Girlfriends and wifes, how do YOU cope?

My wife has listened with me for over thirty years. She was the one that said the dCS upgrade from the MSB Platinum was worth the extra $$.

Girlfriends and wifes, how do I cope? Easy, I never allow them to listen to my system at the same time.

Seriously, when my wife and I met for the first time nearly thirty years ago, I already had speakers nearly her height at one end of my living room. She knew from that moment on that I was dedicated to music and has rarely ask about the system since.

One exception was in 1990 when I replaced my Vandersteen 4's with Soundlab A1's. She came into the living room one day after work, looked at them ( how could she miss them? ) and ask, "are those going to stay here?" (They did).

Psssttt......
The secret is to bring your wife into this madness in a way that she understands and can appreciate. This takes time and patience, but the long term benefits are significant.

Timing is critical.... don't try to get her to sit down and listen when she is focused on something else. Catch that relaxed, all caught up, nothing critical mass going on, time and suggest opening some wine (after YOU'VE made dinner) and listen to some music that SHE likes.... one that is well recorded and musical (this will take some research, but well worth it)....

If you can get her to sit down, just for a little while.... 30 minutes......make sure that she has the sweet spot.... her wine glass full......... YOU'LL WIN for the rest of the TIME!

Ya gotta get her hearing the soundstage - once you do... it's YOUR LIFE and you can DO what EVER you want!
Sounds like work??? Isn't anything worth having?

The point is that you need to spend some time and effort to get her to understand.. at least a little....

Once she's in your corner, you've got it made....

Trying to go (sneak) around doesn't work.... News Bulletin - WOMEN DON'T LIKE SECRETS... of ANY kind.....I'm sure that it can be traced back to caveman or something, but trust me on this one.....

Angela, do you use this on your husband, or are you still looking for Mr. Nice guy/audiophile?

I subscribed to various audio magazines and was an enthusiast for the first 16 years of our marriage without moving away from my system that I bought in college (which was nothing to write home about). During the last four years, Katie bar the door! My wife and I jointly auditioned many different speakers and amps in our home (the kids too!). She absolutely noticed the difference and we agreed on the best set-up. During the last two years or so, oh boy did we go through a lot of upgrades. Lately, I generally did the research alone but often was able to audition before buying. This made all the difference because audio differences are really not all that subtle once you actually pay attention.

Since my wife runs the finances I don't hide anything, nor do I want to. Great sound costs more and is a constant search. It's more fun when you don't do it alone. Which is why I involve my family and why I enjoy everyone at Audiogon. BTW, I wouldn't recommend the 16 year approach to anyone just starting out; things just happened that way, but I do remind her of all the money I saved during that time. Cheers.