Why Put Up With "Wife Approval Factor"?

I thought it couldn't be done at first, but Ellen approved of N803 and Verity Parsifal Encores (which I couldn't resist), but NOT Revels or Aeriel 8. Hanging the ugly Aleph monos UNDER the floor joists proved wonderfully elegant for allowing short cables, heat control, and aesthetics!
Getting a HEAVY Arts & Crafts leaded-doors cabinet from Drexel ($1400) was a gorgeous, sturdy solution for BOTH the Aleph P, MD100 tuner, and now the Alesis Masterlink (to record my Steinway behind the Encores!).
She even approved the (gorgeous) Electrocompaniet EMC-1 MkII ABOVE said cabinet (phew!), between dried flower arrangements. To maintain audiophile rigor all components sit on good-looking Neuance iso/absorb shelves.
Dedicated mains, PCs, interconnects all run UNDER the floor in the basement's ceiling save for the two pretty ribbons of Red Dawn flowing from the baseboards towards the Encores.
I even hid the mic cables up in the ceiling (attic floor!), so the Earthworks mics sit hidden behind the crossbeams on the ceiling! The Grace mic pre sits velcroed UNDER the piano
front edge, mic cables dressed behind doorway edges with those $5/6' sections of paintable wire tubing from the Depot.
So I have a nearly completely hidden ref system AND recording studio in a formal late-colonial/A&C parlor.
Ellen still feels the need to refer to it as our "music room" in deference to a formal living room, but a nice piece of jewelry each year while we're on vacation seems to mysteriously keep us both on an even keel (balast works both ways?!).
I'm actually quite surprised how elegant the gloss-black Encores look in front of my striped-mahogeny B. So I get to sit in an 8' near-field triangle 8' in front of the front wall, providing a HUGE and ultradeep soundstage, NOT
a severely compromised flat mural the common result of wall or shelf-mounted speakers in high-end "decorators" luxury installs. TV has its own place in a 5.1 HT system in another room...as it should be! Cheers.

The answer to your question "Why Put Up With "Wife Approval Factor"?" is 1) Love and 2) Respect. Any questions?

Hey, I only bought $5,000.00 speakers & drive a 1984 Honda Civic!!! Really!!! Well, the speakers list for almost that (4750.00) but I paid less. I actually like driving the beater around because nobody messes with it. The wife bought a new car in '98 & is happy with it. In fact, last week she bought me a '95 Bonneville. It was my Aunt's car, so we got a deal.

Before we were married (1987) we lived together for 5 years. I had the beginnings of a decent system then (Shahinian, Luxman tube pre & Adcom 555 & MC analog) and she liked it. Nowadays, she doesn't care much for it, but if I pick up a CD she likes (Dylan, Ry Cooder, Diana Krall) or play some old favs (Traffic, Beatles) she'll have a listen. For the most part, she could care less about it, although when I brought home the VR4 gen III's, she did say they were the ugliest speakers I've ever had.

I value my marriage way more than my stereo, so if it really was a problem, I would compromise or even get rid of it, using just a headphone system. At one time my Harley was the most important thing in my life, but I've learned material things are fleeting at best.

Don't misunderstand me, I really enjoy my system & get a tremendous amount of pleasure from it, both from listening & tinkering, but if my house were to go up in flames, my first priority would be my family.

I told my live in girlfriend of 6+ years that she can pick the decor so long as it does not affect the acoustics of any room that i have a system set up in. With that in mind, i try to work with her in terms of how equipment is placed, the ergonomics of the systems, etc... I have encouraged her to take up crafts thinking that she may be able to work with me in "decorating" some of the sound absorption panels, bass traps, etc... So far, she's not been real enthusiastic, but i don't think she'll mind once she becomes more skilled at sewing, knitting, etc... I have no problem with something looking "attractive", "homey" or even "feminine" so long as it does not kill me acoustically. So far, she likes making natural wreaths the best. I guess that these could act as a random "diffuser" if properly placed : )

With all of that, the only things that she has ever really raised hell about in terms of cosmetics were my G&D UTP-1 transport and my Klipsch La Scala's. The faceplate of th G&D looks like a piece of granite. As such, she calls it "that Flintstone looking thing" : ) As to the other "eyesore" ( according to her ), she really disliked were my modified La Scala's. A few years back, i had the La Scala's as my HT mains with Heresy's as rears, etc... She ABSOLUTELY HATED those "big square boxes" in that room. As such, i took them out, moved them into the basement and built a "vintage" tube system around them. As for the HT speakers, i now have five foot tall towers in front with matching four foot tall towers for the rears. This does not bother her in the least. Go figure.... Sean
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PS... The fact that i went from 104 dB horns up front and 96 dB horns in the rear to 87 dB dynamic drivers all the way around absolutely forced me to completely redesign my HT system. Needless to say, i had to go WAY, WAY up on power. There is NO substitute for speaker efficiency short of a few kilowatts : )

WAF depends on how much she loves you. The more she loves you the more you can get away with. You made your bed so now you have to sleep in it, so don't cry about it later.