Experiences with your "Better Halves"


MY girlfriend and I recently went to an audio store just to burn some time before dinner with friends. We played some of our salsa and R&B CDs in a musical fidelity (Nuvista amp+ some other MF components) with B&W CDM9 speakers. When the store manager asked for our opinion she stated "the highs are a little rough, separation was superb, imaging was good, the bass was very clear although a bit forward probably because of the room" - and this was all in one breath. Needless to say I was impressed!! She had only listened to my rambles after listening sessions at friends and audio stores. It is apparent that she has very gifted hearing ability even though power ratings, capacitance or impedance matching are the equivalent of words found in a Russian Restaurant menu to her. I am interested in learning about your experiences as couples, this has certainly been quite an awakening to me.
salsero
Like Craig above, my wife has pretty much zero interest in the stereo, but has made a few comments over the past couple of years indicating she knows that it is not run of the mill stuff. After seeing Diana Krall live in a local venue with less than stellar acoustics two years ago she said: "She sounds better in the living room at home." She also commented recently on how crappy the boom box at work sounded with some pop music, and suggested that after hearing the CD there, she couldn't get excited about buying it.
My wife has zero interest in this hobby, in fact it drives her crazy, but she tells it like it is about how something sounds and I appreciate her unbiased opinion when I'm too into something.
My wife really got into the whole 'sound room' idea, she painted the room herself, picked up some cool lights (some disco light, a really neat multi color light that spins to the music, etc.), curtains, even put foam between the curtains and the window!
We have a mega-changer, and I hooked it up to the S-link-e, and through the computer in our computer room, we can control the tunes.

We take turns adding songs to the playlist, or we'll pick music we think the other will like, or we'll play songs for each other, or we'll select songs that we think are the other's favorites. We save the playlist, and other time we'll reload old playlists and relax.

It's really a blast, this started as my crazy little game but she loves it as much as I do now. It's become a legitimate home improvement. I can't begin to tell you guys how great it is. We'll sometimes go through 6 or even 8 hours of music at a time.

Oh, and the convertible sofa bed... ooo baby...

KP
My wife actually instruced our cleaning lady to not move the speakers. I found out because the cleaning lady came and complained to me. So I asked my wife why she did this, because I had never openly complained about having to move the speakers back in the right place weekly. My wife informed me that the system 'just didn't sound right at all' when the speakers were off. I was greatly surprised, as she makes fun of the hobby, but she claims to hear the difference.
Today we moved our speakers to the sweet spot while playing around. It turned out to be a great improvement in bass accompanied by a decrease in the harshness of the highs. She thinks we shouldn't touch anything now although our living room looks really weird. But hey it beats upgrading anything.