Wives, stereo components & living spaces

[Kyocerafan]

My wife is mystified by my obsession with stereo equipment but generally is ok with it anywhere it can be hidden inside a cabinet when not in use. She likes music and can appreciate what a fine music system does. I'm not wild about enclosed cabinets because fiddling with and changing out components is a nightmare. Wheels and removable backs would help but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Cabinets allow me to get serious music systems into spots I might not otherwise get in to. It's a give and take like anything else in a relationship. I don't watch much TV anymore but I've got them all over the house because she likes it that way.

 

[audiodon]

I enforce a rule on myself:
Anyone in the house has to be able to use any system they want.

That forces me to:
1. Keep things unfussy
- Home Theater has one remote, subwoofers must integrate well
- Reference system has iPOD connector and everyone knows how to use it.
2. Keep the gear from getting too geeky.

The only downside is that my reference system now sports a Fisher 500-C. They have switchable speaker output sets, one for the living room and one for the kitchen (up high).
I'd like to move to a preamp with remote and amp setup, but everyone's used to what's there.
My hobby is accepted and tolerated. I give to the others and help them indulge in their hobbies and set up a welcoming environment for friends/kids sleepovers/houseguests.

My youngest daughter has early dismissal from school. She'll get home before me. She's 11. When I get home, the reference system will be on with top 40 radio playing. I will say nothing about except possibly, "Feel free to turn it up".

 

[guiller]

You guys are lucky. I'm expressly forbidden to put any audio equipment in areas other than the family room, dining room, foyer, kids computer room, master bedroom, kids bedrooms, hallways, dormer room, attic, mudroom, mudroom bathroom, basement, attached garage, and detached garage. It's the law around here.

:cry:

 

[Hyfi]

Oh, you wanted pics...

My Living room

 

[thebeez85]

now THAT is cozy, Hyfi

 

[djwhy60]

My wife keeps asking when I am opening a store to sell the stuff! And I have very few things. I have a "mancave" in our new home. She is a "reality TV junkie" and I cannot stomach that stuff. I am a "gamer" along with an audio freak so the mancave works out. She kind of drew a line when I was dragging my S312's in from the garage!

 

[mrb3]

For all of you that have troubles with their wives I'd suggest to...

• unclutter your gear to the essential,
• keep only the perfect looking pieces you need and clean them,
• trash all that is not sold within a month,
• simplify your system (many will argue it sounds better anyway),
• if big speakers are an issue, replace them with smaller ones.

No one would be happy if their wife decided to move a pile of old shoes and big ugly boots in their livingroom. But we all could live with a single pair well-chosen and well taken care of.

And if the TV is the problem, get rid of it. Too much valuable time and money is spent on it anyway!

 

[beatcomber]

My youngest daughter has early dismissal from school. She'll get home before me. She's 11. When I get home, the reference system will be on with top 40 radio playing. I will say nothing about except possibly, "Feel free to turn it up".

There's a good dad! :thmbsp:

 

[frankxbe]

Just want to thank those of you who posted pictures of your systems. I sent the link of this thread to my fiancee and she declared my system of two turntables, two reel to reels, cassettes deck, CD player, amp, and two sets of speakers (in a couple of home built open shelves) acceptable

Just remember once a camel gets it's nose in your tent .... it can go anywhere it want's :yes:

 

[asindc]

Haven't read through the entire thread, but in case it has not been mentioned yet, for those that have yet to move into a new house with present or future partner/spouse: Call dibs on one room and leave your spouse with free rein of the rest. You will thank me later.

 

[beatcomber]

Haven't read through the entire thread, but in case it has not been mentioned yet, for those that have yet to move into a new house with present or future partner/spouse: Call dibs on one room and leave your spouse with free rein of the rest. You will thank me later.

Wise advice!

 

[thymanst]

I've stuff all over in the past and now have a system in the library, the room my son moved out of , our tv room and the a/c garage - I have to pay back the house for the things I buy - I've been really lucky with a understanding wife, a very good memory, a compulsive addiction to looking at CL and eBay and living in a place that has great high end gear all the time.

 

[MWalt]

Haven't read through the entire thread, but in case it has not been mentioned yet, for those that have yet to move into a new house with present or future partner/spouse: Call dibs on one room and leave your spouse with free rein of the rest. You will thank me later.

This is what I did. I took one of the extra bedrooms to call my own. Although it is small (11x14), I can set up my gear however I please in there. The rest of the house is pretty much off limits to audio, which is fine by me.

 

[visualj]

Just remember once a camel gets it's nose in your tent .... it can go anywhere it want's :yes:

She can put her nose where ever she wants... With no complaints from me.

We have been looking at houses and one of the criteria is a 'Blues Room' (her phrase) to put the main sound system. Along with a bar, and places for our collection of blues artist photos. I will suggest a larger closet to keep the media out of sight. And if there is none in that area, I can frame one up. So we both win.

We will also probably have to have either a smaller system for the living room or secondary speakers, as she usually has music going at her place now.




.

 

[lizard84]

We are also looking at houses, beach cottages might be a better word. We just looked at one and are considering an offer. My wife & I loved it even though its a little smaller then ideal, her comment after the viewing? Where are you going to put the Maggie's? I assured her I could make it work.

I'm not an immovable object but the audio and the motorcycles were an obsession before and will remain so.

" all this **** was here before you were, don't expect it to disappear or you will"

 

[thebeez85]

" all this **** was here before you were, don't expect it to disappear or you will"

hehehe..

I remember Jeff Foxworthy telling a joke about being single.. (im paraphrasing)

"(there's a) stain in the hallway you don't know how it got there...couch you found out on the curb...(industrial) spool in the living room used as a coffee table...FIVE THOUSAND DOLLAR STEREO SYSTEM....'Hey we might be starvin' but we got tunes!' " :lmao:

 

[beatcomber]

This is what I did. I took one of the extra bedrooms to call my own. Although it is small (11x14), I can set up my gear however I please in there. The rest of the house is pretty much off limits to audio, which is fine by me.

Any complaints about noise from the rest of the family? I can't imagine that you can crank the toons late at night. That's why I'm stuck in an unfinished, unheated basement.

The next house we own will have a properly finished basement. I'm becoming weary of freezing during the winter.

 

[Br1ck]

The key to happiness is a man cave. A really good man cave is detached from the house.

My living room system is a 1934 Philco radio set up to work with Sirius:yes: radio.
No TV in living room. Small TV in bedroom. Big TV in man cave.

I put tube gear in a console that is in our dining room.

My wife is the ultimate in clean and tidy, we both like antique furniture, and the very most important thing besides family, is having her environment as perfect as she can have it.

It was with much trepidation that I agreed to a man cave makeover, which amounted to me going through most of the things that make me happy. I have my home office, workbench, computer, audio and video, recording studio and guitar gear in one room, and it was a mess. I spent a month of weekends, after having a contractor put in a set of French doors that open onto my vegetable garden, organizing my stuff. I filled a van full of junk cleaned out of my storage shed and took it to the dump, moved all my PA and guitar speaker cabinets out to the shed, bought umpteen plastic storage bins so stuff I want to keep stays clean, moved all my paint cans glue, etc into a big metal cabinet with doors, organized every screw, nut and bolt I own.

Replaced a rack full of recording gear with a 6"x6" box and a new Mini Mac, and bought a new desk to replace the cheapo folding table I was using. Was I bribed big time? For sure, but the ol cave is looking good, wife isn't ashamed to show it to folks who come over, and I still have six guitars hanging on the wall, five amps in view, two turntables and two pair of speakers hooked up. All in all quite a reasonable trade off. I can find most everything I need when I need it, my workbench is tidy enough to actually build projects on, and when I could not find a way to hide a drill press, she said she liked big tools. How can I go wrong?

She did see all my guitars in one place at one time. That was scary for both of us.

 

[tyeeslayer]

Up till last week all was good, but I found stacking speakers in the livingroom was a no-no. Time to sell a pair or two.

 

[Flaminroids]

It's difficult to find a woman that appreciates music let alone musical equipment. I think that women have a one-dimensional approach to things like music and cars. It bugs me because I wish I could just smile and enjoy things like they do....