Speakers to beat wife-factor ?

I'm with Sksnyder - maybe there is a way you can use the Maggies. I've gotten decent results with 1.2's one to one and a half feet out from front wall and as close as possible to side walls, tweeter to the inside. Toe them in. More. More still. If the sound is too bright you may find a way to put some Sonex discreetly behind the panels, perhaps on a small frame. If you want, you can remove the iron "feet" on the 1.2's and bend them a little so that the panels lean back a bit more. This makes them more physicially stable and kidproof, and gives tall standing adults a better chance at hearing the highs. Imperfectly set up Maggie 1.2's or 1.6's are still going to sound better than any comparably priced box speaker, or my name isn't Captain IMHO.

Get rid of your wife.Music is more important.And children can be tought to stay away from adult things.Give it a try,it'll work.

The new (Canadian) PSB Alpha speakers can be used quite near a wall, are magnetically shielded for video placement, and perform remarkably well for their low price. They don't go very low, but their lows are clean and they mate well well with any number of subwoofers. Your situation seems to cry out for a subwoofer, and there are some very effective small ones (e.g, the new 9" Sunfire cube, PSB's match for the Alphas) Their mids and highs should be at least the equal of your old Klipsch Fortes (although not similar to the Maggies). I'm familiar with all three brands--my neighbor has Forte's, several friends have had various Maggies (and I've tried them in my listening room), and I use the PSB's in my home theater (with a small JBL powered woofer). You'd be taking a chance with the Maggies--they're very fussy about placement, need to be away from the wall, and benefit from a good subwoofer, too. I haven't heard the Gradient Revolutions, but they're definitely high-end audio and are designed for wall placement. You might also consider good quality in-wall speakers such as the B&W's.

Sorry I didn't address the speaker stand issue in my first note--the PSB's can be placed on wall shelves or even fireplace mantels--they don't need to be on stands. When our kids were young, I had a satellite-sub system with the satellites on stands I built to resist toppling (heavy, wide base, speakers firmly attached). Despite bumps and crashes, the kids never tipped them.

The naim intro speaker **requires** that you place them up against a wall. Not perfect on bass but amazing clarity. And since it is on its own stand you may not need to worry about the floor. I also like hales but they do require an intense battle in speaker placement.