Ugly vs Gogeous speakers

I refuse to comment on threads where the OP hasn't proof read the title of the post. Wait…I just commented…darn it...

My wife isn't the sort of person who would care what my speakers look like but would certainly have issues if they smelled bad. Speaker design esthetics are so all over the map it's amazing, and that's actually a good thing.

I like exotic woods liked striped ebony and at one point nearly bought a pair of Thiels just for that (and they sounded good of course). Alas, I have generally bought speakers for sound only…Vandersteen 1Bs years ago…a large sock…Silverline Preludes vinyl veneer in fake rosewood (looks more like walnut, but very resistant to damage), lots of all black stuff, rosewood Viennas. My recently acquired Heresy IIIs I yammer about were ordered as simply black, but I was sent the more pricey Capitol Edition Ebony that's sort of a dark purple with matched veneer you can't possibly see…fine with me. Note that the stock "salt and pepper" grills are prone to sagging (weird) and Klipsch offered to send a new set although they noted it's an issue with that grill fabric. I had already ordered a set of standard black grills that are sag free, and it was easy to move the Capitol badge to those since they use a rubbery sticky stuff that seems to have staying power. The black grills look great with the "purple" finish.

"Decorators" pretty much NEVER incorporate speakers into room design, other than the ceiling mounted stuff that high end houses always seem to have. I like design as simply a minor interest, and thumb through Architectural Digest noting basically zero audio components anywhere...maybe a speaker shows up once in a decade...I think it's funny when speaker manufacturer's advertisements show their stuff set up near windows with a lovely view, with no speaker cables, and no regard to why it would be sitting in the middle of some spectacular room...lame, but I get it. "Hey Marge, you mind if I stick these yellow WiIsons under the Matisse?" I found  the Heresy IIIs to be relatively unobtrusive due to their short stature excepting their fatness, and they allow me to see my tube amps and other items more readily from my listening spot which allows me to stop those pesky tube explosions from destroying my house.