A good friend of mine, who’s opinion I value, has made a suggestion concerning the Source Selection Unit chassis. And I’m looking for some input.
What my friend has suggested is that I don’t round over the corners of the chassis in the fashion I normally do. He has recommended either keeping the edges sharp or maybe adding just a chamfer instead of a round over.
Now the reason I started using the 1/4" round over on my chassis edges was because I felt (and still do) that it nicely mirrors the curved surfaces on transformer end bells and the curved surfaces of the tubes themselves. But this project is different. This unit will be in a stack with my CD player and potentially a solid state receiver. There will be no visible transformers or tubes. And those other units have somewhat more modern look, sharper edges and styling.
So what I’ve done is insert the frontal control elements in the chassis to see how it looks. Before I give my opinions and feelings, I’ll let everyone see what it looks like.
First, head on:
Then, front the right:
And finally, from the left:
Now at first I kind of liked the look. However, as I spend more time looking at it, there are two things which bother me a little. The first is the shadow line on the top of the openings. This is the first of my audio projects which will actually bear the “Cascade Tubes” moniker. In this configuration I think the name label gets hidden a little. The other thing that bothers me a little is I think it overall has kind of an “unfinished” look. Now this may be just because I’m more used to the strong round overs on the edges. But I’m not really sure.
If you look at the chassis I used on the original 6CY7 amp you’ll see that it has simple 1/8" radius round overs on the corners of the chassis itself, but 1/4" radius round overs around the signal inputs as seen in this photo.
This approach is also the one I used on the 6DJ8 Headphone Amp. This allowed for a more defined look on the outer lines of the chassis but still mirrored the tubes with the openings.
On the bubinga chassis I’m also not sure I like the sharp edges around the meters. For the meters I really prefer the look of those on the “Purpleheart” Signal Meters chassis.
I like the way the wood seems to “fold into the meters” so to speak. It also makes off angle viewing a little simpler without blocking the sides of the meters.
And as for chamfers I simply don’t know how to even get a feel for that option.
So I’m looking for some opinions. Should I leave it as is for a different look? Should I try the chamfers? Should I use my typical 1/4" radius round overs? Should I mix it up with stronger round overs on the openings and smaller round overs on the edges? Frankly, the more I think about it, the more confused I get about how to proceed.
So what do people think? I really would like to know.
As always, questions and comments are welcome.