stereo for someone special

Without specifying equipment my inclination would be a hybrid integrated (low maintenance; swap the input tubes every few years; still get some tube effect), solid state CD player and small floor standers that will work well close to the wall. Think about a nice stand that matches her furniture, too, if she doesn't have something serviceable.

That said, I'm siding with C'man (and others). The sound staging, 3D imaging, etc. doesn't matter to most folks. It's more about aesthetics and convenience. That and her telling friends, "Look what my son bought for me!"

Hey, she's your mom. What do you think?

Thanks for all the responses, I have to say that after posting this thread I did feel a little weird. Which is to say that I probably deserve the "Do I like to sew" comment.haha! Truth be told I feel as if everyone should have some kind of music box and know that my mom currently plays cd's through her dvd to flat screen tv speakers happily. Maybe I should just buy more cd's. It's not as if sit down listening sessions will be held but hey who know's right?

I decided to take the plunge. The cd portion of my mom's sharper image stereo has been acting up and then for some reason my dad got her an i-pod. So I decided now was my chance to act and got her this Teac. Now I just need to find some speakers, it sounds pretty good driving a pair of Vandersteen 1's but she definitely won't want them. I'm thinking a single driver maybe from Omega. They head to Florida for most of January so I have some time plus I need to know where she's going to want to put it. I'll start a separate thread re: speakers but thought I would follow up here.

Cheers,
Wes

At the risk of generalizing; I don't know many women (actually, one) who enjoy what we affectionately call "critical listening" - that is, sitting down in front of two speakers and listening to music without any other distractions. Most of the women I know (wife, daughter, friends wives, etc) play music as background noise while doing other things. Seldom is their attention focused on the music, and when it is it always sounds good enough whether the source is a $20K system or a Wave Radio.

The one exception I know is my younger daughter, who is a music major in college and spins vinyl. She will sit in her listening chair in her room and listen to classical and opera recordings. But my recent atempts to upgrade her Nuforce Icon system to something better were rebuffed by the audiophile ego-shattering phrase "it's good enough, Dad!" She's definately not an audiophile... yet.

well I've since got her a bluray disc player instead and she loves it in combination with the flatscreen my dad got her. One splurge was the snakeskin covered Sony hdmi cable that I couldn't resist to connect up with. I did after all get new Nintendo technology when I was a wee young lad