is WILSON ,TEKTON ,EMOTIVA and MCINTOSH SPEAKERS 😂😅😅☺️🤣

HWY61:

What happened to the waffle iron, and where can I get one?

DeKay

Zero. I have my own house of stereo, so who would care what my equipment looks like, not I, sound only. It's like art, you either like artwork on your walls that mean something or ones that match the drapes. That right there will separate the true audiophiles from the rest. And I love them all, just saying.

Can't say as I've seen to many high quality pieces that were unattractive.  Is it really a thing?

The only aesthetic I hate is black faced equipment. Need a light directly on the unit’s face to read the nomenclature.

Having owned a Audiostore I have found that  over 50% of mfg rely on 👁️ candie.

Mcintosh is a perfect example it’s parts quality are not even close to say Gryphon 

even MCs best , Luxman , and many other companies ,Audio Research ,and CJ 

too lived on their Past , it’s inside that counts most ,that’s where I would look at 1st 

the cabinet last of course you want it to look decent but not the main goal.

What looks good or bad is a very personal decision, but if a manufacturer can't make a product that looks good to somebody, then they probably can't make one that sounds good to anybody.  The two go hand in hand.  It doesn't have to be stylish or ornate, but a product should look like someone took a few minutes to think about how it looks.  As an example, I had waffle iron that had plastic feet and when you stored the iron upright the plastic feet made a smiley face.  So simple and they didn't have to do it, but they cared.  The waffles clearly tasted better!

Sound over aesthetics with the exception of speakers something that prominent in my room has to look good to me. The rest of my gear I would call industrial un-chic. ;)

I like esthetical products better...

As anyone...

But i dont care at all about esthetic when i pick what i must pick , and if i must modify it i do it... Esthetical no more .... 😊

Only sound and S.Q. /price ratio matter...

Especially with low budget audio ...

For example :

I could upgrade , i had the money say my financial adviser 😁( my wife)

I could upgrade to a beautiful TOP headphone amplifier by Berning the microzotl 3...

but i am very happy with my Sansui alpha 607 i covered by what some could call junk , i will call beautiful minerals, it is not ugly for sure, but it is not esthetical and clean...The soundfield is perfect....

If i am afraid to upgrade with a top of the world product and a beautiful one,then you have an idea how a 700 bucks well chosen system well optimized can perform...😁

in the dark evening  though , my 2 glowing Schuman generators under a big quartz are beautiful like glowing  tubes....

Then perhaps esthetic play a role in my unesthetical audio corner...😁

The upgrade to a better dac would be the only real upgrade for sure,   will cost too much... I must wait... I think i will not upgrade the amplifier.... the headphone modified for vibrations and comfort are not beautiful but they are impossible almost to be beaten... Stax Omega ? RAAL ? i dont think so after reading all reviews between line and comparing with what i already have ...

Esthetic is one aspect of thing.... Sound quality at low cost another completely different factor...

The second matter the most for me almost exclusively ... I dont show my audio system anyway i listen to it...

I’m with you @tony1954, I like my gear to look good but only if it sounds good.
​​​​​​Now, if I could hide those wires… :-)))

Aesthetics count for a lot with me, but as long as I like how something sounds and I do not dislike the appearance, I'm good with it. 

There is a hierarchy that assists in distilling my product choices.

Intuitively, first and foremost…it’s best-of-breed class audio performance in each their budget strata respective equipment class, ... Full stop. Build quality and audio performance matters ..,, it’s the big first one that selects the contenders from all the pretenders .

BUT …..and it’s a big “BUT” …. it’s also their appearance & impressions with an “EZ on the eyes “ additional further decision factor among the distilled contenders above , thst cannot be simply ignored either . For example. Classy polished wood high-end speaker cabinets build , instead of defaulting to cheap cost cutters with vinyl over MDF.