Do what I did: Buy a pair of Cabasse Atlantis speakers. They are 8 ft. tall and look like Star Wars jet fighters with huge eyeballs protruding from the center. After having those in the family room, ANY other speaker has seemed small in comparison. Now, my wife doesn't flinch over Magnepans and Soundlabs! |
Does your wife enjoy music? Who are her favorite artists? If the answer to the first question is "no" then you know what to do. If it is "yes" then get what you want. Get all of her favorite music and let hear listen to it for a week or two. She will want the audio equipment as much (if not more than) you do. It worked for me. My wife and I now enjoy my(our)system together and often. She has her set of music and I have mine. It works out pretty well. We now disagree on what to listen to but not on the equipment. She hears better than I do and now loves the big floor standers. |
Another angle. Take her speaker shopping. Tell her we need good sound and good looks. She may become hooked on a great sounding and handsome speaker that is afordable...and she'll have helped pick it out...no, don't let her near the bose display....good luck |
This is a no brainer, keep your wife. She probably wants her things done and if you accomplish her tasks first, she'll probably compromise on yours. |
B&W LM-1 (Leisure Monitor) can screw right in to a wall. |
The divorce thing isn't necessarily as glamorous as it's made out to be. I hope I never go through it again.
There's an excellent little speaker that just might save your marriage. It's virtually unheard of because the designer is also a professional reviewer, and it would reflect negatively on him as a reviewer if he were to try to promote his own product (even though he avoids doing loudspeaker reviews). The designer is none other than Dick Olsher, and the speaker is the $675 a pair Samadhi Magic Cube. You can read about it at http://www.blackdahlia.com.
How about this blurb on the Magic Cube from the Samadi page, accessed from the BlackDahlia site:
"The perfect wife acceptance factor! Visual design is by an actual wife."
An ACTUAL WIFE, dude! What more could you ask for??
The driver layout is of the Magic Cube unorthodox and brilliant. The result is a correctly energized reverberant field, which is a significant contributor to natural timbre. The Magic Cube is very nicely balanced and is relaxing and enjoyable long-term, which is quite rare in this price range. This speaker was voiced using professional singer/actual wife Lesley Olsher as a live reference, so it excels on vocals.
I don't sell these speakers, but I do sell a nice little integrated amp you might consider driving them with. It's the little 30-watt JoLida hybrid, retail $350. Of course you might want to get something else, but with the JoLida you could quietly roll the input tubes and upgrade without ever being noticed.
If I had the constraints you do, this combo would be my choice.
Best of luck to you!
Duke |
I took my girlfriend to the local B&W dealer here in louisville,we just looked around a bit, then she found one of the theater rooms, i told her take a seat,i'll be back in a few, 20 min later when I returned ,her first words where, sound does matter,i thought all you needed was just a big screen.she had been reading consumer reports about tv's etc.so she is now a convert,so try taking yuor wife to one off the local highend stores,it worked for me,good luck.i am still trying to finish my system another year I think,need money. |
Gallo Micros will work, use the small O-rings and set them on top of something. The powered subwoofer is great and you can purchase now or later the center one and rear ones that would wall mount. Actually, she might allow the flower stands that are optional. |
You're gonna have to get a wall unit entertainment center. A big, expensive piece of furniture that most wives are willing to accept. Get one where you can put the TV in the middle section at waist height, with two other sections on either side of the TV for speakers. You might need to get a design that has cabinet doors to cover up the speakers and TV when not in use -- depends on her tastes. I recommend speakers with good upper bass through treble for the wings, like the B&W CDM 1NT for about $900 a pair. It's a 2-way design with a front firing port. It would be real hard to get decent bass without spending a lot more money and getting pretty large in size. When you fill in your home theater, I recommend you buy a subwoofer. You could get a front firing subwoofer of relatively small size, e.g., a Sunfire True Sub Architectural, and hide it along side the wall unit or even put it in a cabinet cavity under one of the speakers. Until then, the B&W's will do a fairly good job on two channel music. Good luck; we would all like to have our cake and eat it too. |
I think the problem began a long time ago when we first started living together. I had a pair of Klipsch Forte's. You know the one's that looked like small refrigerators. She would mildly complain about them. We got married and within a few months my brother had a nice pair of Klipsch Forte's - free of charge. Now she's got me by the balls.
If I wasn't such a nice guy. Does anyone have any input on the Spendor S3/5's? Can they do the job?
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My advice is to buy some big plywood Klipsch corner horns. That should take care of your problem!
And once the problem is gone you can sell those crappy sounding ugly as sin speakers and buy anything you like! |
Find a console (coffin style) stereo from the sixties. These are retro chic right now. Magnavox was a leading brand but was just mass market quality. The best was from H. H. Scott with their components built into a high class piece of furniture. I'm sure these were rare. Now that I think of it I would buy a scott for just the furniture if I could find one. You could always gut the coffin and put your own goodies in there.
Good Luck!
Stephen |
a) Find a room that is not the main room of the house that everyone can agree is 'yours' or 'the music room'.
-else -
b) Dunno about 1K, but if you can go a little higher, think about speakers with furniture quality finishes (Avalon, Amati) that will appeal aesthetically. Then work on layouts that hide the cables & gear. |
Dude, you gotta get rid of that woman. I got one, I'm keeeping her too! Infinity Betas in the livingroom, wires all over the floor, preamp and cd player on the coffee table. Did I mention the dedicated 2 channel rig in what was once the master bedroom? An audiophile wife can be found you just got to search. You also have to put up with Sarah Brightman or something she likes too, but it's a small price to pay.
beemer :) |
In situations like this I lead the woman over to the washer and dryer and say, "Honey, can we get rid of these horrible, big, ugly, expensive, white metal boxes?.....They not only use lots electricity and water, they SOUND bad."
Then go to the living room and gesture toward the "good" wall,
"Now if there were small wooden boxes over there, not nearly so big, not any more expensive, and made of beautifully finished wood instead of ugly white steel, PLUS SOUND GREAT, wouldn't that be a better investment?"
If she says clean clothes are a necessity, you remind her there is such a thing as a washeteria.
If she says the washeteria is inconvenient, you remind her that in the current situation, listening to music is inconvenient.
Both parties are entitled to a home filled with whatever "appliances" necessary to make life worthwhile.
If your in a really good mood, go for BOTH the washer and dryer AND the stereo speakers! |
buy some some good headphones.
good sound, and you only see her mouth move. |
I'm currently researching some smaller monitor speakers with either a front port or no port at all. My biggest problem is that there aren't many audio dealers in my area other than Best Buy or Circuit City and they have mostly crap. I don't have an opportunity to listen to a lot of the speakers that are highly recommended. Any suggestions? |
Get some headphones and don't let your spouse use them! Two can play that bitchy game thing. Good luck. |
Start leaving your dirty underwear in different rooms and in surprising places around the house.
When she's had enough, tell her you are more than willing to negotiate a deal.
I've not tried this because my wife knows better, but I understand this strategy has worked for others.
Keep us posted. |
Show her a pair of Vienna acoustics Bach speakers.
Tim |
I've been married to the same woman for 20 years. The other day I told her I was going to sell a piece of Audio gear ($3,000 preamp). She talked me out of it. I couldn't believe what she was saying and her aguments for keeping it. She has come a long way since the day we almost divorced over my first SAE amps. We still go on occassional dates to Audio stores. Hang in there. |
Check out the new Meadowlark monitor that is front ported and designed to work on a shelf or in a cabinet. |
Lets see...you cant have speakers on stands, you cant have floor standers and you dont want in wall... You have three choices the way I see it 1. Divorce 2. headphones or 3. hang some speakers from the ceiling.
P.S. I'd consider #1 |
Get yourself a girlfriend who likes music and equipment and leave you stuff over at her house!!! |
From what i can tell from your message, your only alternative to a divorce is some type of tiny bookshelf speaker that you can install someplace that is convenient for her to try and "hide". As such, you might as well buy some Bose or other "generic" cubes as you'll never be able to achieve audiophile quality like that. Your other alternative might be to check into some Gallo "baseballs" and see what you think of them. I'm sure that they are miles ahead of Bose, but i still wouldn't expect much out of little speaker like that. Sean
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Goto. Getawife.com Plenty to Choode From |
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Sorry . . . you have to get divorced. |
