Great article on WAF (wife acceptance factor) article linked

[Woochifer]

Very interesting article about the WAF dilemma that confronts a lot of us as we piece together our systems and contemplate upgrades. Features interviews with people in the industry, and examines how performance now has to balance with design compatibility. The part about the appeal of flat panel TVs with women is SO true (my wife vetoed the idea of going with a RPTV and is open to going with a flat panel screen). Another interesting bit of info: sales of in-wall and on-wall speakers has doubled so far this compared to last year, with 275,000 unit sold.

http://www.boston.com/business/techn...ptance_factor/

[Worf101]

Helping to keep men from wasting time and money. My Ohm Walsh F's are lanquishing in the basement (amongst her clutter I may add) right now because of that. Sigh... as the late, great Jimmy Durante used to say... "these are the conditions that prevail!!!"

Da Wistful Worfster...

[cam]

Very interesting article about the WAF dilemma that confronts a lot of us as we piece together our systems and contemplate upgrades. Features interviews with people in the industry, and examines how performance now has to balance with design compatibility. The part about the appeal of flat panel TVs with women is SO true (my wife vetoed the idea of going with a RPTV and is open to going with a flat panel screen). Another interesting bit of info: sales of in-wall and on-wall speakers has doubled so far this compared to last year, with 275,000 unit sold.

http://www.boston.com/business/techn...ptance_factor/

Hey Wooch, I broke my wife in with bookshelf speakers on stands and a medium sized center. After about a year and a half she said to me oneday, you know I,m tired of seeing these tiny speakers on stands. Holy moly, I was at the speaker store the next day telling everyone my wife wants bigger speakers. Of course that meant five bigger speakers. And after all that she has told me that our 27 inch tv is embarrassing. Can you believe this. The only thing that is preventing me from dropping 2 to 4 grand right now is that rumor has it the poop is about to hit the fan on pricing buy year end. I just hope that doesn't mean a cheaply built product. I did have to twist my wife's arm, O.K., I put her in a headlock, but I just had to upgrade my sub, she did resist but she started it by telling me that she was tired of seeing tiny speakers on stands. I think I'm going to keep her.

[topspeed]

What in the world were you doing reading a Boston paper?

There was one quote that really caught my eye:
"Originally you bought speakers for the sound quality," Kroll said, but "the aesthetics now play a more important role than the performance."
And so rings the death nell of quality Boston Acoustics speakers. Another one bites the dust...

Hey Cam,
Brother, does your story sound familiar. I'm waiting on the big screen too although it's getting harder and harder to put my wife off. She's dying to move our 32" Hitachi crt into the br because our current 23" looks absurd in the new massive armoire. That's right, SHE wants the big screen NOW and I'M the one trying to make her wait! What is this, the Twightlight Zone??

[eqm]

when my now-wife and i were living in an apartment and not yet married, i brought home a 7.1 boston vrm system after repeatedly hearing her say...we need 7.1, 5.1 is not enough. WOW!! the only complaint she had was that they were cherry finished. had to marry the woman after that!

[Woochifer]

Worf -
The ravages of time and the progress of technology could not dismount those Ohms from their perch atop the worfster harem loft. But, the femme weather system blew into town and those Ohms are now probably buried underneath a collection of old pastel outfits that will come back into style in about five years!

cam -
I totally hear you. My wife has been very accommodating all the way around as I've added to the system the past three years. The subwoofer was a stretch, but at least it can be used as a quasi end table. I wanted to do the TV upgrade over the holidays, but the wife insisted that we first get a rack to store all the components. That took me out of budget for a new TV, and my wife's fawning over flat panels has pushed the budget out even farther!

topspeed -
Okay, I admit it. I cheated! I found that article linked on another message board, and it was too good not to share with the netizens on this board! That quote from Boston Acoustics was also very surprising to me. I would expect that they would say something like "Nowadays, the design is just as important as how it sounds," but not assert that the design is the end goal regardless of how it affects performance. In all fairness, I'm not sure if that's something they came up with so much as them reacting to what they see in the market. It's the main force that's driving the huge growth with wall-mounted speakers.

Your parallel universe story about the wife wanting a big screen is pretty similar to my wife driving the decision to go with a flat panel TV as our next upgrade. If my wife had her way, we would also upgrade to those new flat panel wall-mounted Martin Logan Frescos that she spotted in Magnolia Hi-Fi's new catalog! The only thing that saves my Paradigms is the $5,000 cost of going with that ML set (not to mention the cost of upgrading the amplification). Strange how it works sometimes!

eqm -
My wife already had a surround setup when we started dating, albeit Pro Logic with a set of Bose speakers. When I started putting the system together, she only had one directive -- no ugly big black boxes. The cherry finished Paradigms were fine with her.

[pwh03]

a little change in direction but are there any women that post on this forum?

I remember before I got into home audio I did a lot with car installs and use to post at elitecaraudio.com pretty often. this got brought up and there was only one girl that ever turned up while I was there. I can't imagine there are that many here either but maybe I'm wrong. it would be interesting to see what they had to say about things like this

so are you out there?

[E-Stat]

Very interesting article about the WAF dilemma that confronts a lot of us as we piece together our systems and contemplate upgrades.

I believe that one of the secrets to good marriages is to both acknowledge and allow for differences between the sexes. The main living areas of the house are largely her department. The basement and garage, however, are my WAF-free zones. As I also want a nice looking environment (in a gearhead sort of way), I have commissioned my sister-in-law to cover the new bass traps with grey doubleknit to match the wallpanels.




rw

[topspeed]

I'll bite; RW, what are those triple column thingies? Also, are those 20.1's and do you run a sub?

[E-Stat]

I'll bite; RW, what are those triple column thingies? Also, are those 20.1's and do you run a sub?

They are DIY Argent room lenses used to improve lateral imaging. The speakers are Acoustat 2+2 full range electrostats and I run them without subs. They're good down to about 30 hz in that room.

rw

[Geoffcin]

They are DIY Argent room lenses used to improve lateral imaging. The speakers are Acoustat 2+2 full range electrostats and I run them without subs. They're good down to about 30 hz in that room.

rw

Sweet!