How important is the Look in audiophile gear?


I saw a post today about B&O. Some were dissing this gear as just made to look good. I was about to do some dissing myself and then I wondered how much of the cost of other high end audio gear might be down to the "Look"? (Impressive looking rather than boringly functional.)

Is the "Look" closer to 20% or 80% of the cost on ultra high end gear? How much are you willing to spend on "Look" relative to cost that goes into purely audible qualities? Does the "Look" give you a feeling of how amazingly good it should sound? Does "Look" enhance the listening experience in the same way a well presented meal is more enjoyable to eat?

Examples of "Look": large silvery tube amps openly exposed on a silvery mount, massive turntables with visible big wheels/levers/belts, shiny imposing isolation feet, exotic spikes and stands, ultra thick cables made from exotic materials, futuristic speaker shapes (other than a plain mdf box).
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xshadorne

Showing 1 response by shadorne

Marco,

Wow that Electronluv stuff is amazing. It reminds me of artistic work for the Dune movie (I admit the movie was bad but the artwork was amazing). I would seriously love to own a pair of those speakers...although one would probably enough for effect...what a statement!

Maybe that speaker is actually a disguised triffid.

Look out folks .... the invasion has started!

Now if only H.R. Gieger would design Hi-fi gear! I wonder would that might look like?