Sigh... How can I buy speakers and keep my wife happy?

Yeah, well, the problem is more related to a) space and b) Maggies are the least child friendly speaker ever. Sold my last pair when little James came along. That said, one of his hobbies involves hiding things in the speaker ports...

 

go find some of her beloved crap, and tell her it needs to go because it hurts your eyes to look at it.
sometimes you just have to stand your ground, the house belongs to both of you.

 

She loves the mini-system I gave her for our anni. but hates my room dominating rig. Bummer baby; I pay the bills.

 

This all sounds too X-rated for this forum, I'm sorry. Wife thinks they are too big, size doesn't matter. Wants it wall mounted. Wife feels bad for saying no.
Am I on the correct site?

 

Very good, men need too be men again, love your wife ,work together, but stand your ground on things that you feel strongly about.
Who ever works and pays the bills should have a bigger say on some things.

 

Or at least an equal say. She knew me with my rig and my passion for rock. If I had to choose between my rig and her, she'd loose in the blink of an eye. A matter of principles. In it for life (rock). Till deafness do us part.

 

Fortunately I will never have to deal with the WAF because I will never get married. I've never had to deal with the GAF (Girlfriend Acceptance Factor) though. When we moved in together, it was never directly said, but implicitly understood that me and the system are a package deal. It's never been an issue though, she's OK with having a quadraphonic setup in the living room with four big speakers. Probably because she occasionally plugs her laptop into it and listens to music. But if for some reason or another she didn't like it, she can move out.

 

Try to explain her that those loudspeakers will be the most interesting and fine piece of furniture in your living room...

 

My wife would be happy if I never ever buy speakers or anything stereo-related again. I could in theory afford to do a very substantial upgrade, but I "already have speakers" is her argument.

I recently had a fun conversation with a friend over lunch about this very thing. He's a guitar player and geek and he LOOOOVES effects pedals, so he knows where I'm coming from. Each time he decides on a new or replacement pedal he has to go through the whole argument with his wife about exactly why. She of course says, "But you already have so many pedals!". And he says, "Yes, but they don't do what this one does!".

It seriously took me almost 10 years of gentle lobbying before she finally agreed to let me upgrade from my old AR 'The Turntable' to a VPI Classic 1. It'll probably take me about as long to finally get the go ahead for some substantially better speakers. Heck, my 15+ year old Grado SR-60 headphones gave up the ghost a year ago and it was only last month that I finally replaced them! In this case I took the risk of "buy now, apologize later" by jumping on the Sennheiser Momentum On Ear 'phones when last year's model went on clearance for $75. Luckily she didn't seem to care much, other than call me spoiled.

That said, I'd never go back to my lonely bachelor days. Relationships are full of compromises, and I'll gladly take my wife, daughter and home we share over the "freedom" of buying whatever crap I can afford to put in my lonely sad room.

dan c

 

The speaker with biggest WAF are Gallo Micros and a tiny sub

 

That's great Dan, I hear you, next time they want shoes, pocket book clothes ,just us the same argument though.
You have clothes ,shoes and a pocket book, or go out to eat, we have a perfectly good kitchen WE can cook in.

 

I went from a pair of Martin Logan Theos to DALI Epicon 2. Not only do they have a higher WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor), they sound and look better, too! They are pictured in my avatar.

 

Only if the wife is an audiophile too!

 

Call 1-800-d-i-v-o-r-c-e

 

I traded out the living room speakers this year from Castle Severn to Spendor A6 in Zebra wood and it took her 3 weeks to notice. I never tell her what I am doing with the gear. On the other hand I make a special concerted effort to spoil her.

 

just think how big she will get now ,since she can cook twice as fast with two stoves, her a s s might catch up with her attitude.

 

You can't make your wife happy.

 

In the context of this thread, the answer seems to be "buy them off" which is rather sad but not off limits.

 

Neil Young might have some advice too, just give "Welfare Mothers" a listen.

 

I would try talking with her about how much pleasure this hobby gives you and it's importance to you and if she can't compromise on the decor of one room, well that just sucks.

 

If only guys put as much effort into choosing wives as they do speakers these conflicts could be avoided.