Love it, or Hate it ? (wood trim)

Funny that you bring this up today; I was just looking at some Chinese built amplifier yesterday that mixed wood and metal the way Unison, Pathos and other manufacturers have done and thinking just how stupid it looks. I do like a well implemented mix of wood and metal, but I cannot think of any audio applications where I've seen it done well. I think it can be quite stunning when done well, but the audio manufacturers seem to be throwing it in as a design novelty rather than something that is well-integrated and thought out as an integral part of a design. Also, it seems like the trend is to make the wood look as if it were a blob of Play-Doh™, all rounded and amorphous looking. Personally I don't care as much how components look as I do how they sound, but to answer your question, well, I guess I already did!

Marco

"Resin-infused Cherry"?!?! Isn't that just a fancy way of saying "plastic wood"?

The green man said:

I liked that it looks like a recently washed ashore piece of driftwood. Funky!

On a general note I DO like the way some components looked in the late '60s to early '70s with the chassis surrounded by a walnut case.

See, now that's a more purist approach to the use of wood in industrial design. Add some of those $500 wooden knobs to that thing and you've got some genuine beach debris that actually sounds good too! Good bonfire kindlin' too! Kooombyabalo, kooombyahh!

FWIW, the stuff from the 60's and 70's mostly used veneered particle board, and not solid wood. I hate stuff that trys to look like something other than what it really is. Even worse, plastic wood! Plastic plastic is bad enough! This whole direction reminds me of the 70's, and some fruitwood inlay on the dash of an Eldorado with the 8-track on a constant loop of some Creedance Clearwater Revival!

Marco