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Do Aesthetics Matter?

I'm more in line with Keith...speaker function gets full first priority, then optimize form,.... but i do not compromise on function.

And when i throw in a marginal propensity to not give a damn about the looks of audio electronics and cables in general....
well, let's just say really great sound has never been easier! :D
 
kemmler3D said:
Even if the cabinet and housing are 100% fixed in dimensions, there is always a universe of options in CMF (colors, materials, finishes) to change the look dramatically. If speakers are ugly that's often a choice not driven by function.
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100%. Before I could afford some new speakers I had some old PSB T45 with plastic 'beech' veneer. DIY Spray painted off white with recovered grills in Camira Cara fabric. I squeezed another 18 months out of them, because they looked like speakers from the current decade, not from 20 years ago.
 
I would not buy the best speaker in the world if I didn't like how it looks.

One pet peeve of mine are chassis with ears, like this:

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If you use these they have to be flush mounted and the baffle and have to have the same color as the ears to try and hide them. If any lazy person mounts these ontop the baffle because they don't want to make the effort of routing the necessary recess, I will disregard the speaker no matter what.

It's just ugly.

I have payed for expensive cables, despite not believing they sound different simply for good craftsmanship and how they look. Alas, I've since started to build my own cables, like you.

Since I also dabble in DIY speaker building, I also believe in the rule of the high-ender:

If it looks like shit, it HAS to sound good.
 
digitalfrost said:
I would not buy the best speaker in the world if I didn't like how it looks.

One pet peeve of mine are chassis with ears, like this:

View attachment 437734

If you use these they have to be flush mounted and the baffle and have to have the same color as the ears to try and hide them. If any lazy person mounts these ontop the baffle because they don't want to make the effort of routing the necessary recess, I will disregard the speaker no matter what.

It's just ugly.

I have payed for expensive cables, despite not believing they sound different simply for good craftsmanship and how they look. Alas, I've since started to build my own cables, like you.

Since I also dabble in DIY speaker building, I also believe in the rule of the high-ender:

If it looks like shit, it HAS to sound good.
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If it looks like shit, it HAS to sound good. :D
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Purité Audio said:
I simply want form to follow function the best sounding loudspeakers and they look how they must look.
Keith
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Well, there are cases such as the Blades. For me, they are amazingly beutiful (and amazingly performant), but to many people they are hideous. ;)
 
It depends. I'm probably the most superficial around here but there are times in my dedicated that I'm walking like an acrobat not to step on my (measuring) cables and there's gear on the floor all oner the place.

But as for the gear themselves, yep, aesthetics do matter, big time.
 
Sokel said:
It depends. I'm probably the most superficial around here but there are times in my dedicated that I'm walking like an acrobat not to step on my (measuring) cables and there's gear on the floor all oner the place.

But as for the gear themselves, yep, aesthetics do matter, big time.
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Individual equipment, not so much. Overall look in the room as a lifestyle statement, critical. I'm as shallow as a puddle!
 
There are certainly some pieces of audio gear that I’ll take one look at and just think ‘no’, so yes.
 
I think a lot of actual gear is ugly. My beloved MiniDSP is ugly to my taste, but not ugly enough to be banned. There are certainly things that are banned only for the looks. McIntosh is such a brand that will never be in my system, how good they may be. A Kef Blade is also to ugly for me. I will never enjoy the sound because i have to look at that ugly thing. It's so ugly that it's sound becomes irrelevant. But those are exceptions. I like a lot of speakers for the sound that i don't like for the looks. But it's not ugly as the Blades. Idem with modern electronics. Most is ugly, but not ugly enough to be banned.

Taste differs off course, but i hate those glossy or metallic or plastic looking speakers. If it's powdercoated (or looking like that) metal speakers are not really an issue, but not glossy polished metal as main material. I love wooden (or looking like wooden) speakers, or speakers that are more neutral looking (like Neumann or Genelec). Painted can also, but not that uberglossy paint that now is in fashion.
 
Crook said:
Many different approaches on what looks good, it's very personal. For me it's hiding equipment away, minimalism and having nice looking speakers at my price point as an focal point. With the re-cabling, you can't see it, but 'I' know it all matches. Madness.
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As I mentioned, I also like the minimalist and clean looking aesthetic for my listening room.

But I still love nice looking audio gear. That’s the main reason I look at YouTube videos featuring audio gear. In fact sometimes I fire up my Home Theatre system with the big projection screen, and I watch 4K videos doing walk-throughs of various large audio shows around the world. Especially if there is a good microphone being used, it’s interesting how the sound changes as a camera walks into different rooms with different systems. The overall impression of the large, window like image and vivid sound gives a sort of “ being there” impression which is really fun. And I also really like the European and Asian shows which feature are all sorts of equipment that aren’t so commonly shown or discussed in North America.

digitalfrost said:
I would not buy the best speaker in the world if I didn't like how it looks.
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Same here.

I feel very fortunate that the two different sets of floor standing speakers I own not only are just about my favourite sounding loudspeakers, but my favourite looking loudspeaker as well. They hit my aesthetic bull’s-eye, so it’s a win-win.
 
of course it matters. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, says the old adage, so everyone has their own taste, the parameter is purely subjective.

There are devices and speakers that I find truly beautiful, I would buy them even if I know that objectively they are not exactly top-notch.
But even when choosing objectively valid products, I ultimately choose the ones I like the most. I like to have my system tidy, I don’t like contraptions gathered around the house to raise, contain, add thickness; I don’t pay particular attention to cables, but I don’t want tangles or skeins lying around. I still have some “audiophile” cables that I use from time to time and that I keep only because they are a little piece of my journey.
small deviation, I also really like the internal aesthetics of the components…I find some engineering really graceful.

Curiously though, almost all the devices and speakers that I like on the aesthetic side are from the 80s, 90s… the soul of the collector of memories of times gone by…;)
 
Mart68 said:
Loudspeakers I'm not so bothered about but the electronics have to look the part. My favourite aesthetic is 1980s Japanese high end. Sony ES, Yamaha 'M' Series, that sort of thing.

Cables - I don't care at all but they are all hidden anyway, except for the speaker cables which are chunky and have flashy braiding.
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I might redo mine (red/black braided 4-wire) in orange/black. Just so they match the speakers which are orange/black too, and I happen love orange braided things (like hair on women too). Can you tell I like orange? :D

Won't cost much though. 20 or 30m of 2.5 or 4mm² copper cable is dirt cheap.
 
yes, for me, though maybe not in the same manner.
im a living room guy. i love the look of the towers and subs, and how they fit the front wall, they even make good stands for some of my wife's dolls.
all my 2ch and ht is black to be somewhat inconspicuous in the entertainment stand they sit it in.
my speaker cables are some custom made 4s11 stuff someone made for me that matched the firehouse power cords i bought because they look kool to me. and my ics are bjc lc1s. audiobling.
 
Yes. I like my system to be tidy, minimalistic, and aesthetically pleasing. With as low a box count as possible, and what has to be in sight for functional reasons should be very good looking.

Many no-brainer upgrades I tend to reject just for this reason. This includes most of the miniDSP lineup, the majority of the inexpensive top SINAD DACs and pretty much every otherwise well-regarded studio monitor.

It’s a challenge but it’s also a part of my hobby that I wouldn’t want to miss.
 
Ropeburn said:
I might redo mine (red/black braided 4-wire) in orange/black. Just so they match the speakers which are orange/black too, and I happen love orange braided things (like hair on women too). Can you tell I like orange? :D

Won't cost much though. 20 or 30m of 2.5 or 4mm² copper cable is dirt cheap.
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I'm also a sucker for orange. Bought cd transport and pre-amp for the orange LED displays, bought a couple of DACs for the same reason.

Still looking for a 1980s spectrum analyser/EQ with orange LEDs to finish it off. They are so expensive though.
 
I really ought to tidy everything up! I've never been bothered about tidy installations and so only make an effort to avoid annoying others in the house. But, honestly an untidy installation has never bothered me, which is weird since I expected it in my day job!
 
Is 20 year old legacy server room an aesthetic? Because behind my system....

Industrial is an aesthetic. I have black boxes, mostly out of sight behind my AVR sub. A black box that does things really well, there is a style component there in the attraction, usually shows up when people reject things that have a definite "style that does nothing for sound" aspect. An example would be Geshelli's case work.

For visible things, I do care more. My AVR speakers are walnut veneer, my stereo speakers are bamboo. We have lots of wood of various tones, so those fit in well with the look of the room. And I like natural finishes on wood, quite a bit.

So for me, the more visible things are, the more I care about how they look in the room, how well they blend with the style of the room. Because the style of the room is not just about me, it is about decades of collective decision making. And I personally would rather see warm wood tones than Genelecs in the room, which honestly strike me as looking like a child's toy in a lot of ways, visually.

Still, if anyone wants to give me a pair of $10k Genelecs, I will suffer the pain to my sense of style.
 
Given the number of photographs of audiophile’s systems on the web, it can be pretty obvious when aesthetics don’t matter to somebody :)

Sometimes I absolutely shudder at the idea of having to spend time in some of these rooms at all, let alone be stuck there for a while listening to music.

But these days I find such rooms to be fewer and fewer.

As I’ve mentioned before, I find myself more impressed than ever by photos of peoples set ups. It seems to be audiophiles care more now about having a nice looking listening room, and there are many beautiful looking rooms.

Not long ago, I started searching old audiophile system images, like from the 80s through the 90s, 2000s… and comparing them to the “ show us your system” photos I see in contemporary forums.

And…yup… there were a lot of hideous, looking set ups “ back in the day.”
 
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