French colours

stereoman

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Hello HiFi lovers. I do not think I'm going particularly mad now that I say that I have not for the first time noticed how beautifully the French can design their speakers. Many times they give a customer option for a vibrant red, blue, white, black, orange etc. in comparison to almost always dull wood, black or sometimes white speakers from other countries. I really have a great appreciation for the French to always show their extravaganza in many types of production. Why is the vibrant colour choice so scarce in other countries ?
 
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QuestForThe13thNote

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stereoman said:
Hello HiFi lovers. I do not think I'm going particularly mad now that I say that I have not for the first time noticed how beautifully the French can design their speakers. Many times they give a customer option for a vibrant red, blue, white, black, orange etc. in comparison to almost always dull wood, black or sometimes white speakers from other countries. I really have a great appreciation for the French to always show their extravaganza in many types of production. Why is the vibrant colour choice so scarce in other countries

I think you’ve got something in that argument with the likes of focals bright red speaker designs etc. Why are cars always a boring monotonous colour - greys, blacks and silvers! But I think it comes down to designing hi Fi that fits into the market and room. In the uk I still think on the whole that people are quite conservative so like something that ties in with their room. But a nice wood walnut veneer speaker with lots of grain figuring or a tiger ebony wood like they use on proac designs is not in my opinion ‘dull wood’. So long as there is contrast.
 

stereoman

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QuestForThe13thNote said:
stereoman said:
Hello HiFi lovers. I do not think I'm going particularly mad now that I say that I have not for the first time noticed how beautifully the French can design their speakers. Many times they give a customer option for a vibrant red, blue, white, black, orange etc. in comparison to almost always dull wood, black or sometimes white speakers from other countries. I really have a great appreciation for the French to always show their extravaganza in many types of production. Why is the vibrant colour choice so scarce in other countries

In the uk I still think on the whole that people are quite conservative so like something that ties in with their room. But a nice wood walnut veneer speaker with lots of grain figuring or a tiger ebony wood like they use on proac designs is not in my opinion ‘dull wood’. So long as there is contrast.

If you say about great wood design like those from Tannoy Sterling etc. yes, these are beautiful indeed. Same with some speaker manufactures who wrap their products with beautiful wood veneer. I like such Design if it is made good. But I rather say about these mid budget ones that have such dull wood MDFs. Indeed, some uk speakers wood designs are faboulous but these are also pretty expensive. I'm more talking about B&W, Wharfedale or Monitor Audio etc. up to 1000 € pro pair. These mid budget seem to have pretty dull designs. The same in Germany. Mid budget ones have also not so sophisticted MDF wood design unless they are black or white.
 

tino

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You should check out some of the funky new colours for the Elipson Planet M and L speakers - they look great.

Also the Sonus Faber Chameleon range has interchangeable side panels in different colours including orange, blue, red.

Even at the cheaper end Steljes speakers come īn a range of vibrant colours.

So it's not just the French, but they do seem to have a bit of flair for these things.
 

Nelis87

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I saw the S range from Quad, they look amazing in mahogany red, combined with the Vena in mahogany. I prefer wood finish anyway and dislike glossy. The revel concerta for example sound amazing to me. But the glossy finish does not appeal to me.
 
Nelis87 said:
I saw the S range from Quad, they look amazing in mahogany red, combined with the Vena in mahogany. I prefer wood finish anyway and dislike glossy. The revel concerta for example sound amazing to me. But the glossy finish does not appeal to me.

Me neither Piano Black finish has it's place........ and that's on a piano. ;-)
 
nopiano said:
For the price of a nice car, I believe Wilson Audio speakers can be painted any metallic colour you choose. That is a US design.

https://www.wilsonaudio.com/products/alexia-series-2

For much less than the price of a nice car you can buy several cans of automotive paint from Halfords ;-)
 

stereoman

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nopiano said:
For the price of a nice car, I believe Wilson Audio speakers can be painted any metallic colour you choose. That is a US design.

https://www.wilsonaudio.com/products/alexia-series-2

Aha...in this price range I guess you can have it sprayed with real gold particles...
 

Infiniteloop

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The problem with bright fashionable colours and edgy designs is that fashions change. This isn’t good with a purchase that you’re likely to retain for a number of years. For this reason, I’d love a pair of KEF Blades for their sound quality, but there’s no way I’d allow them house space. They’re Fugly IMO. If only KEF would put the same drivers in a box similar to their Reference 5’s......
 
Infiniteloop said:
The problem with bright fashionable colours and edgy designs is that fashions change. This isn’t good with a purchase that you’re likely to retain for a number of years. For this reason, I’d love a pair of KEF Blades for their sound quality, but there’s no way I’d allow them house space. They’re Fugly IMO. If only KEF would put the same drivers in a box similar to their Reference 5’s......
I agree. The current vogue for white will surely, er, fade. I considered white speakers earlier this year, but expect the finish to yellow or discolour in some other way. White cars were the rage around 1990 but within a few years nobody bought them. Then about five years ago they returned!

My old Sonus faber were gloss piano black, rare at the time. They've lasted well in the looks department. With the ATC I went for the classic cherry finish, which hopefully will age gracefully.
 

mond

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Yes, as stated above, fashions for colours change, just look at bathroom suites from the 1970s as an example. Wood goes with most living rooms/ listening rooms and will always look good. As for gloss, personally I wouldn't buy a shiny anything, especially a glossy hifi, whats even worse than piano black speakers is the so called piano black interiors they put in cars nowadays, that has actually prevented me from buying certain models of car before, sometimes I think the general public just have bad taste or are too easily led by fashion :)
 

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