I saw some great designs today! Unfortunately they were in kitchen-ware : Deco curved toasters, streamlined coffee makers with gleaming logos, and well located accessible and solid looking control knobs and buttons, exciting food processors with bold colours... So, with audio systems, why am I always confronted with so many boring sharp cornered boxes, tiny little buttons, for indecipherable functions, and (nearly always) black facades. I like beautiful music, does the technology have to be so ugly? In advance, let me say that all the retro-look stuff I've come across so far is tacky plastic, with unbelievably poor construction, and crappy performance.
Pretty extreme I'm looking for something a little warmer looking than that cd player, but thanks for the site.
John, Not to be cruel, but have you ever heard of the bauhaus (form follows function). Many folks feel the best looking audio gear was the vintage gear of Marantz and MacIntosh. I still remember drooling over it as a teenager. I personally think my VPI TNT HR, my Sony SCD-1 and my cj gear (especially the P16) are works of art both in appearance and sonics. To each his own.
re bauhaus, I guess I prefer the look of the Empire State Building to a rectangular glass tower I'd agree with each to his own, if they give folks like me a chance to have our own.