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Is it Audio, or is it Art?

A casual survey of the latest batch of high end electronics and speakers leads me to an interesting observation. The trend is towards exotic physical shapes which go far beyond any legitimate technical necessity. Taking power amplifiers as an example, electronic “guts” worth about $2000 can be near SOTA. You could put the circuitry in a plain metal box and it would sound the same. But no…we see beautifully sculptured enclosures, and price tags in the multi-kilobuck range. In the case of loudspeakers the number of 6 inch drivers, exhibited without a grill, seems to be a selling point, like the number of cup holders in autos a few years back.

I used to get mad about the prices charged for high end power amps, but not now since I have tumbled to the fact that these items are works of art as much as they are practical sound systems. Are they not proudly displayed on open racks? When you think of, for example, a pair of Chord monoblocks for $75,000, as electronic gear it is completely absurd, but when viewed as a piece of artwork (sculpture) 75 grand is unexceptional. And it plays music too!
eldartford
eldartford OP
4,262 posts
 
Triode...Perhaps the title suggests an either/or situation, but it should be clear from my comments that I am not suggesting this. Rather, I am suggesting that many high end purchases are predominantly art aquisitions. For example, with $75,000 power amplifiers, I would estimate that $10,000 is for audio, and $65,000 for art. (We could quibble about the numbers, but you get my point).
aball
2,016 posts
 
I am shocked at how many people here miss the point! I was hoping it would be otherwise but I guess not.
nightdoggy
32 posts
 
If you want to see beautiful equipment go to Luxman's (Japanese but you can look at the pictures) site. Only Accuphase comes close. I like good sounding and good looking equipment. I miss the prominent heatsinks popular until the mid 90's or so. I like the look of late 70's gear especially. The point was that you did not have to hide your stuff because it clashed with the decor.
jbsljbsl
12 posts
 
I own a 2004 Luxman L-505f int amp that I use as a preamp and it is a very good looking int amp!! I'll try and set up a pic of it in the system pics area.

mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
i think the art is "art" of reproduction.

i think the appearance of a component is partly a marketing effort and partly functional, especially with respect to speakers.

if a designer thinks that thick aluminum face plates with toggle switches and a plexiglass cover will increase the probability of a sale there is a good chance that the component will look like that.

is there a relationship between sound and appearance. for speakers, i would say so, for other compoents, especially amps with heat sinks, to a lesser extent.

i wonder if a manufacturer would admit to deliberately selecting materials, not to enhance the sound but to make it more attractive cosmetically and more likelty to sell

it is also possible that a manufacturer may deliberately attempt to have a component as a work of art in case people don't like the sound. people can always donate an expensive neat looking component to the museum of modern art instead of selling it.
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