Looks vs. Performance - How would you mix and match?

Mijostyn, ah, your gram had one of the most definitely NOT cheap ones... 

maybe i'm dating myself here but there was some really beautiful equipment in the 70's. some of them old receivers- integrateds were quite nice looking  compared to plainsvill today (oh look another flat piece of aluminum with two knobs on it). ;-)  I miss the wooden sides-cases 

I’ve always loved champagne finish on faceplates, like those of Conrad-Johnson and Atma-Sphere (at the time of the original M50/60 amps). Elegant, tasteful, and timeless. I ordered my ARC SP-3 in gold, thinking it would be more champagne than the rather gauche brass-hue it turned out to have. I also love the backlit glass faceplates of McIntosh stuff, especially their 70-series tuners. I wish they hadn’t switched from their old-style knobs to the newer (with black faces) ones, which cheapen the look.

Not to mention they are plastic:( The old Marantz face plates started out champagne then got darker as they aged. I remember taking off all the knobs and cleaning mine after I picked it up (7C). What a difference between that and a Dyna PAS 3x.

How about a sansui 9090db or Pioneer sx 1280 receiver refitted with a good modern high current Class D amp?