I think if I had to deal with the wife and child factors in that room, I'd just go with headphones. I really love mine, and I'm as yet unmarried...Maybe I love audio a little too much, for now...Someday I'll have a mansion like other rich guys on here, and have a dedicated room that would make Buckingham palace envious. What I have now isn't too shabby, but it doesn't quite look like the interior of George Vanderbilt's house in Asheville, NC, heh heh...BY THE WAY, THE FOCAL TWEETERS IN WILSON'S LINE ARE FLAWED BY DESIGN. THEY RING WELL WITHIN THE AUDIBLE RANGE, AT 16 KHZ. Go buy something with the Scanspeak Revelator tweeter (Nova, PBN, Chairo, Sonus Faber). Or else get Maggie 1.6's, or 3.6's...Or if you've got sevaral pounds, some used Genesis 200's, and damp the hell out of your rear wall with ASC traps and Frescoes that "match the decor". Just tell the wife that you heard Prince Phillip remarking about how "far too many British homes have too much slap echo these days, my dear fellows..." I believe they can make them the color of brick, or most any color.
Speakers to beat wife-factor ?
I'm looking to replace my Klipsch Forte's with something more refined, but wife-factor requires placement very near rear brick wall, in a 12x14 room (England). Child-factor requires floor-standers -- boxes on stands wouldn't survive. Would like a Maggie-flavored sound, but is there anything that can deliver with its back to the wall and its feet on the ground? I want to keep the solid bass I have now with the Forte's, but want to improve the rest of the sound. Is my quest impossible?