Ha, proving that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder... I like the color! But, like Brian, I have never been accused of having any aesthetic taste... And in fact am color-deficient, so what I see is invariably not what you see. But really, I think they look nice.
I found the description humerous: "I have listened to them for maybe 15 hours total. These are the speakers I have used as a benchmark because they are the best I have heard."
The guy's personal benchmark, but only listened to for 15 hours? Pu-leeeeze. Regardless, they look to be in good shape.
This weekend I had a listen to two speakers in this general price range: Totem Forest and Reference 3A Veena. Different interpretations of the music, but both valid. I believe both are in the 3K new range. Veena was warm and cozy, a smoky jazz club... Forest was punchy and hit with a bigger hammer. I'll have to demo vs. VR4JR in the coming months.