Looks vs. Performance - How would you mix and match?

Oh, goodie! A snark fest! 🤗

FTR: I did not have high hopes for this discussion.  I just thought it would take a little longer.

+1 🤗

The number one company to have done the op job was the one that threw a $500 Oppo inside a Lexicon fancy case and upcharged $3500 for it. Snark that.

Thus the phrase, "jumped the snark"

If memory serves, it was also Theta Digital who did the same.


Of course, now these Oppos are selling for about that much on Amazon. I really wish they were still with us as an audio/video company.


Best,
E

agreed. the panasonic 820uhd player is the next best thing but the build quality is extremely lacking compared to the 5000 series player. even the oppo 203 had great quality casework.

I hope that one day someone builds a SS amp that looks like a tube amplifier with gloriously lit valves on display.

Best of both worlds.

My JVC micro system has a couple of valves on display (purely for cosmetic purposes), but sounds none the worse for it. The wood cone speakers I'm using with it probably help too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/JVC-UX-D150-Wireless-Micro-Amplifier-Silver-Black/dp/B01DACR3FY

Always wanted to install a nice turntable in an old victrola...

That's the kind of imagination I was looking for, @thecarpathian

I just always wanted a Victrola never mind stuffing anything into it. My grand mother had one and in spite of my insistence that I inherit it it dissipated into the ozone:(  I was only 5 years old. Anyway I always loved the look of old Marantz stuff. May be stuffing an ARC preamp into a 7C?
I would certainly stuff a Model 9 into a Model 9. I heard them driving K horns with an Ampex reel to reel.Think of the impression that made on a 13 year old who was building a Dyna Stereo 70 and trying to drive AR 2Axs with it. The FuzzLinear 700 was still years away.

mijostyn, old victrolas are really cool to have. Pretty cheap too if you get a model they made a bunch of. I got one in great shape here in CT. for $150. Tiger stripe oak, bunch of needles and about a dozen 78s. Love to wind it up, put on an old classic love song, and grab my sweetheart’s hand for a dance. It really transports you to another time. Check out your local Craigslist, you might be pleasantly surprised.....

I would have liked for something as simple as my Luxman 507uX integrated amp to have been available in black to match all the rest of the components. It wasn’t a deal killer when purchasing, only an annoying drawback. Luxman does take a lot of care with the fit and finish of their amps, but forgets that silver is not the only, or predominant, color out there. I have my components in a built-in vented cabinet, so just close the door to not have to look at mismatched equipment.

Mike

thecarpathian, I wish. My grandmother's was an older one with flowers painted on a big horn. The original horn loudspeaker connected directly to the needle!

Yeh skyscraper they need to get with it. Those of us with theaters want everything in black to avoid reflections. Even ARC does their stuff in black now. 

mijostyn

Even ARC does their stuff in black now.

ARC has offered black face components for more than 40 years.

Mijostyn, ah, your gram had one of the most definitely NOT cheap ones... 

maybe i'm dating myself here but there was some really beautiful equipment in the 70's. some of them old receivers- integrateds were quite nice looking  compared to plainsvill today (oh look another flat piece of aluminum with two knobs on it). ;-)  I miss the wooden sides-cases 

I’ve always loved champagne finish on faceplates, like those of Conrad-Johnson and Atma-Sphere (at the time of the original M50/60 amps). Elegant, tasteful, and timeless. I ordered my ARC SP-3 in gold, thinking it would be more champagne than the rather gauche brass-hue it turned out to have. I also love the backlit glass faceplates of McIntosh stuff, especially their 70-series tuners. I wish they hadn’t switched from their old-style knobs to the newer (with black faces) ones, which cheapen the look.

Not to mention they are plastic:( The old Marantz face plates started out champagne then got darker as they aged. I remember taking off all the knobs and cleaning mine after I picked it up (7C). What a difference between that and a Dyna PAS 3x.

How about a sansui 9090db or Pioneer sx 1280 receiver refitted with a good modern high current Class D amp?

Looks vs. Performance - How would you mix and match?

This:  http://www.porsche-code.com/PLHV5EQ6

@millercarbon...nice!