mine sits in an entertainment system behind smoked glass so I can barely see it with the lights on. We generally watch movies with the lights dimmed. I could care less how it looks, but I do actually LIKE the simple look. reminds me, as SH said, of the old classic NAD stuff. I own several pieces of that (old NAD) also.

Hell, if they don't like the looks, for the $600 difference you could build a small closet to hold everything but the DVD player and VCR, and add an IR repeater. Then everything is completely out of site, including wires, and the wife would be ecstatic!