Any time the subject of spouse acceptance factor is raised I immediately think how lucky I was in that regard. One of the first times I met my girlfriend and wife to be was at a teen hangout where she invited me to join her in her new 1968 Chevelle to hear the Lear 8 track stereo with separate amplifier and upscale speakers. I swear she was as excited by the sound of the stereo as she was by having a popular new car.
We dated for two and one half years and then were married for fifty-one years. In all that time her love of music and appreciation for a great sounding stereo never dimmed. For years we had Acoustat 2+2 ESLs plus a pair of 16 cubic ft. subs plus amps, preamp, sources and wires in our den. She never once complained about the clutter but instead often marveled at how great they sounded. Only a few years before she passed away my large DIY horn speakers with bass bins of Klipschorns for bass sat in our den. I told her I was unhappy with the limited bass extension of the Klipschorns and that I wanted to replace them with a pair of 18 cubic ft. folded corner horn subs. After asking me if I was sure they would sound better she not only approved the change but also spent many hours helping me veneer and finish them.
My Mary was not only a smart, beautiful, loving woman but also that rarest of creatures a genuine female audiophile. At her funeral during an interlude when friends and relatives were invited to comment a close mutual personal friend, a former high end audio dealer, noted how rare she was as a woman who loved reproduced music but also had great knowledge and enthusiasm for the equipment which made it possible.
Integrating speakers into contemporary decor - can WAF ever be overcome?
This is a topic I'd like to see discussed more. Not a speaker issue per se, but it's speakers that usually cause the problems. My partner is a hard core interior design/aesthetics type. We will shortly be combining households with all the benefits and challenges that this presents. We're both fans of a "Music In Every Room" (MIER) lifestyle, so that's a good start. But we quickly diverge. And to be clear, we're not talking about giant screens on the wall or home theater. This is audio only.
Anyway, her idea of MIER is built-in speakers or, at most, tiny Sonos units on a bookshelf or behind furniture. I had some of that in my house albeit BlueOS stuff. That's OK to a point. But my LR had KEF LS50's on stands. Obviously difference in sound is dramatic, and she admitted it. But she doesn't care. For her the improvement in sound quality is negated by aesthetic horror of visible speakers.
It's worth mentioning that the decor/design aesthetic in question is basically high end transitional with mix of contemporary stuff, Asian antiques, some colonial antiques, large format abstract oils, etc. It's >not< traditional or frou-frou, really a look where the right speakers could easily be interpreted as industrial design pieces that mesh well with the rest. The LS50s fit that description I think.
So, getting to the question here... Has anybody had any luck convincing spouse that speakers can be a part of the decor? To think of them as some kind of sculptural elements, not "just ugly speakers?" That they're industrial design elements that somehow add to space? Have links to pix of living spaces that integrated speakers into the look? Any help or ideas would be great. Thanks for reading, a kind of odd topic, I know. Cheers,