speaker with high WAF

Very slim floorstanders with easy placement.

http://www.carolinaaudio.com/

They have a few different Transmission line speakers designed for near wall placement.

I agree, the Merlins are butt ass ugly. Definitely the Glock of loudspeakers. Butt, I kinda like th Glock look.

How about these. Electrostats, 1" wide, 6" tall. Look good in a living room, in an art deco sort of way. Good WAF, I know, I tried them with mine (wife, that is). Active, so no need for extra boxes (amps) cluttering the room.

maybe just take your wife with you or involve her in the choice, making her apart of it will go along way in making her happy and may flatter her you value her opinion too!

You might want to look at the Vienna Acoustics Schonberg. It's only 3.5 inches deep, is made of brushed aluminum, and was designed for near wall placement. It received a great writeup in HiFi Plus a little while ago. It's starkly modern looking, so you'll probably either love it or hate it. Other beautiful loudspeakers that come to mind are from Opera, Sonus Faber, and Vienna Acoustics (non-aluminum line), but most will probably suffer from near wall placement.