I mean, if someone takes the time to teach their wife, etc how to use it (if they even care), then what's the worst that can happen? I'm assuming the volume is always turned down to a somewhat reasonable level before you turn off the the system each time, and as long as you warn your wife not to turn the volume up past X, you're avoiding the "blowing up the speakers" part of it, so what's the worst that can happen?

Any of us here can easily fix any change that someone who's not all that familiar with the system can make. I'm not saying that a wife, etc shouldn't respect a system. I just think it's disrespectful to not let your wife touch your system. After all, at the end of the day, it's only H/T / Music equipment.

I've taught my wife the basics, including selecting inputs, the volume, mute, radio station changing, and surround/stereo modes. That's all anyone who just wants to to get basic need out of your system needs. As long as they don't get into adjusting channel levels, crossovers, etc, it's no big deal.

Kids obviously should be off limits since they can break dials, etc, but that's understandable.

But with my wife and I, what's hers is mine and what's mine is hers. If she wants to use the stereo/home theater, I trust that I made a smart enough choice that the person I married is smart enough not to fry my equipment... ...and it hasn't happened to date.