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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,

128x128kletter1mann

Showing 4 responses by mahgister

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,748 posts
 

Probably your wife love you so much she unconsciously integrated all your peculiarities as GOOD and meaningful...

The more unconditional is the love the more we go over for the sake of the other...

You are lucky, but being an astrologer among many things, i know that we make our luck in this life or from another life... Anyway there is always a reason...

And anyway at the end no one know if what we live is good or bad...

 

 

When i studied indian astrology masters 20 years ago, i stumbled on a paragraph about the Rahu /ketu axis in a chart... The indian student interpreted in a dialogue with his master  some aspect related to this axis and say to his master: Wow ! master this kind of planetary alignment in the axis is terrible : all miseries will happen , health lost, children lost, fortune lost, it is terribly bad... The master was smiling... He answered not at all my child...If this asspect is observed in the Gandhi chart these aspects are a benediction that will push him  to go  more swiftly to GOD away from mundane matter, but  if it is a chart for  Rockfeller this will be catastophic... Then what is good aspect and what is a bad one ? i learn somethin more than  just astrology this day 20 years ago... i think the writer was B. V. Raman because it was my main books among many others Raman was  an astronomer in the british royal society of astronomy ( the British welcome him for many reasons for sure and not only for science) and the greatest Indian astrologer...

 

 

I must be lucky. My wife likes my LaScala AL5s and the gear powering them. She even thinks the tube amps look cool. She does ask me to keep the cables organized and neat.

 

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,748 posts
 

Very good description of my case...

 

Option 1: A dedicated room, away from your significant other, that you can disappear into and is solely under your control.

Option 2: Wife approved total house sound system that doesn't meet your expectations.

Option 3: Sorry, there is no more options.

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,748 posts
 

Very bright idea for a safari hunters  spouse..

It is not my case... Thanks for the more than good suggestion if someone can adapt it to his own spouse  habit...

😉

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,748 posts
 

I have not read all opinions in this thread to be frank... :)

But most wife at least half of them, dont think about speakers being a beautiful design but an annoyance to keep clean which obstruct their free walk in the room and dont go well with their "own object of beauty" ... At least the wife who dont listen music much if at all, as my wife...

I solved the problem with headphones, but most headphones are in my experience not satisfying compared to a dedicated audio room ... But luckily when the child go out for their own life, i picked a left room from my speakers and dedicated it to them for many years ...

I just sold my house this year though , i must forget speakers in the NEW living room for sure...I was sad...

Luckily. i own an AKG K340 a marvel when optimized right which help me forgetting about my dedicated acoustic room for good  ...So much, i know i will never need any upgrade, and trust me i am very picky for sound and acoustic translation of music ... They are more than good...

 

 

«Speakers are only most of the time useless  empty boxes to clean »-Groucho Marx wife 🤓

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