Like many metal finishes, it's hard to get a good color-accurate picture of these units. They are basically black (might be considered really dark gray, I suppose) although not as pure black as you'll find on some faceplates (particularly the black plastic of many older DVD players). They are also the same color, at least as near as I can tell - I've got a Model 7500 in the equipment rack now that looks to be the same color as my 990, but it's a couple feet below the 990 so they aren't directly adjacent to each other.