Hey, Piet -
If your wife doesn't want you to spend too much money AND wants to hide the amps; then it seems to me that you have now been put into a win/lose position.
Now, when you say 2 ML33h power - are you saying the Mark Levinson Nº33 Reference Monaural Power Amplifiers?
If so, how could ANYONE want to HIDE those puppies! So sleek and powerful!
Cables are EXPENSIVE. WouldnÂt you also need IC's for the preamp?
Maybe you should go out and start looking at cables (what you need if the gear stays close - zero - and what you would need to hide it). Most folks, that are not intimately into this hobby, donÂt realize how expensive cabling can be. After all, we're not going down to Good Guys and buying a roll of electrical cord -
(- now let's NOT turn this thread into ONE of THOSE please ;-} )
With the gear that you have, you can't settle for cheap cables to meet the "spend no money" requirement. You could kill the whole setup in one cheap spending spree.
I believe that by helping your wife understand that these things go hand in hand, it may help her to understand why you would either NOT hide them (and who would WANT to!) or that you're gonna be spending more $.
I think that most of these type situations can be resolved peacefully if the man takes a little more time to help his wife/girlfriend understand WHY and not just WHEN and WHAT.
Just my two cents -
Best of luck
AJ