Wife trouble

Been married 41 yrs. Wife has always complained about looks and position of equipment, and especially the wires. I used two stereo systems to get 4 channels in the beggining of my theater. One all seperates and the other integrated amp. She hated all the connecting wires in the back of the rack. I gave in and bought an AV receiver and that cut alot of cables out. The sound was not powerful enough though. I made an agreement with her to let me control one room in the house and she could have the entire rest of the house. Now I have a rack 7 feet tall. I went all seperates again with a large 5 channel amp Anthem P5, and two smaller Nikko Alpha 440s two channel amps for the height speakers in an Atmos system. Using Anthem AV60 for pre pro. I have wires all over the floor. Using 4 ADS L1290/2s and a matching self built center channel with similar drivers and crossover. I have two 12 guage extension cords for the P5 and they are running into two seperate rooms. Speaker wires and subwoofer wire on floor also. No rug to hide anything. She hates the mess but after shutting the lights she loves the sound. Remodeling the home now and she doesn't know it yet but I am not running the speaker wire in the walls or ceiling to hide them. CL rated wires not easily upgraded and selection is poor. Just bargain with your wife and give her something to control even everything but get control of the living room.

My LR won't accommodate the equipment tower, just the speakers and TV.
What I had to do was to forego wireless remote control for the audio stuff and run an umbilicus with all the cables, from room-to-room.

If we had a cellar, the cable-snake would have gone down from the stack and back up behind the speakers and TV.

Consideration goes a long way. When you're shopping for vinyl, remember to occasionally pick up titles that your partner likes. Did I buy a copy of the Xanadu soundtrack? Yes. Does my partner complain about my ADS 730s? No. 

I told my (future) wife it was my dream to have an amazing stereo, took her to AXPONA for the day and she could really hear the difference in all the rigs we listened to, she had never heard sound reproduction like that and started to accept that size matters. Then I took her to the Audio Consultants who had a dedicated listening room with the speakers I wanted, Magnepan 20.1’s and played our favorite music. She was in awe how real the sound was and said I could do whatever I wanted. Flash forward 6 years and we are married and I have everything in the living room and she loves it (see my profile, it’s a lot). Friends hear it and tell others you got to see it to believe it. . . She’s proud of how awesome the experience is. Yes I had to spend money on an amazing equipment rack that matches the speakers to make it look nice. Yes I had to get creative and make a lattice of hanging plants in the back so that she had a place for them, but it is all worth it!

I know im still lucky :)
- Steve

Hah I will have to disagree "The worst day married is better than the best day as a bachelor". But a happy spousal unit is an optimal setup.

I will agree that having a dedicated room that you can constantly reconfigure without issue is the hot setup.

There is also some really great technology in small form factors out there that may let you keep the SU happy. B&W CM series or the Quad S-1 comes to mind. I think The Dynaudio C1 Platinum comes in 4 different finishes and they will even build you a custom finish.http://www.dynaudio.com/home-audio/confidence/c1-platinum


I have friend who’s wife comes and hovers over us every time we start to mess with anything in his system. :(