Quote Originally Posted by RGA
I totally understand and even the B&W execs will tell you in person if you wish, that STYLE drivves their designs - they do the best they can but the people want their speakers to fit their decor and sound takes a back seat and has. They threw the baby out with the bathwater - they have lost the tonality and the musicality of the event for compressed tight soundstaging - it's good for home theater and nasal and thin in the vocal band In my listening opinion - obviously not yours and that is perfectly fine - it would be even more boring if we can ONLY choose the same speaker but just in different colours.
I'm sure you're absolutely right, he installed the Nauts at Skywalker Sound because George just liked the shiny round mid-driver housing and its similarity to Darth Vader's helmet. Yeah, that's the ticket! It wouldn't have anything to do with their accuracy. Nah...

You've been drinking from the well of Peter Q too much again, or maybe just drinking too much period (not that there's a problem with that). Do aesthetics matter? Only if they want to sell product. Will they sacrifice sound quality for appearance? You must be joking. Have you seen the size and girth of an 801? It's a 229 pound fire plug! That's aesthetics?! Have a cup of coffee, RGA.

You mention that B&W does the best they can. Good point. My guess is that when B&W brings their considerable resources to bare, the "best they can" is quite a bit better than most.

Look, just because AN's look like the proverbial box they came in, you can't discount good looking speakers just because someone realized that to sell product, you've actually got to make the public want to buy it. Case in point: A Ferrari 400i. It has the soul of a Ferrari (V12), it performs like a Ferrari (over 300bhp), and it sounds like a Ferrari. Too bad they wrapped it in a hideous shell. Not only did it not sell, it's one of the few Ferrari's that aren't collectible and is routinely ridiculed like an unwanted step-child by the Tifosi.

To paraphrase a bad commercial; Don't hate something because it's beautiful. Appearance matters.