Have you ever deceived your wife-audio purchase

My GF (who I live with) is not into audio at all. When I met her, all she had was a boombox from an ex, so she sees almost no value in high performance audio.

Recently she was with me when I bought locally a metacarbon cable for $1200 (I told her it was $1000) - but hey the retail is $3000. "You spent $1000 on a a cable?" At that moment I felt really foolish, seeing her side of it.

Of course when I went home and heard how much higher resolution it made my system, I knew it was a good purchase.

About 2 weeks ago I got a new Raven One turntable delivered and set up. The Graham arm had been here in a box waiting. I told her the dealer was coming in to set up the arm. (The dealer has his wife with him so it was a bit of a distraction as they taked, but we were all in the living room) I thought for sure she realized I had gotten a new table, and later that night showed her something on it.

"Is that new?" she asked - damn, had I kept my mouth shut she never would have even realized since both my old and new table are black (but totally different shapes)

Last night I was listening to the new table/arm/cable and realized what a huge upgrade in sound quality it was. Even so, I really dont think most people would be able to tell, or if so wouldnt really care very much.

So I realized that people like us are unique in that we can fully appreciate the sometimes realtively subtle changes in reproduction. Why shouldn't we have the best gear we can (or can't) afford? Who better to appreciate it than us?
Life is short and if this relatively safe hobby brings us so much pleasure, then why question it? (though I often still do)

Now I how to figure out what I'm gonna say when I want to upgrade my 13 year old tube amps for the latest version ones. That will be a noticable change. (the new phono stage stage I am getting this weekend is black with no controls - so that should go unnoticed.)

I was away on business when my new Sound Lab U1X speakers arrived, I got a couple of email photos from my wife saying that some mysterious crates had turned up and customs were hassling for payment of import duty.
It cost me a holiday of a lifetime for her to forget those 'little' crates that I overlooked.
At the moment with system problems that I am having, her big put down is that, "my ipod sounds better than that" Ouch!

Cables and delivery of new vinyl purchases mostly arrive without comment from her - or just some spares arriving for work, dear!

Does hiding major audio purchases from your wife constitute a form of cheating? Maybe she has hid some purchases from you. If so, possibly your marriage certificate isn't worth the paper its printed on. I always clear a major audio purchase with her first but items under $200.00 (audio accessories like tubes etc) don't constitute a major purchase unless it is your last $200.00. By the way I have been married for 33 years.

Everything is done either through her paypal account or with CC, so I dont even try to hide anything. We pretty much decide what we want, and whats the best gear we can afford to get there, and buy it. She listens to the system almost as much as I do and enjoys upgrading and auditioning new things as much as me.

Tom_hankins sounds like you have the ideal relationship with your wife!

You know wife deception may be a more sensitive issue with some and not others. I will give an example: A while back an audiogon member had his amp listed for sale along with his phone number. I called to inquire and the guy told me that if I purchased his amp he wasn't going to be around to ship it! Asked why & he informed me his wife and kids just left him due to his audio purchases and he was ready to end his life. I talked to that guy for an hour and finally asked if he had any relatives nearby and said his Dad was close. Before hanging up he convinced me he would contact his father and he would be fine.

Another example: I called a fellow member on a preamp sale and talked to him briefly before his wife grabbed the phone and protestingly asked "Are you buying or selling?" I responded that I was buying, she said great and gave the phone back to her husband. I'm sure they are rare incidents.