The Mechanics of WAF


I understand the basic concept of WAF - different people are affected to different levels and for (potentially) different reasons, but people who co-habitate often have to pay at least some attention to the other residents' aesthetics when acquiring audio gear, especially speakers.

So, I really get this scenario:

"Honey, I'm going to buy these 7-foot, 300lbs/side speakers and put them in the LR"
"Sweetie, you do that and you might as well have them delivered to the apartment you're going to be renting"
"Okay, I'll keep looking"

But there are any number of For Sale ads that say "These speakers are 2 months old but have to go due to WAF"

How does this happen? Is it all rookie mistakes, where the spouse doesn't think about what a given speaker might actually look like until it's literally in their house? Do people who make the purchase just not hear what they're being told before they purchase? Just curious what leads to this frustrating outcome.
kthomas
Happy Wife = Happy Life

That's a pretty simplistic answer. I find much to agree with in many of the posts already. Onhwy61 nailed my faults to a tea...and Mechans illustrates a mirror story to mine as well. Knowing how much my wife would object I brought a pair of LaScala's into our relatively small home and inserted them into our living room hoping to hide them or at least camolflauge them with a few vases of fresh flowers and maybe a box of chocalates. Take my word for it, the flowers and the chocalates were not the first thing she saw. I managed to keep them around for many (musically enjoyable) months, but it was at the expense of an overall tension. Like Mechans, my wife is trained as a musician (though she no longer plays that is what her degree is in after 20 years of violin). Like Mechans' wife also, my wife loved the way the Scala's sound and could certainly appreciate that difference. But true to form, she put a strong priority on the visual appeal, or lack thereof, of the Scalas, and strongly preferred something better looking and of more modest size. I eventually gave in and brought the Scala's to work to listen there (I'm lucky in that I had a space to set up my system outside our house). I'm sure some ads are just looking for excuses to make sure folks don't think there could possibly be anything wrong with their speakers, while others truly do face the WAF dillema ("willfull ignorance" is a great term). To be fair, and try to understand at least one of the mechanisim's that may be involved, imagine if your wife came home with two big stuffed pink bunnys, the size of your fridge, and insisted that the bunnys have a very prominent home at opposite corners in your living room. If stuffed pink bunnies actually make you happy, and perhaps even already reside in your living room than substitute something else large and quite unattractive (to you), and perhaps distincly feminine, and imagine that showing up one day, compliments of your wife, as a fixture in your home for all to see anytime they visited. Did I get that right dear?

Marco
It's a tradeoff. That's how I ended up with both a HT room and a 2-channel room and FOUR DOGS. At least she can't ask for horses anymore since we've moved. Now, I'm kinda into downsizing and we still have FOUR DOGS. Apparently downsizing only applies to audio.
"Honey, I'm going to buy these 7-foot, 300lbs/side speakers and put them in the LR"

That's EXACTLY what I did (except mine are 7.5 feet :^), only I didn't tell her until my son and I were installing them in the living room.

Her comment:

"Those are sure smaller than your other speakers (Sound-Lab Ultimate 1's) but wish they were a different color."

I replied:

"That's the only color they come in (Alpi) and if they later offer another option I promise to buy another pair."
Installing a walk-in closet (full room-size) for my wife has helped quell any objections she might have re the music system downstairs. And encouraging her to restock the goodies (primarily shoes) on those shelves goes a long way toward keeping her happy and blissfully ignorant of my audio obsession.