Does your wife appreciate your HT? - Page 2

I'm 65 and retired. Two years ago I asked my wife about getting a set of floor standing speakers for the TV. Her answer was "No"! I asked for 250 per month for an allowance (she would get the same) for speakers and whatever else I wanted. Again, No! I made a appointment with a Marriage Counselor (wife is big on counseling) and she want with me to resolve the issue to what I wanted. After three sessions, I got my allowance and living room HT. Now it is two years later and I have a great setup and she tolerates the HT. Now she knows what I am doing with my spare time.

Bill

Try pushing somewhere north of $ 20k.......

Be careful with this. I was in the same situation, and as we were looking for houses, I was very careful not to be over excited about the home theater aspects of the house. My wife was on board, but I found it better to be very subtle when looking for houses that are home theater friendly.

Like most wives I think she loves the picture, but hates the boom.

My wife's response is "Honey, if it's going to make you happy then I don't mind". Man, how can I not love her. I recently went through an upgrade. After I finished, we enjoyed Iron Man. Her response was "WOW, I never heard it sound so good". I think I have a blank check for more upgrades. But, I am not going to push my luck at least not until next week. On the real, she loves the HT and spends time with me watch movies and football games in our HT Room. Our son enjoys it too.

+1, sort of. She was involved with the planning from the start. She likes the room, but isn't a big movie person. She'd watch more, but we don't have the time right now.

Upstairs we also have a 5.1 setup with an LCD. She always turns off the surround sound. I asker her why. She said the sounds coming from behind scare her.

I guess I have the system set up correctly!

only on pron nite....

I am sure that I will get the upgrade bug someday. What I mean by "complete" is that I am through spending for a while. I let my wife see and hear the sub earlier tonight. She liked it. She was upstairs when I first played the fish tank scene in Finding Nemo. She said she thought I had blown something up. I replayed it for her in the basement, and both she and the kids loved it. I got the Outlaw LFM-1 EX sub paired with Polk front and rear and an Onkyo 806. It sounds great. I was primarily worried that she would not like the look of the sub due to the shear size, but she said "this is a theater room, it doesn't matter if you see the speakers".

I was married for 9 years so I have some background. On the day of my divorce over 7 years ago, my now ex wife even mentioned to me jokingly "now you can fix the room up the way you wanted to"! I have read some of the stories of some of you and it sounds like you are asking your wives for permission to buy something? What kind of life is that? Do they ask for your permission when they buy their stuff? Not all women are but some of them are dream killers. The reason I say that is my present GF of the last 5 years loves movies, and HT. I have never had any question on what I'm going to buy. I guess it depends on the woman and how secure/insecure they are? I also got tired of the scenario of if I buy myself something you'll get something also.That's just plain old bribery. They don't come to us with that question do they? I can also say that we cannot apply the same grip of terror over them as they can do to us and you know why. Thanks, rant is over.

If i want to go buy a few blu-rays i dont ask for permission...or if i want a new game...

But if i am going to drop 1k+ on something that is a family decision...i would go off the hook if my wife went out and purchased something that expensive with out first consulting me...

So i am not asking permission more consolting my wife on future purchases. Honestly her holding me back some times is a good thing or we would never have any spending money.

You are absolutely right about asking for permission. I have been married from age 18 and I just turned 39. I dont have anything to do with any of our accounts. i dont see the bank statements, dont see credit card bills... nothing and I really dont care.

As we have gotten older, our income has obviously increased. At some point I tired of feeling like I needed to ask permission, although that never was really the case. So a few weeks ago I told the wife to start setting aside 200 a month as I wanted the ED As7-450 subwoofer. She pretty much told me to just order it. I said no, I can wait, dont really want to put it on a card and pay interest. She said, just order it, no big deal.

No way can you go through life asking the wife for permission like your asking the parents. That only lasts so long........ what 9 years?

Honestly, it doesn't matter if she does or not. However, she does occasionally reap the benefits.

My wife is an avid movie buff like myself.. Needless to say I get the greenlights for pretty much all of my HT expenses.. She doesnt love the LOUD sound as much as I do but she loves our HT.

First off this is not a direct comment to hoopsrgreat and shouldnt be taken as such...

But, I, for the life of me, cannot imagine not seeing any of our house accounting i.e. being totally blind... In my case, I do all the books,bills, etc in our house. Of course, my wife is informed of what goes where and what is spent in what. We both have bugdets tracked in excel sheets.

Mine wonders "what the hell are you doing?"
Then saturday comes around and it's "what are we gonna watch?"
The key for movies: A little for you and a little for me. Mixing is key

She likes it a lot more now that The Tudors is out on Blu-ray.

The frustrating part is knowing how much she'd like to surprise me once in a while by picking up something I'd enjoy, but being scared to death of picking the right "component box" as she puts it.

I try to pick up period pieces, romantic comedies and a muscial here and there to catch her interest, but for the most part she's up for the same kind of movies. With kids around it's nice to watch live action movies once in a while.

Knowing "when it's done," and "if you get THIS box, what other BOXES do you need to make it work?" would be a great help. Buying a universal remote that simplifies everything helps immensely, but you must USE IT and it must WORK well enough that you don't keep the other 7 remotes around to make "adjustments" while the movie starts up.

About the whole "asking for permission." When you got married, you vowed to be responsible for both you - and your wife. You need to make decisions which mutually and equally impact the both of you.

...and no matter how awesome a new sub might be, if you love and respect your wife - you'd ask her opinion before using the family's expenses on it (face it, its not your money - its OUR money).

The wife loved movies and music when I met her and she new I was a HI-FI nut so it
all works in OUR favor.

I consider myself very fortunate as my SO loves the HT including the subs. I have constantly revised the system over the last few years and she has noticed and enjoyed every upgrade in the systems performance.

Because she is interested, I take the time to explain how everything works. She also has an excellent ear and eye for detail so I get very good feedback from her when I ask her opinion on how something sounds or looks. As she puts it, even though it is my hobby, she gets to enjoy it too.

Although she may not necessarily appreciate the results of my infinite tweaking and upgrading, she certainly does not discourage me either. Our absolute favorite hobby .....well 2nd favorite .....is watching movies. She loves the experience as much as I do....epecially the bass. Every now and then she'll give me that look and I know that she wants me to hit rewind.

Come to think of it, it turn me on when she does that.

My wife likes the ht, but doesn't appreciate it like I do. She hates the constant tweaking and upgrading, says she can never tell a difference in anything I do. When it comes time to watch a movie, she loves it. Especially when friends or family are over. Her favorite time was Christmas, most of the family in the basement ht watching Top Gun, rattling the floors of the kitchen and dining room above.

This is pretty much my wife. She knows it is my new hobby, and she knows how I like nice things (i.e. my gun hobby, nothing but top end Sig, Supressed ARs,etc) and blow money like I am dying tomorrow. But she gets over it very quickly with a new purse or something.

It's a "two for me, one for her deal", I get two sweet things, she gets one

As I slowly upgraded my gear from a crappy HTIB Onkyo setup, into a full on 5.1 setup, she was getting scared. First a huge HD HTPC, then a big Yamaha receiver and the one day, out of the blue, I come home with 5.1 Definitive Technology setup and start going to town in our living room.

We've always watched movies together off the HTPC or she has alone (big Harry Potter fan), but not until I setup the 5.1 has she zoned out so hard on Bluray Harry Potter box set I got her for christmas. I almost don't get to use my PS3 or HT now

Then the kicker, I showed up Friday night with a huge (as tall as our couch) Velodyne DLS-5000R sub that now practically doubles as an end table. She was not happy, nor was she happy with us setting it up until 11pm.

I'd kill for a dedicated room or basement, but that will have to be our next house, so she'll just have to survive for now.

( She's in for a suprise when I upgrade from Velodyne to DefTech SuperCube Trinity )

When we purchased our new four bedroom home five years ago we had the builder leave out the seperating wall for two of the upstairs rooms = HT. We were able to sound proof the room and lower floor ceilings during construction and it's turned in to the quietest room in the house. We even had the bulider raise the house another foot so the basement has eight foot ceilings = future HT.
Like most of us here my wife is happy when I'm happy and vis versa, I don't have the most expensive gear but everything has been professionally calibrated and setup and it is enjoyed by all. My wife doesn't like the volume or bass cranked up, but that's OK, 'cause my daughter and I get plenty of time to let the system breath when she's not home

I fortunately have a wife who is very understanding of my home theatre ambitions. I had some equipment when I met her, namely a 5.0 setup with CRT, and she's helped me develop the visual and spatial end of the system. My wife has always considered a need for HT when we've bought our houses, and even was the impetus for me purchasing my first front projector and screen. It was she who wanted me to get that 50" plasma that was a good deal for the family room, and now she even wants a second flatscreen for the living room and a third for the bedroom.

I first obtained an Xbox v1 and had it chipped to use XBMC and watch downloaded content, which has now been upgraded to a 360 for the plasma. She would like Apple TV but I'll wait on that. She even suggested the HD-DVD player, now I've got to work the BluRay on her. But next is a sub. I've survived these years without one, so it's about time I made the plunge.

Wait a minute here, I just realized it's not my HT anymore, it's hers! Oh well. Can't complain much.

Tim

Well guys,
bottom line "most" women do not like big boom.
We have been married for over 18 years. I realize that her trips around the world with her friends makes her very happy. And she knows how much my theater makes me feel.
So, yes you have to have a budget, but the joy of the HT is so exciting.
She is into movies big. Before the big screen, 110", she would fall a sleep. Now, she loves it.
We had an Iron Man movie night last Saturday. This Friday another group of friends who are into opera.

Last month got my slightly used Marantz 11S2 1080p projector. Wow, what a picture. Waiting for the OPPO blue ray.
Keep your wife happy and they will keep you happy.

She loves it! We're looking for a new house, and on the "must have list" is a basement or a very large room for the HT...

I kept saying that I think I would like a pair of longer interconnects for the my mains, so I could place that amp closer (I have a really good pair of Cardas Cross shot-gun cables that I couldn't use because they're too short)... one day I got home from work and on the dining room table was a new set of Cardas Cross interconnects... 15ft long! Yes, she went to the store (we've been there so much that they know us both by name... not to mention all the stuff we have in the our HT) and bought them for me... and not on my b-day, christmas, or anything else... just because! She's really perfect!!!! :-)

You should direct your wife to monoprice next time....

My wife HATES my home theater. She hates how the speakers look and she can't stand the boom. However, she loves the TV and the picture quality.

We are finishing our basement right now and I will have a dedicated area for my stuff. Wife has given me permission to do whatever I want within reason. The only part that will suck is the fact that I will have patch up all of the holes I put in the living room hiding my speaker wire.

Mine has always supported me.... most likely to shut me up... Then we visited a full scale wonderfully executed room at an AVS get together (Art Sonneborn's room). Video and Sound fully calibrated with ability to play at full reference but in a proper sounding room and presentation.

Since then she see's the vision and fully supports and encourages my addiction. At Art's she turned to me and said how do we do this at our house? Thanks Art!

In generally I agree that most spouses don't like it loud and boomy... but I think that comes down to how "good" it sounds and how well the room acoustics are working. There is a difference between "Loud" and proper levels. I've never had my wife say its too loud at an actual theater.. At reference level at Art's no complaints.. just smiles.. In my theater I get the "look" once in awhile.. but I'm working on it and it's getting better