The wife said Yes ... (longish) (1 Viewer)

[Bob Hill]

I was hoping to see a thread like this one. I was begining to think that a happy marriage and home theater were mutually exclusive outside of my household. In my case, my wife loves our dedicated home theater. We are both HUGE movie fans and when I first suggested that we build a dedicated theater a couple of years ago she started salivating like a rabid dog. From there we, and I stress we, built it all ourselves including framing, wiring, insulation, drywalling , mudding and taping , and so on. Now our only problem is keeping each other in check so neither one of us goes out and breaks the bank on new equipment and DVDs.

 

[scott cerv]

I'm probably the young one here (24), but I'll chime in anyway. My wife is the best! With the $$ from the wedding we were going to get a big screen and she knew this and was all for it. Well, we purchased a newly built house so I've had to let her do all the decor. I was thinking a 48" WS would be about the perfect size, but when we went and checked them out she really liked the 55" (which I admit is much better). So she talked me into getting a Mit WS55511. Well, then we upgraded to Rocket 750/200/250. I needed a sub and showed her the SVS 25-31 and she said that it was fine. I explained to her that it was 16" in dia. To this day she isn't all that happy with the size as she had a mentle image of a roll of TP of something. Now that it is complete she loves it!! Anyone that comes over must hear a demo. She laughs and points to the picture on the wall that goes crooked after a good movie and I can't get her away from LOTR:EE. I didn't think things could get better, but then she went and bought me a Nitro powered RC truck to race!! The catch is that I have to get a dog and put down wood floors. Oh well!! Now if I can get her to buy that Baja....
SC

 

[Darrin M]

Looks like I was bragging in the wrong thread:b Like I said there my wife has become a HT nut. The louder the better damn the torpedo's full speed ahead...I just hope I can keep up with her

 

[PaulDF]

I posted this on the other thread as well, but thought I'd repost since it is a positive statement.

Since I finished building my massive 360L (24*24*49") subwoofer, my wife has gone almost out of her way to tell people about it!! She has shown it to many people on her little digital camera screen, and whenever anybody comes over to visit, she makes sure she points it out to EVERYBODY. It is almost embarrasing (almost). One night when I was cranking it up, she even joked about me breaking her fine china, which is upstairs. She laughed when I had to go look for myself!

She has come a long way in the last year when it comes to my hobby. Not sure why, maybe she can tell how much I love it. I also try to keep her happy as well, share the love.

Of course, having a dedicated theater room helps a lot. I don't know if even I would want all the cables and equip piled in our formal"ish" living room!!

 

[JeffMuller]

Over a year ago, my wife let me get an SVS 20-39PC. No argument. No negotiations, or "compromises". When it was delivered, she even said it "didn't look too bad".

And besides occasionally commenting that we have "the speakers that ate Boston" (Paradigm Reference Studio 100s), she let me get them without a fuss, and hasn't complained about them.

And to top it all off... a year ago Christmas, she got me an XBOX. I was floored with that one.

 

[Patrick-J]

I love my wife, she independently suggested that we go out and look at 16:9 projection televisions last week! I'm halfway to Nirvana. Now all I have to do is finish convining her that Pride&Prejudice will sound infinitly better on a set of Rockets then my old Energy Take 5 system and I'll be there.
(Umm yeah, Mr. Darcy's Dialouge will sound much nicer with better lower-midrange... yeah that's it....No it has nothing to do with Black Hawk Down.... I'm all about the Jane Austin
Patrick

 

[Lee Bailey]

In Decmeber of 1999, I purchased my first DVD player and A/V Receiver to replace our old JVC Dolby Pro Logic surround system. I snuck it in as a "family" Christmas present, and had the DVDs, 'Matrix' and 'Iron Giant'. The TV we had at the time was a 27" 13 year old Mits stereo TV, in a very nice entertainment center.

Well, the new DVD and receiver went over well! After buying and watching more DVDs in letterbox mode, the wife starting saying "That screen sure looks small!"

Within a month, we went out and got a 53" Sony 4:3 RPTV. This now started a cascade effect. Can't fit the new TV into the old cabinet, so we got new cabinetry to surround the new TV. The speakers were old and large, so went and got new towers, center channel, and surrounds. I did all this with my wife by my side, including her in the decisions. She was great, even though she kept me from buying the more expensive stuff.

Picked up an AudioSource SW-15 sub from Costco for $200.00, to replace the old passive sub. Luckily for me, my wife is a major bass head(she blew the powered door speaker out in a 1986 Grand Am we used to own!), so she was happy with it.

The only purchase she wasn't thrilled about was in 2001, when I puchased the SVS 25-31PC. The price was more than she wanted me to spend, but after hearing it, she got happy again.

Now, this year I'm gonna try to upgrade my speakers again... Just need to think up a good excuse!

 

[Corey_ Williams]

My wife has always been a movie buff. Yet, she is not really into all of the ends & outs of electronics. She just wants to put in a DVD and watch the movie. Recently, I have been able to get her to show some interest in home theater.

We are going to upgrade our entire system. We have decided that she will choose the tv(57" Sony)., and I'll choose all of the DVD player & audio components.

 

[Jared Brock]

My wife isn't terribly into the home theater scene either. Keeping that in mind, I have to say my wife is pretty awesome!
Basically, I'm a spoiled kid. I get just about anything I want (I need to show my appreciation more.) Let's see...so far this year I got...a motorcycle...a digital camera, all kinds of xbox games, we got new, huge tower speakers, I just got a Gamecube and metroid, all kinds of motorcycle gear, more computer games.
I don't think I'll ever be one of those guys who complains about his wife. In fact, I'm always defending married life to those guys at work that are single.

 

[David Berry]

What's fair is fair...

I have slightly complained in the past (WAF jokes, rolling of the eyes, etc.), however truth be known, my wife has much more resilience than I do. How many of you have done upgrade after upgrade, especially if the 2-channel bug has bitten hard?. Thousands of dollars of BOTH our money being spent on something that although I strongly value, it is not at all high on her priority list. The point of resiliency smacked me in the forehead recently when she bought some hand lotion for $23. "Jesus Murphy",I said, "You paid $23 for 30 ml of what!?" Now, keep in mind, she is somewhat of a spendthrift. All she did was get up and point at the stereo/HT system in the family room and did a Mona Lisa type smile. I was in full power back paddling for a while.

 

[BrianB]

I was begining to think that a happy marriage and home theater were mutually exclusive outside of my household.

Definitely not. Our system is definitely a budget system, but my wife is as big a fan of it as I am. When we got our Axiom M22tis, the quality of sound blew her away & she's actually the one pushing for an upgrade to a pair of towers for our front speakers. She can navigate her way around the remotes on her own, and I'd say she watches more films/tv on the system than I do.
Her one "guideline" & this is one I push for more than her is we don't buy what we can't pay for - ie strictly cash only.
Oh and David, I have a trump card to play whenever that "cash on hobby" thing comes up - one of her friends' husbands spent a considerable amount on a gun a month before their wedding & whilst they were saving bigtime for a house downpayment. The money I've spent on games & home theatre pales in comparision to that

 

[Andy Sz]

Well, as the starter of the "other" thread, I feel obligated to respond here.....besides our recent little speaker situation my wife has been INCREDIBLE. we've been married 3+ years and i've done ALOT. there's the purchase of our house, summer roller hockey seasons, winter ice hockey seasons, directv on the roof, annual weekend camping trip with the boys...i could go on.
so, yes, marriage and boys' toys' do mix. i think the other thread got a little, let's say, out of hand.
p.s. we did finally get a speaker set. i ordered the HTD Middies nad she absolutely loves them. now if only i can convince her to let me mount them on the wall

 

[ShaunLB]

I already got a promise from my fiancee that I can setup the HT any way I wish. She agreed, and I even told her that for being so understanding she can decorate the rest of our future house any way she wishes (short of pink lace on everything).
She's great though. She's more of the typical attitude of "set it up and make it work, and I'll be happy that it does without knowing the details of why it works". But she definitely enjoys the end results while watching movies. Hehe, I'm glad that I got her hooked with LOTR and didn't have to resort to Dirty Dancing or Pretty Woman.

 

[Ronnie Schildha]

Doesn't concern speakers but it is a damn good wife story. Last week I was going to buy a Mits 42312 because it was all tha would fit in her wall unit. She said that it was crazy to spend that much on a 42". She said why not move part of the wall unit to another room and for 500 dollars more buy a 57". So now I am sitting in front of a 57" Toshiba Cinema Series instead. Ain't life great!

 

[Jeff Aguilar]

Once my wife understood that I have a "SICKNESS" she has been very supportive!

Over the last 14 years of marriage she has come to understand and appreciate my hobby. Hey, she started it all those years ago when she got a job at a video store and brought home the 'rental' laser disc player!

As long as we plan and discuss what upgrades I want to make, she is all for it. Just a few months ago when I wanted to invest in some Martin Logan speakers, she went with me to the store to audition them. She really liked how they sounded and looked. So, we ended up with a nice pair of Aerius i speakers. As a compromise, I did have to sell my laserdisc player, lasers and old speakers to fund the new speaker purchase but she was very happy to make the change. She loved the way the Martin Logan speakers sounded.

She has been the biggest supporter of my 2 16/46pci's! She tells her friends how cool they look in our room and how good they sound!

She's a keeper!!!

Jeff Aguilar

 

[Jay Foster]

Mine is great. She said exactly, "you work so hard, go ahead and get what you want."

Result: I'm now looking at the B4. The only thing holding me back: my natural tendency to worry I'm spending too much, is it the best, should I wait to upgrade because something else is right around the corner, etc.

 

[Bob Hill]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a really cool wife who loves home theater. She has helped plan and build our dedicated theater from the beginning. How many of you guys can say the your wife mudded and taped your theater The only bad thing was is that she insisted I install our projector as soon as we got it in. I guess that set us back about three months on the construction schedule.

 

[Ernie Estrella]

My fiancee has been awesome. I invited her to go along with me trying speakers out. I told her that she's going to be enjoying these as much as I will. Plus they're going in her house until we're married. I get to enjoy them a couple of weekends a month and WE love them. If you think I'm a sucker for letting her enjoy them so much, I'm really just letting her break the speakers in for me.

It's not a crazy system like some of you all, (paradigm mini monitors set up) but we absolutely love it. I let her hear the speakers and didn't tell her which ones to get or what their price was. She wanted the minis over the titans and she was cool with me getting the matching CC370 which is what I wanted all along. "I don't want to hear anything about upgrading for a long time, so get what you want" She didn't want towers and I was convinced to get as much as I can before the wedding as our money and priorities would change. I have a ton of hobbies (movies, comics, statues, etc) and she's been super supportive and I return the favor because she's into the crafty things. One thing we have in common though is music and movies so she's all for it. I say be upfront and involve them in the process. Women dig that and in the end feel that it's something to be shared, which it is. Lord knows all that money shouldn't go to all of that entertainment for one person to enjoy it.

 

[Scott>G]

My wife has been great! Not one complaint since I have started making my purchases. She has made a couple of request with regard to things she wants to do with the decor of the family room vs. the home theater (we recently bought a new house). Totally understandable. She is an awesome women. She is on complete bed rest during our second pregnancy and NOT ONE COMPLAINT! If it was me...I'd be complaining constantly
She realizes we work hard for the livings we make and why not enjoy some of the reward.

 

[Jason.Soko]

At now 23 I was lucky enough to grow up in a home where my father was very much into home audio and my mother understood. However, he put his passion on hold raising my sister and I. My mother had always appreciated good sound and video and recently bought him not only a 50" Samsung DLP but a FULL PSB Image set of speakers. Waiting for almost 20 years for upgrades his wishes finally came true. I guess my mother realized how much he loves the stuff, but couldn't throw any money on it for our sakes. Now all grown up with a girlfriend of four years, it's my turn. While she has no idea what any of the stuff does, she truly appreciates how much I love the audio stuff. And while I drop thousands of dollars, she realizes I could be spending it on something worse and has no say one way or another as long as I am happy. She always asks me whats this and that, what does this do. I know she really doesn't care and would rather be shopping, but it's the thought that counts. She is interested in it, because I am.

Before she knew me, she was your typical woman. "As long as it's playing it's fine with me". Slowly I've shown her what quality sounds like and have invited her many times to bring over and new CD's she purchases. It makes me feel good when we can share something like that together. The best part is when she turns to me and says "WOW, I never even knew that was in this song. It sounds like I'm right there at the concert!"