Not trying to be provocative. I just genuinely don’t under why people who obsess over creating the best possible sonic experience in their homes—and are willing to spend a fortune on equipment to do so—don’t seem to care much at all about the appearance of the rooms that they’ll be spending so much time in. There are so many photos on here of dreary man caves with bad carpets and tacky furniture, many of them overstuffed with multiple sets of amps and speakers and giant cables snaking all over the floor. I love this subreddit and the passion people have for stereos and great-sounding music. I’m just a bit confused by why people who have so much aesthetic sophistication in one area seem to lack it another.
When my wife and I moved back to NC and reopened my old hifi shop, we blended it with a modern furniture retail business (we’re both into modern design and modern design philosophy) and the results from the hifi community have been awesome.
I think it’s important that you see examples of a thing done well a few different ways before you can start to visualize how you might prefer to do it? We keep a bunch of vignettes set up, and constantly changing, packed with gear both hidden and as part of the design layout.
Overall, it’s been a huge part of our success as a shop, and also creates new hifi clients from people who come to us through the interior design arm of the business.
I’m not going to say it’s easy to make a pair of metallic tangerine Wilson SabrinaX look nestled in a vignette - but I think we’ve pulled it off :)
The other day I was thinking I should open a record/plant store when I retire. You’d make a great neighbor. lol
We’ve got at least two cutting lathes within 100 miles, and a ton of musicians in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area that needs a pressing plant! (And the other half of an old vegetable distribution warehouse that needs filling: retire now!