Most aesthetically pleasing amplifiers

[Doodski]

Not particularily referring to this unit, but when I am looking at the vast assortment of badly designed units that has been made by manufacturers throughout the years, I sometimes wonder..What bunch of idiots approved this waste and why do they even bother?

The question of the century. I gave up trying to get answers about why they offer sheit. I have come to the conclusion that it's waste and becomes refuse that fills the landfills. The manufacturers should up their integrity and just stop with the junkers, using up raw materials and rare earths and such.

 

[G|force]

Krell KAS monoblocks
'Krell Audio Standard'

OP Esthetic, old saved images.

 

[G|force]

2 Jeff Rowland Model 9 monoblocks

 

[G|force]

Krell Reference Standard

 

[Doodski]

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The first time I saw a Jeff Rowland component in person I was astonished at the fit and finish.

 

[G|force]

Meters

 

[G|force]

Jeff Rowland MC-6

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

The Osh Kosh is a handsome cartoonish beast that I appreciate too. I used to work manufacturing as in wiring the units from start to finish for oil and gas industry heavy duty wheeled and tracked vehicles. This is one of them and when outfitted for oil and gas it has a flat deck with a winch and is capable of carrying 40 ton all day through 3 to 4 feet thick of mud. It's a handsome devil in person and has a nice rowdy sounding 2 stroke diesel exhaust pitch.
View attachment 231341

A thing of beauty many years ago used to stand in awe when they passed by.

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

I have a soft spot for the Caterpillar 797F Mining Truck, Nominal Rated Payload: 401 ton (US), Rated Gross Machine Weight: 1375000 lb, Gross Power - SAE J1995: 4000 HP

...and here is another, the Tucker Sno-Cat 1600, 8-15 Passenger:

In Chingola Zambia they had 150 Ton trucks carrying copper ore from the open pit to the crushers. First rainy season they lost a couple the weight was too much for the slipways. They were diesel/electric, from memory made by a US company Unit Rig?
Used two of their 2 HP power steering series motors as drive motors on an EV we built circa 1977.

 

[Yasuo]

 

[G|force]

Having another look at this gut shot of this JRDG MC-6 pic that I found and saved a few years ago, I don't understand why they used stick-on nylon clips to carry that ribbon. I'm confident that the product is Nylon and not vinyl by the yellowing of the material, probably a Panduit product.
As in zip ties, I prefer Nylon to vinyl.
Who in Colorado thought it was acceptable to make custom mounts out of Al to house the trans and caps horizontally, and then use Panduit clips?
I wonder what what appears to be a short cut shielded 4-22 under the trans is for.
Maybe that was the original point of the photo I grabbed years ago.

 

[Sal1950]

Great looking sounds good could you ask more for £15?

That's a reasonably handsome piece of Sony gear, one of the best I've seen.
For the most part I found them really crappy looking as mentioned here a couple times.

Esthetic, old saved images.

Awesome!

Who in Colorado thought it was acceptable to make custom mounts out of Al to house the trans and caps horizontally, and then use Panduit clips?

That is a good question, curious.
But overall, man what awesome construction engineering.

 

[Chrispy]

Aesthetics for the eyes/fingers aren't very meaningful to me in an amp (and a power amp usually has nothing for the fingers to do aside from a gain adjustment in any case). I don't look fondly with loving gazes at audio gear of any type, let alone my own, which I'd rather have out of sight aside from speakers for the most part....and even then that's an aesthetic challenge of its own....the resulting audio would rule over aesthetics.

 

[Sal1950]

I don't look fondly with loving gazes at audio gear of any type, let alone my own, which I'd rather have out of sight aside from speakers for the most part....

Really, that surprises me.
I admit to being a unapologetic gear-head.
Trucks, Cars, HiFi, Women. They should all look good and be on display.

Seriously reminds me of when I first saw the Benchmark AHB2 in person.
It's just so small and not-serious looking, it just let the wind out of my sails.

 

[Chrispy]

Really, that surprises me.
I admit to being a unapologetic gear-head.
Trucks, Cars, HiFi, Women. They should all look good and be on display.

Seriously reminds me of when I first saw the Benchmark AHB2 in person.
It's just so small and not-serious looking, it just let the wind out of my sails.

Different strokes....then again it isn't particularly good looking most of the time either. Been a while since it mattered much with those others, too Trucks? Sports cars maybe....

 

[Alexium]

my roommate's brother owned this pair in the mid 1970's:

View attachment 209146View attachment 209147

Nice, back when blue wasn't the color of cheap chinese stuff.

 

[JayGilb]

Who in Colorado thought it was acceptable to make custom mounts out of Al to house the trans and caps horizontally, and then use Panduit clips?

Design afterthought ? After prototype assembly someone noticed the ribbon cables might get chaffed ?

Beautiful construction.

 

[DJNX]

I was looking to implement a Spectrum Analyzer into my system. Looked into many options including the Fun Generation RTA-31 and even a TC Electronic Clarity M Stereo.

The Clarity M too busy for what I want, and the RTA-31 looks too much like live gear. Then I saw this:

Now I’m tempted.

However I’m not that well versed in amps, so even when reading the measurements in reviews, I have no idea if it‘s junk with pretty looks, average or near state of the art stuff.

 

[Dialectic]

I'm going with the SBS Designs S6 Pro. Rated at 689 (no typo) watts per channel into 8 ohms!

 

[G|force]

I'm going with the SBS Designs S6 Pro. Rated at 689 (no typo) watts per channel into 8 ohms!

View attachment 232597

I'm not familiar with that amp, the power rating seems dubious like this one I posted in the humor thread. I like the chrome handles even though they are not genuine Useco brand which made that style a thing in lab equipment.

I owned this Crown amp and it sounded good, for 200W, but it was rated 800WPC into 8 Ohms, 5 spaces tall (5U) and mostly empty space inside.