Eye Candy

One word:

McIntosh

(see my virtual system)

Thanks for the McIntosh reference.  For me McIntosh power meters (I know, I know), tubes and Marantz receiver dials.  I also like how my vintage Empire Troubadour table lights up via the arm rest light.   

if only there were tube turntables...maybe there are, I just googled it and none came up so it must be true...Love my Quads of KT120's lighting up the room, one on each side next to the Beautiful B&W piano black towers. Pre-amp is also aglow with it's quad of 6sn7 and my DAC with a pair of special Black 6sn7's right next to it. Think warm, cozy but lively and the glow just is the icing on the cake.

It's emotional, but looks do matter in equipment to me.  It's also nostalgia.  My first equipment at age 16 was a reel to reel tape deck with VU meters, so I insisted on that with my Luxman integrated.  No turntable but the Transcriptors that used to be on display at MOMA still is the most beautiful.  And when those Yamaha NS-1000's came out in the '70's way ahead of its time with vapor deposition beryllium domes, the new NS-5000's just looked right.