Do I hide gear?
NO
Do I tell the truth about how much I paid for that gear?
NO
Steve
No and yes here. My wife understands and tollerates my need for vintage gear, but she claims it's too complicated for her. To compromise, I leave the main rig set so all she has to do is switch on the EQ, the amp and then the tuner. She knows enough to turn it off in reverse order. If she wants to play CDs, she has a BPC setup in her study.
The only time we had any kind of disagreement was when I got home with two huge boxes and upon seeing me wrestle them to our second story apartment, her response was: "What the f**k did you buy?". My response? "But Honey..."
"What the f**k did you buy?"
And every few minutes while I unpacked those huge boxes...
"What the f**k did you buy?"
Finally, there were the HPM-100s standing there in all ther glory and...
"What the f**k did you buy?"
Gentlemen, it was at that precise moment that I did what any man who is in love with his wife, but wants to keep his gear does. As soon as she said "What the f**k did you buy?" again, I said, "Buy honey, wait till you hear your Donna Summer album on them!"
Needless to say, I still have them, but she said, after the song was over, "If you buy another pair of those without discussing it with me, I'll cut your n**s off."
I went right out and bought flowers...because I had another pair for the TV coming the next week. I'm still intact, and I pissed off the neighbors at halftime when The Who played!