Where to find sexy button for CD player control on chassis ?

[thedream]

Hi Folks !

I am looking some "sexy" push buttons (play, stop, forward, backward, etc..) to put on a DIY new designed chassis for a CD I have modded (Playstation as a CD player).
In fact, I have looked at RS Components, RadioSack or Digikey, but I can't find nothing sexy ? What do I mean by sexy ? Some non-vandals enormous buttons, somes likes the Marantz CD player black round selections buttons, or the one like or in the style of Abbington CD Player:



What kind of supplier do you have ? Does exist a button maker for DIY hobbist ?

Please help me ;-).

Best regards,

Marc

[Bob Richards]

I am planning to buy and use a bunch of the E-Switch brand LP11 series pushbutton switches. They average $12 per, and contacts aren't gold, so I'll have them drive gold contact sealed relays, but they look great and are lit in five different colors (bi-color LEDs inside). These are square buttons, with a nice looking shape. e-switch makes round hole buttons too in a diff. series. These are in stock at Digikey, Mouser and Future Electronics in the U.S. Each distributor has a slightly different selection of colors. I looked for many days on the web, and this is the best I came up with. Good luck.

[qusp]

take a look at the APEM piezoelectric range at digikey, or elfa. sexiest switches by far imo. they have some other very nice momentary pushbutton types that are beautiful also, but the piezo ones are my favorites and i'm using them plus their soft lit leds for my dac. they are brushed alloy and do not have a mechanism, simply using the electric field of your finger to trigger it, so will last forever. come with illuminated ring if you like, but i got ones that are just a brushed alloy disk 4mm thick and 22mm round. flush mounted or just sitting with a raised edge against a beveled cutout they will look superb. havent decided which of those i will do yet.

[Pano]

Good link above, thanks qusp.

Finding really sexy knobs and buttons isn't easy. When I was building amps I was paying $35 for the volume knob. $35!!! But it was dead sexy and Japanese. Sex sells, even in audio

[qusp]

no problem, yeah very hard to find, surprisingly so. the actual items look much nicer than their artistic renderings, not as gaudy. i'll try and remember to take some pics tomorrow and post them.

oh here we go, heres the 2 that i have. the second one is an actual pushbutton switch, i want tactile response when switching on a power amp




as well as some leds in the same style with a nice brushed edge and a soft flat colour led. really cool looking, better than the bulgins imo. not cheap though, the switches are about 35 each. the first was just under 30usd i think and the second was just over 35. but they are made in the UK, so thats expected i guess. indeed sexy knobs are sweet. to go with these i got these custom titanium knobs made from my cad file.

the small ones are 22mm and the large ones are 45mm. the lot with shipping also from the uk was about 220, with about 40 of that being shipping, the large ones worked out about 45 with shipping, but they are quite chunky and well....omg i want to sleep with them they are so sexy. i could never find one i liked enough, after buying anote and several other brands, they just never had enough weight to them and nothing was individual, but classy and subdued at the same time like i wanted and certainly nothing titanium

the dac and ajx are gonna look pretty sweet. nice materials too, the apem are alloy, chrome and with gold over silver contacts.

[thedream]

Hi guys,

Thank you for replying and your efforts. I have found those switches, but they are very large... I am looking some smaller one, like the picture I've posted on the front face of the CD player...
Or like this one:

or this one:


Small, sexy, touchy, untouchable ?

[qusp]

they would be made as part of the cabinet design. you could make them with an actuator and metal disc.

not really a fan of the spaceship