Home audio and aesthetics

[Fivetide]

I was just wondering what people thought about the combination of great sound and the aesthetics of its home. I work as an IT contractor now but I did an apprenticeship in cabinet making and I come from a long line of joiners and furniture designers. When I was married I remember having to make a compromise with the wife about the looks of the hi fi system for the actual quality of the sound. I guess this is not such an unusual situation, anyway I was talking to a friend at work about the same thing and he said that if I was to make something that his wife would accept and of course sound awesome then the expense would be justified. I was just wondering if anyone else would accept that argument. The reason I asking is that I want to get out of IT , it bores the hell out of me now and would love to get my hands dirty and make something that gives me a sense of pride rather than sitting at a desk waiting for something to go wrong. Anyway maybe I’m just having my 2nd midlife crisis lol

[Mrbobb]

IT boring? Depends what level you are and how much control is under your purview. If you are sitting on a helpdesk, answering the same old question, fixing the same old "did u plug it in?" problem do get old after awhile. One time I was the networking guy, but to do anything I have to request the contractors to make any changes, so I was just the phone guy, painful! But another time I was the networking guy for a medium size company and had access to everything! I was the system admin, the security officer (access), I was pretty much total control! Boy it was fun. I was also level-3, so the stupid questions don't come to me directly, they are handled by somebody else. I only had to deal with internal customers so they had to nice to me, or when want that fixed again? Nirvana. Don't ask me how I lost that job.

Now aesthetic. Of course! she own 1/2 of the house. Are we discussing something few people know? I like aesthetic myself, just go easy with the pinks I tell her.

[River757]

......if I was to make something that his wife would accept and of course sound awesome then the expense would be justified. I was just wondering if anyone else would accept that argument.

I would. Sounds good AND looks good too just never seem to be something that can be done cheaply.

An example of pretty much total form over function in the audio world were the stereo consoles sold for decades until the late 70s. While an audiophile nightmare mostly because of the typically awful location of the speaker systems, not to mention the middling to outright crummy quality of the drivers themselves*, many of of these consoles were beautiful pieces of furniture. Style reflected the times, stretching from clean mid-century modern designs (which still look good to me) to rather gaudy ones. And many were built with great care (and were they ever heavy!), which you can see for yourself because they still appear occassionally at thrift stores & pawn shops.

IMO the better ones, though far from audiophile quality, could still produce "pleasant" sound as long as you didn't do any critical listening, and I spent a lot of time playing tunes as a teen with a GE a relative owned and a Zenith my friend's parents owned - fun times!

Couple videos showing the above:

A '68 console by Magnovox plays "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" by Hugo Montenegro. I like the juxtaposition of the 43 year old audio system and the 21st century HDTV & Xbox.

Magnavox console catalog for '72 - music genre doesn't quite fit the looks of the systems, but oh well FYI: Magnavox did try to improve sound quality by installing the drivers in a thick-walled styrofoam(!!) subenclosure. Zenith also supposedly used some decent drivers in their consoles.

Sharp looking Grundig console

* though their amplification systems could actually be quite respectable, according to some vintage sites I visit

[River757]

IMO speaker systems generally looked better than they do now until the late 80s or so. Then this preoccupation with minimalist design, and not the good kind of minimalism , started to be seen at all price points, as if the manufacturers thought everyone wanted replicas of studio monitors sitting in their living rooms. And for some reason here in the States, most of the time it seems we get stuck with only black as a choice of finish, while the rest of the world almost always gets a choice of black woodgrain, walnut, beech, maple etc etc. In my experience black has very low WAF and manufacturers are just making it more difficult for themselves sales-wise by limiting us to that color for many speaker lines.

Rant over.

[Andersonix]

Assuming the question is about the speaker cabinets in general (and not individual taste in proportions, materials, etc.), then I think the least aesthetic thing about them is the required toe-in, as this upsets the rectilinear arrangement that most of the remaining furniture has. So any speakers I design must work with this in mind...

If it's about the electronics' front panels, then I demand it be all black, with all red lights, of course! (but we already had that thread...)

[Pano]

WAF is important if you want them in the living room (lounge). My wife complained for year about my giant speakers in the living room. Now that I have my own music room, they first thing she did was buy big speakers! But they are 1958 vintage Fisher, so match the decor of the house. "They're furniture" she says.

I don't see many pretty speakers these days, I agree with River757. The don't make 'em like they use to. Below are the Altec Malibu from a recent eBay auction. Simple, but elegant.

[JRKO]

As with all things 'free choice', you will have a polarised opinion set as to what is aesthetically pleasing and what is not. You may get someone who loves industrial looks or plain white minimalism or even someone that values great craftsmanship above all else (examples below)

I think to make a product that more people would like you may have to go into the darker recesses of what 'humans' find appealing. The 'golden ratio' appears in nature and a simple box made to its rules appeals to our basic aesthetic subconscious.

I wouldn't ask too many significant others though. You'll end up with something unobtrusive that doesn't sound great........BOSE

[JoeDJ]

Given that most music audio originated from some sort of somewhat small, conventional speaker via a miked amp, (even in a studio) and then mixed via small sudio monitors, why is it so difficult to reproduce the sound with rather small aestheticly pleasing speakers?
Why must they often be some sort of offending monsters even in a small listening environment?

Personally, my mantra has alwas been "listen with your ears, not your eyes"

[Pano]

Originally Posted by JoeDJ

Given that most music audio originated from some sort of somewhat small, conventional speaker via a miked amp,

Huh?
I'm sitting here listening to a recording of Piano, Sax, upright bass, cymbals, snare, toms and bass drum. None of which originated from a speaker and none of which are small.

[JoeDJ]

No but they are mixed on small studio monitors and this is where the final sound originates.
Personally, I want to hear what was mixed in the studio, not what some monster home sound sys has morphed it into.