what are your industrial design favorites?

[Frank Dernie]

“Audiophiles don’t use their equipment to listen to music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment”

Good quote, not seen it before.
There is certainly a long scale between music lover at one end and equipment fanatic at the other and people identifying as "audiophiles" probably do cluster largely towards one end of that scale.
For a lot of them maybe styling is as important as SQ, it certainly isn't irrelevant to me since I have to live with the sight, particularly speakers.

 

[Harmonie]

Just came across this and wonder about @Frank Dernie 's reaction

 

[somebodyelse]

Just came across this and wonder about @Frank Dernie 's reaction

asked and answered - 'Pointless'

 

[Harmonie]

asked and answered - 'Pointless'

Now that's a pin point answer
August 18 ?
That was before I was even born here.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Just came across this and wonder about @Frank Dernie 's reaction

Wrong on almost every level.
IMO

 

[Harmonie]

Except the levitating level.
This is about industrial design and it's an eye catcher for sure still.

 

[cyrus799]

At first sight, I am immediately impressed with the vibrant Ferrari red paint of this retro Bluetooth FM radio for office from Greadio. It does bring back much reminiscence for the 1950s. It is a good combination of tradition & modern.

 

[AEA Audio]

The first 'high end' shop I frequented, Sound Gallery in Winter Park Fl, sold Lecson. I don't know why, as it was a pretty odd thing at the time, here in the US. I think it was to 'compete' with the then popular Danish modern B&O gear sold by the McIntosh dealer, across the street. Other 'high end' at the store consisted of brands few know, today--> Dunlap Clarke amps, Quintessence Group preamplifiers, DQ-10 loudspeakers.

They also sold a preamp from AEA, Analog Engineering Associates, which had a nice 'clean' industrial design. It featured a plexiglass cover so you could admire the circuitry.

View attachment 91151
View attachment 91152

Thanks for the mention... and the likes. I'm the guy who designed the AEA 520. I not only designed the electronics and circuit boards, I also designed the chassis and faceplate. All laid out by hand back then (way before CAD)

 

[restorer-john]

Thanks for the mention... and the likes. I'm the guy who designed the AEA 520. I not only designed the electronics and circuit boards, I also designed the chassis and faceplate. All laid out by hand back then (way before CAD)

That AEA is just gorgeous. And the facelplate design is perfect. Reminds me of 1960s/70s Armstrong from the UK.

 

[LightninBoy]

Not to dis another's opinion but they are a clear example of items very borderline to my view.
The fashion 'funkiness' actually makes them poorer watches, harder to read, easier to make mistakes.
Truly brilliant work looks beautiful as a result of functional choices.
This was posted in another thread, so here's just the thumbnail (but clickable) of my idea of an attractive watch-
View attachment 96573
Someone also posted some of Nervi's beautiful architectural work earlier.
But he wasn't an architect, he was a Civ. E. who did structural work.
His credo was "I have always believed in the inherent aesthetic power of a fine structural solution".
(Well, he said it in Italian I expect, but that's my free translation)
My candidate for industrial beauty would be this-
View attachment 96557
I have had one for almost 40 years.
Never needs to be fixed, patched, updated, never obsolete, always secure.
Accurate, efficient, intuitive, excellent keyboard action.
Simple.
Other than the need to replace batteries every 10 years, it's essentially perfect.
I don't own any products that are better, perhaps a few that equally well embody form and function.

Best wishes
David

You win the thread.

 

[EJ3]

Not to dis another's opinion but they are a clear example of items very borderline to my view.
The fashion 'funkiness' actually makes them poorer watches, harder to read, easier to make mistakes.
Truly brilliant work looks beautiful as a result of functional choices.
This was posted in another thread, so here's just the thumbnail (but clickable) of my idea of an attractive watch-
View attachment 96573
Someone also posted some of Nervi's beautiful architectural work earlier.
But he wasn't an architect, he was a Civ. E. who did structural work.
His credo was "I have always believed in the inherent aesthetic power of a fine structural solution".
(Well, he said it in Italian I expect, but that's my free translation)
My candidate for industrial beauty would be this-
View attachment 96557
I have had one for almost 40 years.
Never needs to be fixed, patched, updated, never obsolete, always secure.
Accurate, efficient, intuitive, excellent keyboard action.
Simple.
Other than the need to replace batteries every 10 years, it's essentially perfect.
I don't own any products that are better, perhaps a few that equally well embody form and function.

Best wishes
David

The watch I find austere, the HP very nice. I prefer function over form but when it doesn't detract from function, I like form, too.

 

[tuga]

 

[Kegemusha]

Not sure if cars counts here, but....

 

[Kegemusha]

 

[Harmonie]

View attachment 123275

Sounds like you like

The Prisoner

 

[Bullwinkle J Moose]

It's not audio, but remains unsurpassed (as far as anyone knows)

View attachment 89950

Yeah that sled may not have the best audio but at least it's loud

My sled always had the best audio (opinionated are we?) AND you could hear it idle 3 miles away >

Crank it up to 11 and it will wake your grandmother at 3AM from 5 miles away, even if she's deaf in both ears

 

[bloodshoteyed]

even the mafioso looking guy on the right is said to have liked it

 

[Bullwinkle J Moose]

eh Louigi, itza Mario

Yeah, but who doesn't like Cold Ethyl?

If I live to 97..........you'll still be waitin in refrigerator heaven
Cuz, you're cool........ your on ice.......Cold Ethyl, You're very hot tonight!

Alice Cooper
Welcome to my Nightmare

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

Always liked the no-nonsense industrial designs of Peter J. Walker and Henry Kloss.

 

[rdenney]

The reason they had to use the gull-wing door wasn't styling but the fact that a substantially important part of the chassis structure were spaceframe beams down the sides so the bottom of the door was going to be well over a foot higher than usual. A conventional door meant nobody would be able to get in.
IIRC one other problem was the gearshift linkage went through this structure and another hazard to getting in was the gearlever going up a trouser leg! Edit: that may have been a GT40 problem not 300SL on reflection.
I think the McLaren doors are like that for structural reasons too, but it is true it is usually an inconvenient and probably worse styling feature.

Late hit on an old post. I once (maybe in 1981) sat in the GT40 that was in Rick Nagle’s collection at the time, driven I believe by Dan Gurney in 1966. It was right-hand drive, with the shifter mounted in the doorframe to the driver’s right. That one could catch a trouser leg easily enough. Nagle had brought it down to Texas World Speedway at the request of J Bittle (JBA Headers among other things). J and I were college friends.

A group of us used to rent Texas World Speedway (only six miles from Texas A&M) for running auto crosses, and I was there with this...definitely NOT an example of great industrial design, despite my fond regard for the Toyota 2T-C engine.

Rick “the driver is pretty ugly, too” Denney