Poll: "Ugliest" receivers and speakers?

[Widowmaker]

MEANT TO POST THIS HERE IN HT, NOT GA. SORRY.

Sorry to say this, folks, but looks do matter. If they didn't, we'd all be driving Volvos and settling for chicks who look like Monica Lewinsky .

This may be stupid, but aesthetics are a part of my HT spending decision, not a big part, but a part nontheless. If I come across a receiver or speakers that perform well, are reasonably priced but are ugly (IMO, of course), I will not buy them. Am I alone in this?

That being said, here are my choices for the ugliest receiver and speaker brand:

Receiver: Yamaha - they make some of the best performing and best priced receivers on the market but I HATE those amber displays. Also, this is the 21st century, why does Yamaha insist on keeping twist knobs for treble and bass on some of their receivers.

The runners up would be NAD and Harman-Kardon.

Speakers: Athena is my choice here. Again, excellent performing but just not aesthetically pleasing.

The runners up would be Infinity and Boston Acoustics.

[Bryan]

Don't particularly care for those new HK volume knobs. It is enough for me not to buy them.

[ironbird01]

What's wrong with Ms.Lewinsky?

[clockwork]

I dont know but I find Yamaha especially the top-end models with those wood side panels and champagne colored to be the most aesthetically pleasing. The black version are very serious and unobtrusive. I also like the Pioneers Elite looks. The worst looking are the NADs, the Rotels, and most high-end gears.

For speakers, I like the looks of the B&W Nautilus 800 series and their 700 series. These speakers are the ultimate in looks and sound quality.

[kexodusc]

Baah...I posted in the wrong spot too...
Anyway, I like the Yammie looks, Denon's got some of the ugliest receivers too.
NAD is up there.

For speakers, Bose has some uglies, but Cerwin-Vega takes the cake...yuck.

[Widowmaker]

What's wrong with Ms.Lewinsky?

Ultimately, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but not to be mean or anything, if it were up to me and her to profligate the human race, I'd rather let humanity die off than for me to suffer that sort of indinity .

Also, I'm willing to bet that if we polled the guys here, more than half would say that she is a "heffer." Just goes to show how low Bill Clinton's standards are.

[JSE]

Ultimately, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but not to be mean or anything, if it were up to me and her to profligate the human race, I'd rather let humanity die off than for me to suffer that sort of indinity .

Also, I'm willing to bet that if we polled the guys here, more than half would say that she is a "heffer." Just goes to show how low Bill Clinton's standards are.

Hillary or Monica? Tough choice. If I had to look and listen to Hillary all day, Monica would probably start looking pertty good.

JSE

[joel2762]

I don't really know of any serious problems. I like the look of Sony stuff, especially the new Silver ES stuff. That 170 w/ch thing looks like a tank! The new Paradigm Signature looks great too, the ugliest thing i've seen is a Phillips stereo at Wal-Mart. The speakers each had 3 ports on the front each labeled "Max Port 1" "Max Port 2" "Max Port 3" and some old junk. It looked like a piece of space junk to me. "Rip Off 1" "Cheap parts 2" "Scam 3" people can write anything on a stereo. Like that stupid max port. It's the same as any other port. Except the price is higher and it has a name. That's what people will buy who don't have a lot of knowledge in audio. Sorry to get off topic

[kexodusc]

Come to think of it, you could add just about any computer speaker too...
I get a kick out of these cyber-geeks who build their massive computer entertainment centers and try to tell you their Altec Lansing 6.1 computer speakers have 1200 Watts that'll kill any 400 watt B&W/Yamaha HT setup you can build, and do it for half the price.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing better than hearing my recycle bin erase stuff in 6.1 audio, or that cool windows ding when you try to do something you're not suppose to, but please...

[Tarheel_]

Receivers
yuck...Denon, looks like a decade behind
attractive...Rotel, HK & Elite(but hate the orange display)

Speakers
attractive...Sonus Faber, B&W
yuck...RBH, Mordaunt Short and Wilson

[woodman]

I wouldn't characterize them as UGLY ... I think stoopid-looking is the more appropriate term for the loudspeakers from B&W and Swan that have the tweeters mounted outside the enclosure. I couldn't live with such an atrocity, for it would remind me on a daily basis of just how bizarre and "off-the-wall" some audiophiles actually are when they think that mounting a tweeter outside will somehow have some magical effect on the overall sound (it won't).

For receivers, I don't classify any of them as actually ugly. If the question was asked in reverse ... what receivers are the most handsome, I'd answer that by saying - any of them that aren't BLACK! Give me gold - give me silver - give me titanium - give me ANY color other than black ... PLEASE! I'm somewhat encouraged that the pendulum seems to be starting to swing back away from black - but it can't happen too soon to suit me. I'm a bit perturbed at Yamaha for eliminating the importation of anything other than black into the U.S. In Japan, gold finish is the dominant color ... here, they claim that gold finish simply doesn't sell. This makes no sense to me at all. A black finish shows every speck of dust - every fingerprint - they're virtually impossible to keep looking pristine - yet that's what "sells" ... go figure!

[This Guy]

I hate the looks of all Denon receivers. I don't really care how speakers look as long as I like there sound, cause here in my room any speaker goes in and nobody has any say in it. But you know KLH makes some ugly beasts, and those bose speakers are pretty ugly. There really arent a lot of speakers too ugly for me to not buy them, bt I'll tell you what I do like. Those new Maggies that you can hang on the wall are pretty sweet looking (hopefully I'll have em in a little bit). I really like the Pioneer Elite receivers, H/K receivers, and I even like my Marantz.

-Joey

[Widowmaker]

I forgot all about Denon, yes they are ugly.

I also forgot to mention Carver/Sunfire. I'm sure they're great receivers (and for the price, they should be), but they are F-U-G-L-Y!

[kexodusc]

Sorry, silver audio equipment is pretty aweful...
I'd take black anyday.
I agree though, the gold is quite attractive and there's still a few Yammie models that are gold.
My Marantz receiver is not quite ugly, but pretty close.
Technics had some receivers a few years back in that grey/brown colour.
I think black is so motif neutral that it sells better. And most of my equipment is black anyway so it matches.

I just saw some Sony brand speakers with bright neon yellow/green woofers and tweeters in them...yuck.

[joel2762]

haha, Kex, have any pics of these Sony's?? Haha I'd like to see that.

[zapr]

I wouldn't characterize them as UGLY ... I think stoopid-looking is the more appropriate term for the loudspeakers from B&W and Swan that have the tweeters mounted outside the enclosure. I couldn't live with such an atrocity, for it would remind me on a daily basis of just how bizarre and "off-the-wall" some audiophiles actually are when they think that mounting a tweeter outside will somehow have some magical effect on the overall sound (it won't).

For receivers, I don't classify any of them as actually ugly. If the question was asked in reverse ... what receivers are the most handsome, I'd answer that by saying - any of them that aren't BLACK! Give me gold - give me silver - give me titanium - give me ANY color other than black ... PLEASE! I'm somewhat encouraged that the pendulum seems to be starting to swing back away from black - but it can't happen too soon to suit me. I'm a bit perturbed at Yamaha for eliminating the importation of anything other than black into the U.S. In Japan, gold finish is the dominant color ... here, they claim that gold finish simply doesn't sell. This makes no sense to me at all. A black finish shows every speck of dust - every fingerprint - they're virtually impossible to keep looking pristine - yet that's what "sells" ... go figure!

............They should offer black or silver as choices for all audio equipment. I'm not about to change all my equipment just to keep everything the same and current. I think they would prefer that though........Zapr

[kexodusc]

If you have a Sony Store in St. John's you should be able to find them...I have a confession to make. I sampled these speakers compared to some PSB Alpha's that were just a bit more money in the same store, and the Sony's held their own until we put some Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto on...don't remember the model #, but they were the best Sony brand speakers I've ever heard, and I'm not a Sony fan by any means.
Don't know why they had green drivers...but they're probably targeted towards high school/college students on a budget. I couldn't afford stuff like that when I was in high school

[joel2762]

I'm going to the mall this Sunday where the Sony Store is..haha i'll have to take a look at these!

[kexodusc]

Sony X-Series...pretty ugly, here's a link to some of the models:

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/ser...th=32100n32105

[joel2762]

Those look yellow to me. Maybe I am wrong! They're still ugly anyhow, why can't they keep the tweeter inside and have a normal flat-topped cabinet so people might be able to lay something on it and not have it fall out

[markw]

From a guy who grew up in the 60's and still has a Marantz 2270 (with beee-yooo-tee-ful blue dial), A Fisher FM-100b, A Marantz 7/8 pair, I kinda think all current receivers are kinda uckin fugly, particularly the black ones.

But, my Denon 2802 is symmetricaly laid out and relatively uncluttered for all it does. I can live with it, particularly since no "pretty" ones exist that will do what it does, or at least at the price I was willing to fork over.

I do wish we could get more champagne/silver units over here, though. I'd like my Denon a heckuva lot better then, at least visually.

[jamison]

anyone like the gold woofers on the Klisch reference series?

[Widowmaker]

anyone like the gold woofers on the Klisch reference series?

I do, but the problem is that I don't like those horn tweeters that Klipsch uses. Also, on the performance front, Klipsch speakers sound overly bright to me as if I had my treble or mids turned up too high.

[recoveryone]

I was just in my local High End store (Video Mart) and saw the new McIntosh's....Breathless is the best words I can think of right now. Their a stop and take a second and third look at piece of gear. www.mcintoshlabs.com

[recoveryone]

anyone like the gold woofers on the Klisch reference series?

The klip's are nice, but that room would be hell to calibrate (Brick walls and wood floors) echo city, city, city,city...........................