Hey I resemble that remark...
Compactness is underrated, and your suggestions are still too room-intensive for most situations. A one-box system is ideal, and maybe all that is needed depending upon what you expect from your music at that age.
For best SQ, one approach would be a great head-fi system. I favor Stax with a Blue Hawaii amp, fed by (pick a streamer) perhaps the new Bryston 3.1x? streamer/DAC running Roon.
From observation, most old EOL'ers find themselves in smaller and smaller spaces, and the music system is often traded off for living space. Would you rather have a small refrigerator for your food (the food your nurse/caregiver doesn't prepare) or would you rather have great sound?
And how good is your hearing anyway? My grandmother was a professional musician, but by age 96 she was very nearly deaf. All she needed was enough cues from the recording to be able to fill in all the rest of the music in her own head. Of course we would all leave the room when she started singing the Arias. She loved music until her dying day.
