Girlfriends and wifes, how do YOU cope?

I agree with Angela's advice (7-22-01) Get your wife interested in listening. That is what I did. And not listening in the sense of "gee honey don't the new cables sound better" (ie, don't be an equipment geek). Listen to music , damit, not equipment. Put music on that she likes and for krisake, listen to an entire recording without jumping up to adjust something.
Also a some wine and snacks help. I have a dedicated listening room that has a lock on the door. We go to the room with the bottle of wine and some .... ur...um... oh, better leave that part out. But anyway,we put on some music, turn the lights low and lock the door (don't want kids getting out of bed and walking in unannounced, do we )and, shall we say, let the music carry us away. Which is what music is supposed to do. Oh, vaccuum tubes do indeed have a romantic glow.
This is what the listening experience should be. It should be about enjoying the music and incorporating it into you life. Not sitting with a bunch of fat, old audiophiles that all need hair combings, wondering if the new swithcplates make the mids to strident. Enjoy music, enjoy life, have fun.

Just wanted to clarify one thing in the event there was any mis-impression. When I refer to, ummmm ....., other things.... I mean things such as ... oh, Neutrogena Body Oil, edible undies et., etc. to excite and enhance the senses.
The use of Herb, as Gumby suggests, only dulls the senses. That is unless we are talking herbs such as Cilantro or Wasabi, when incorporated into a nice piece of pan-seared salmon would do just the trick.
Oh, one word of caution to the equipment dudes out there. The Neutrogena body oil is not for use as a cable treatment or any other demented purpose. It is to be used by you and your wife and/or girlfriend, or husband and/or boyfriend, as the case may be, to be spread on each other. I include this stuff in my list of inexpensive tweaks.
I wholeheartedly recommend the Neutrogenia oil for anyone who has not tried it. I mean, really... seriously, this stuff is wonderfull, even if you are not listening to music.
David

Jeeze, maybe I am just lucky or I try much harder (If I am really working at it with much more effort that anyone else than I must be doing it subconciously or my wife is feeding me subliminal messages while I sleep). My wife enjoys listening to my audio system, but she does not care what parts it consists of. She just likes to listen. She does not give me grief when I want to make a change of equipment. I should confess however, that I do not change equipment often (No equipment neurosies here). I have only had four speaker systems since I began this audio interest in 1975. The first speakers being the KEF 104ab's.
Anyway here is the last week of my life, balanced between audio and my wife. The audio week began with the arrival of a batch of records from Acoustic Sounds. While we were listening to them my wife made the comment that we should get away for the weekend. The next day, without any further prompting, I made reservations for the weekend in Cape May, NJ. We ate, we shopped, we drank, we stayed out late ( caught a great band named "Black and Tan") returned to the hotel and made "UGH-UGH" noises. We both had a great time. She appreciated that I did something for her, namely getting away for a weekend. The moral here is to think (no!, not just about audio) and not to be selfish.
Oh and just to show that appreciation works, and I know some of you will love this and others will scratch their heads in amazement. As we were driving home from Cape May, on Rt 73, I was being a little devious and intentionally slowed as we approached DeSimone BMW. My wife looked at me and said "I wondered why you chose to take this route." She then said she had no intention of walking around the lot of a closed car dealership. As you can imagine I was a little dissappointed. My wife then said that if I was truely serious about a new car we should go back when they are open so we can do something about it. We are going back this week. Had my eye on a dark green Z3 for a while.

Not many responses to this lately. My wife and I and one of her friends are listening tonight. Who knows where the goosebumps will lead. I will not be listening for equipment artifacts tonight.......