Never everybody else is jiving!! |
If you earn it spend as much as you like on anything you want. If you're not cashing in your 401K what difference does it make as far as I know you can't take it with you.
That being said there's a point of diminishing return so even though you can doesn't mean you should. |
A fellow member who shall remain nameless, will be ordering a pair of Tempo Electric speaker cables in "pink" Teflon housing, tie on a pretty bow, and present them to his lovely wife as a Birthday gift. Really!!
How does a real Man even come up with an idea as this??
They are nice cables, tho:) |
Generally don't ask don't tell in my house regarding my purchases or hers. We keep mostly separate finances. I thought several purchases of mine went completely unnoticed but one day she walked over while I was tinkering and said, "I don't know how much any of these cost (points at every new item) but I'm not dumb" and left the room. |
Wouldn't the gentlemanly thing to do be to knock off a decimal point? |
Is not saying anything a form of deception? |
Even worse is wifey catching you reading or posting on this thread! |
Don't really have to. On the one hand, my wife hates my stereo. She simply doesn't get why I love it so much.
On the other hand, and this is a big hand, at least she knows where I spend so much of my time when not working. Also, it's pretty tough for her to be jealous over a stereo. Consider the alternatives. :) |
Never have, never will.
Regards,
-- Al |
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Zavato, I'm sorry to hear that and I hope you're feeling well.
I have nothing to hide. It's not worth it and my wife has been very supportive of this hobby. She enjoys music as much as I do. Its not uncommon for me to come home from work on a Friday to find her listening to music. It's my hobby but it's our system. She can use it as she pleases. That's what it's there for. |
Of course, "that old piece of junk i picked up cheap" or "i am testing out, probably wont get it" or " i will sell my old turntable or amp". THen there is the "slip it in the house and she wont know". I purchased my Universe and ZXY artisan preamp that way. I really think she knows but so far she hasnt called me on it. Now can i get away with the Mcintosh 275??? |
Both of my ex-wives feel they may have been deceived by my audio and music purchases. They were confused and decided on taking a different direction. |
Yes , I always lied.. But when drinking I would tell her the truth... Never do it! After that , it didn't matter how obscure ... cable, wire and cartridges were all noticed... I have slowed down buying but for a while it was perpetual.. |
Yeah well, it is what it is. But as pointed out, there are advantages. If you look for them |
Damn Zavato!, that was one of the most shocking post I have read, I hope it turns out better than that, a surgery is when you need family, All the best wishes for you. |
Only by omission.
I let her know if I am planning to buy anything new that might affect our overall budget in some way. Then, I'll answer any questions, but do not offer up anything more than asked about, which usually amounts to nothing. She generally does not really care otherwise. She likes for her family to be happy! :^) |
Zavato, better to be ignored than to be smothered!! LOL!! |
A little off topic. I always tell my wife that when I die, not to sell my guns for what I told her they cost me! |
No, she's cool. She even puts up with four systems in a house that's not all that large. But I clear every substantial purchase before I make it, just to be respectful and keep her on board. |
Following up on my recent response my wife asked me today if my CD player was new. In fact, it's several years old and over a year ago she asked the same question.
But why should I be surprised? I had surgey last week (for real!) and she barely noticed. I had to find rides to the hospital and to home when I was discharged. Oh well, I guess that's the trade off, my stereo and I are largely ignored.
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who me????? never...... actually she doesn't care, our (my) rule has always been that I do not use our paychecks to finance my hobbies. I do work on the side, buy and sell stuff and basically wheel and deal to fund my and my son's hobbies. Last year I went to an estate sale and bought a complete house of Audio Design Associates gear and a few pairs of McIntosh speakers.....it took a while to sell everything but I profited $3500. I gave my wife $1000 to spend on herself and bought a brand new conrad-johnson preamp.... it was $1500 plus my trade in....with the remaining $1000 and some money derived from other sales I picked up a pair of Revel M106 speakers...I sold my other speakers and an amp that I was no longer using and bought a new NAD M51 DAC. |
Yes, very amuseing thread, I too, do what I want in audio, I will not hide it, she helps me make the decisions, no matter the cost, it's about whats best for the system that we can afford. |
In years past I would install new (or new to me gear) when no one would see new gear bring put on the rack. I would be amused that invariably it would takes even as long as a year for my spouse to notice the new piece, by which time I easily said, no, it's not new.
These days I do as I please, in plain sight. |
Never lie about the stereo stuff. Now, ...the guitars... that's another story.
Marty |
I don't think Chad thinks it's funny. I don't think it's funny. |
No way. Wife plays the system too, so it is partly hers. She actually purchased Thiel CS 2s back in 1985 all by herself!!!! And agreed tubes worked well with them and thereby approved the incoming c-j stuff. She was with me on my last four or five amplifier purchases. I TRY to take her to auditions too. She hates that part of the hobby however! But she does REALLY like shaking the walls at high volume when I'm not home! |
01-06-11: Paul_graham
Chad thinks it's funny, but he doesn't want Liz to know.
That's LOL funny... good stuff! |
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Personally, I wouldn't ever lie to my wife about a purchase, but she was very supportive when I did some major upgrades last year. At this point I'm probably finished making expensive purchases and I think she'd rather that I just spend a few hundred bucks that talk to her about wanting something.
The key is to make sure that she knows that you will support her getting nice stuff to that she cares about. When we first got married I purchased her a new silver flute that was significantly better than the one she had and likely better than anyone she knows. That purchase was worth a lot to her because it showed that I valued things that she cared about. Most recently it was an upgraded iPod just because she wanted more memory.
I've heard more than once, "Whatever makes you happy." |
Chad thinks it's funny, but he doesn't want Liz to know. |
I hope its your eye your talking about, if its not thats a pretty lame joke. |
A good black eye gets you a free pass to jail around here ,I am not sure around your place. |
A good black eye will stop the questions. |
Deceive? My wife actually bought for me my "new" Musical Fidelity power amp. |
Yes, I call it a check and balance system. She spends an awful lot on the dogs (which I'm not nuts about) and I've had my share of expenses on equipment. Of course, she often asks, "How much are you selling this for ?" And right after that, "How much did you buy it for ?" That's where I have to do some mental juggling. I must say, though, that it was she who strongly encouraged me to build my own dedicated listening room. No kidding. |
I always ease my wife into a purchase by offhand saying "wow, thats a good deal"or "what the heck " when looking at things on the internet - a little later I bring up what a good deal it is(even if I've already agreed to buy it) Shes pretty cool about my purchases though (I've pretty much paid for my equipment by buy/selling used audio - right now I "owe" the house $500) Her acceptance came when I bought a Mcintosh c-22 and a C39 out of the paper for $1000 (after begging and borrowing money from the kids savings/ i had to give the kids a "cut"of the profits) and sold them for $2200 and $1100 on ebay...although she still comes with me for most purchases even though she could care less about audio equipment... |
Wouldn't it be nice on a cold wintery night to have a tube amp warm us, make the place cozy. And isn't it romantic with the tubes glowing in the dark?. |
This is a hilarious topic! The answers have me rolling! Lol! |
what purchases???
I'm looking for the person who constantly breaks into our home and leaves audio equipment all over the darn place!!! |
yeah well let me see there was the $3900 Mcintosh MA 6900 integrated amp I got for "ONLY" $300 bucks and the Mcintosh 74 tuner I picked up for $50 bucks ($900) and the Klipsch RF 63 they were only $400 bucks ($1800) sold stocks cashed out some of the 401K I'm ten G's in the hole guys but on my fuzzy cooked accounting books jeez this very nice looking stereo system was only $1800 bucks honey can you please start dinner
yeah but the sound -- |
I believe in the Bill Clinton rule: I don't ask about shoes, she don't ask about stereos... we have a very happy marriage.... |
is non-disclosure considered deception??? If I am 100% guilty. Typically, my wife and I don't talk about our purchases unless it impacts the family in some way. We really do not care how much the other spends as long as we can pay our bills and continue to save at the rate we agreed upon. It helps that we both have our "fun" accounts separate from the family account. What we do with this money is no one's business. I have found this to be a great arrangement. |
Chadnliz, women have their games too, for sure. My wife played the 'if it's expensive, hide it for several months, then wear it' game. When I'd say, hey, new dress/shoes/jewelry, she says 'no, I've had this for a long time'. She also played the 'this was a great sale, $200 marked down to $15' game, then show me a $15 tag that may or may not belong to that item.
We stopped playing those games years ago. We never discuss $$$ at all anymore. She might say, hey, new amplifiers huh? I might say, hey you got a new necklace huh? The other one says yes, new amp/necklace, whatever, and that's the end of it. I keep a seperate bank account and credit cards, so does she. So we really don't know, and we're fine with that.
Cheers,
John |
Chadnliz, if my wife snookers me on issues as essentially harmless as my buying omigawd-priced gear, I'll squeeze an eye shut (hard to translate that expression - it connotes deliberately selective awareness) and let her have her fun her way. Two basic rules though for either of us:
Don't invade retirement/vacation money.
Don't use audiomania as a decoy for infidelity. Marital, not sonic....
cheers apo
Just installed some Valkyrja behind the speakers yesterday. Hard not to notice. "Do I want to know what those cost?" "Not really, dear. But I got them at [small]% of list. Think of the money I saved you!!" Wow. It almost worked, too. |
This is very simple and has taken me 30 years to figure out:
1. Haul the boxes in when she's asleep
2. Have an entire floor that is so untidy/revolting/messy (she regards a speaker more than 3 nm from the wall as messy, wire on the floor as untidy and a sound level of greater than 60 db as revolting)- I now have such a floor - the basement - she won't set foot in it under any circumstances
3. Most important - desensitize her from asking the price - she was so appalled at the cost of one of my components that she never ever asked again. It's called shock therapy - and it works. |
Well to all that lie about Audio, just imagine what your wife may be less then honest about, now thats funny! |
this is certainly not a sugestion,but i just got rid of my wife.THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION. |
This definitely takes the cake for most hilarious post on the 'gon.
I have a pretty nice rig. I have never told the truth regarding cost of any component.
In fact, I bought my line arrays a month before I got married. When asked how much they cost, I gave the price of one speaker. Since it was still comfortably less than the price of the engagement ring, it was 'acceptable.'
Keep 'em coming! |
5 simple rules to deceiving the Mrs:
1) When buying, always tell her it cost only a fraction (at least 50%) of what you aytually paid.
2) When selling, always tell her you got way more than what you actually got (assuming you already have a reserves for the replacement).
3) Never pay by credit card for the full amount: only what is allowable. And, show only the credit card receipt as the entire cost.
4) Remember, once you have 3 of one thing, getting 4,5,6 is too much for her to keep track of.
5) Have a couple of kids...Gets her too busy to scrutinize your system (although this is dicey because you too will get busy) |
