How important is spending time with your gear?

Good question Erik. I like to see my gear, and I would miss seeing it if it was not within sight and touch.

Tube gear with the tubes glowing, yes, I need to see that. Solid State rectangular boxes, not so much. 

I recently downsized from all separates to a very clean looking and versatile all-in-1 unit. Nice having all that space back! Oh and looks and also sounds wonderful! Old gear went into an audio cab with glass doors upstairs where I can see it but not in the way. Nice! Seldom have to touch anything anymore….all done remotely as needed. Except when I break out the vinyl and convert that to digital for future playback.

Does this make me a bad person? Call me heretic…..

I enjoy looking at the stuff. It also helps a bunch to have it be visible and no more than a few steps away. You need to be able to operate the remote controls. You wanna be able to run to the turntable when you feel the need to clean the stylus, turn the record over or deal with a skip. I wanna be able to see what track number I'm on when I listen to the CD/SACD player. I want my tube amp to have plenty of ventilation. Sure, all the connecting cables are an eyesore. But I really can't complain.

Agree with Russ. I enjoy seeing the tubes glow since they provide a little ambiance to the room. If everything was solid state and didn't have VU meters, I'd be okay tucking things (like my boxy NAD pre/streamer) away while attempting to hide the speaker cables for a cleaner look.