It's one thing if your partner believes there's no speaker she could live with, based on limited knowledge of the possibilities and another thing if she's flat out unwilling to accept that audio is a passion for you and cannot simply be "sidestepped". You can most likely work through the first scenario but not the second. For your sake, I hope greater exposure to the variety of speaker designs leads to a solution that works for both of you.
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,
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@avidlistener, good sensible post. @hartf36, cheers. My current speakers are rather ugly being large OB with a 15" driver and my wife loves them because of the sound. We spend many happy hours listening to a wide variety of music. Tonight we're taking Jacob Gurevitsch for another spin. @OP, good luck. |
If you can't reach a trade off where you get speakers she doesn't particularly like and she gets something in other rooms she likes, consider investing in an acoustically transparent movie screen (possibly a motor driven one that lowers from the ceiling). It would make the room look smaller but no speakers would be in evidence. A 10 foot screen would cover a lot of systems'' speakers, If she still objects get a picture of your dear wife and have it projected on the screen, telling her that you can't think of anything more attractive that could replace the look of your speakers |
@kletter1mann --sounds like our wives are twins--my wife is/was an interior designer and sold very high end Italian contemporary but we collected Asian when we lived in Indonesia and Singapore -- and all our art is contemporary abstract (except my sanctuary where vestiges that a man actually lives here exist). The short answer to your question is probably not, but the only way to approach it is to take her to various high end shops, if available, and let her look. I did that and it was a failure so we have in-walls in the great room but fortunately i have a listening room and she never sets foot in there. Good luck
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This thread prompts me to reflect on how fortunate I've been in the matter of wives and audio. Without going into too much detail, wife #2 got me started in quality audio. I was supporting her equestrian habit, and really didn't buy much for myself. Out of the blue, one day she asked, "why don't you get yourself some nice speakers?" I did, and loved them. She enjoyed them, too. More equipment followed. We shopped for amps together. I was even more fortunate with wife #3 (current, and hopefully the last one)! She is a former classical musician and recording artist. When we went shopping together for speakers about three years ago, she told me "I don't care what they look like. Sound quality is what matters." Thankfully, our tastes in both music and speakers are closely aligned, but I care more about appearance than she does. We ended up with Sonus Faber floorstanders, which we agree sound terrific -- the best speakers we auditioned -- and look good. May you all be at least half as fortunate as I've been! |
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