SnowmaNick
Well-Known Member
I’d second the silver.
Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice
- Thread starter Joe Mac
- Start date
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
Literally not a single piece of gear I own is silver. And I am anti silver gear, but objectively yes this is.... better.
It’s funny because 99% of the time I agree with you on aesthetics but this isn’t one of them. I kinda really hate black gear lol.
SnowmaNick
Well-Known Member
I’m regards to stores, @Mather hit the nail on the head with fuck Amazon and large box stores too.
My mother, RIP, owned a small independent bookstore in her town. She worked with the local schools to make sure she would have the class’ reading lists, sold at a discount, kept an eye out for titles, authors, or new books that her regulars might like, and knew people by name. Then in the mid/late ‘90’s a Barnes and Noble opened in town, and she almost went bankrupt and had to close the store within a year as B&N (and Amazon) took all her customers. And the huge series releases she counted on were carried at Costco. No way can a small indie shop match their purchasing power. After she was closed a Walmart opened in town and ate the B&N’s lunch, and B&N closed that location. When I go visit family all I see now are huge chains, and they’re struggling because people but everything online these days.
That of course is happening/has happened across all businesses. People love to talk to knowledgeable salespeople and visit stores, want demos, but so many then turn around and buy online for the lowest price from a box turning site.
And now, well, here we are. Money in hand, but nowhere left to go.
My mother, RIP, owned a small independent bookstore in her town. She worked with the local schools to make sure she would have the class’ reading lists, sold at a discount, kept an eye out for titles, authors, or new books that her regulars might like, and knew people by name. Then in the mid/late ‘90’s a Barnes and Noble opened in town, and she almost went bankrupt and had to close the store within a year as B&N (and Amazon) took all her customers. And the huge series releases she counted on were carried at Costco. No way can a small indie shop match their purchasing power. After she was closed a Walmart opened in town and ate the B&N’s lunch, and B&N closed that location. When I go visit family all I see now are huge chains, and they’re struggling because people but everything online these days.
That of course is happening/has happened across all businesses. People love to talk to knowledgeable salespeople and visit stores, want demos, but so many then turn around and buy online for the lowest price from a box turning site.
And now, well, here we are. Money in hand, but nowhere left to go.
Last edited:
Mather
Unknown Member
Okay to be perfectly honest I don't mind silver gear but I find that generally black hides bad design whereas silver accentuates it. So silver gear can look great but it really needs a nice design and form for it to look that way, and for me everything has to be silver, or black, not a mix. I like silver if the units have that hard industrial look to them, but in general with most gear (because I think most gear tends to be pretty ugly) I prefer black.
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
I think the other thing, is that black is black so you can kinda mix manufacturers and unless they’re really odd designs they’ll sort of match. There are so many shades of silver gear that it’s much more difficult to do that unless you make a point of doing a feature of it, like two pieces that are from the same line either side of the different one.
Mather
Unknown Member
Yep totally true. Like, I love the way my system sounds, and after the upgrade I'm sure I'll love it even more, but even with my current rig, everything but the TT is ugly. The Aria is fine, just a black metal rectangle, the Arcam just looks like a standard AVR, I would hide everything if I could. But if I had tubes like you or some of the other awesome rigs on here, I'd absolutely display it. I'm going to look into whether I can put the new stage inside my media console and just hide it.
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
Yeah completely. And if there’s a piece of gear that’s fine in there it’s the phono. Generally don’t run hot and you only need to access to change setting once every couple of years and even then only if you’re changing cartridge rather than just changing stylus or handing in for a discount on the same MC.
Honestly if I had more space I’d like a sort of custom kallax style with a top thinner layers for gear could then have silver sources in there and the black tube power amp and table on top. Would make the different colour of the power amp being black a feature rather than just different.
Mather
Unknown Member
Yeah I'm actually just searching online to see if Parasound has a support number so I can just ask what sort of room this thing wants for cooling. I'm guessing it's fine but it's a small space with almost no headroom so I just want to be sure. The inside of that unit is pretty bonkers, usually don't produce much heat but those two big units on the front might...
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
Yeah I'm actually just searching online to see if Parasound has a support number so I can just ask what sort of room this thing wants for cooling. I'm guessing it's fine but it's a small space with almost no headroom so I just want to be sure. The inside of that unit is pretty bonkers, usually don't produce much heat but those two big units on the front might...
Mather
Unknown Member
Ah. Do not put in cabinet.
Also only cross AC cables at 90 degrees? Hahahaha oh yeah right good luck in my rig. Looks like a bird's nest back there, zero space for cable management.
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
It’s the weird isolation thing underneath. Destroys the symmetry. Either go mad across the board or don’t. The bit on top is perfectly average.
This highly regarded company for some reason designed all their gear to look like stolen car radios…
Mather
Unknown Member
Haha see. I don't hate it because at least it's like. GOING FOR IT. Like, conventions be damned let's cover this thing in brass and old school RED digital displays and make it look like it could crawl across the floor and kill you if it didn't like the quality of pressings you were putting on.
It looks functionally evil, I respect that.
This, this looks like the audiophile equivalent of a 1993 pantsuit.
SnowmaNick
Well-Known Member
Totally agree on Cyrus, that came out of a mid-90’s Ford.
Personally I hate the “DIY/garage build” look, such as this. Come on, put some effort in!
Personally I hate the “DIY/garage build” look, such as this. Come on, put some effort in!
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
Totally agree on Cyrus, that came out of a mid-90’s Ford.
Personally I hate the “DIY/garage build” look, such as this. Come on, put some effort in!
Agree and especially because Lab12 are expensive and meant to sound great but that’s just not nice. I think their top of the line phono has an LCD display and looks much better, just wish they’d done that with the rest of the range!
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
That is ugly. Hey how much did that dumb box cost you... nothing I traded in a bunch of really pricey nice looking stuff.
URGLY!
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
I mean, now it is just an ugly silver box...
Literally not a single piece of gear I own is silver. And I am anti silver gear, but objectively yes this is.... better.
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
It’s the weird isolation thing underneath. Destroys the symmetry. Either go mad across the board or don’t. The bit on top is perfectly average.
This highly regarded company for some reason designed all their gear to look like stolen car radios…
Although @Mather if it’s going in a cupboard maybe get the stolen car radio phono. It has a button on there just for you…
Mather
Unknown Member
Can't go in cupboard, manual says cupboard bad. Pantsuit must be on display.