Amps and Women

i'm not sure whether it's better or no to live with a wife who has better ears than mine. angela100 is a special and unusual sort of woman, who not only tolerates us "guys" but is seemingly as interested in this crazy hobby as is her spouse:; in my 3 decades of experience in the audio highend, i've met but a handful of like souls. my wife of 34 years tolerates my indulgences, which is probably more than that i should hope for-- or expect. i listen to my system or waste time with all of you while she spends nearly every waking hour devoted to volunteer work connected to purebred dog rescue or the psychic and physical care of her terminally-ill mother. the only time her listening acuity is tested is when i put on reggae music, that she likens to nails scraped on a blackboard. or when i turn it up the volume so high that the sound from my basement sound room awakens her two floors above. my bride still doesn't know, or care, which of those great big boxes she must pass to get to the laundry room is an amp. that's just one of thousands of reasons i love her. -kelly

This morning my wife and I took a drive to the ocean side and she insisted that I take my car. So I asked why and she said it has a better stereo system. I was surprised that was able to hear the difference. I had installed a pretty nice system in her car consisting of Mcintosh, Soundstream and KEF equipment. I have Nak, seperate DAC, Sounstream and B&W in my car. She complained that sound system makes her fatigue. She used to be satified with a boom box.

thanks, Kelly... and I think that you should show your post to your wife...that should get you some major brownie points, soldier boy :-} I hope that my husband thinks so well of me after 34 years! Nice goin'

In the last couple of years when I audition major equipment purchases I find the right moment to ask my wife to take some time and listen. She normally has a different impression then I do, and sometimes helps me to undo a predilection towards certain (brands of) equipment. She is particularly sensitive to equipment that has a forced/bright/sterile upper midrange and treble quality, and where the bass is out of proportion. Recently I have been auditioning 2 channel analog preamps (I currently use a surround pre/pro as a digital preamp). She has consistently preferred all of the tube line stages to any of the SS units I have tried, such as ML's 380s.

Just to play devil's advocate for a moment,-- What it sounds like to me, would be more important.Having read Stereophile for years,the women hearing thing is no new news.Yes,if the woman can point to something I was missing out on,but then could hear,after it was brought to my attention---Can I rent somebody's wife?? Yes,you can come along,my intentions are honorable.