Can you help or do I have to get divorced?

Seriously, try a pair of Paradigm Reference monitors.
Small speakers for about $550 shouldn't sound this good.

I guess the Gallo Micro's may fit the bill here or just go with the Bose am5 's in white of course - I think it was designed by a group of wives.

Harvey Rosenberg(aka Dr. Gizmo) says that the answer is to find something that she likes - he uses high heel shoes as an example - and buy some for her. She will then focus on her new objet d'amour for awhile. Monitor this time period and log it for reference. The next time you buy her some shoes, slip the new speakers into the living room while she is distracted. As long as she remains in her state of shoe ecstacy, she won't notice. When the enthrallment begins to wear off, buy her some more shoes. This way, her ability to notice the new speakers can be pemanently removed.

A couple of years ago somebody introduced some speakers that were basically planars with a small cone speaker that were covered with famous art and were made to be hung on walls. They were claimed to sound pretty decent, but that was just by the show reports and new products sections of magazines so who knows. Anyway, probably the highest WAF speaker I've ever seen.

I'm sure your divorce alternative is tongue in cheek, but unless you're a kept man, you should adopt a slightly more demanding attitude. That's a long list of "can'ts" - there has to be some reasonable compromise somewhere that you can have a decent setup without so many constraints. Maybe you have other priorities where you put your foot down and just can't have everything, but if music is anywhere near the top of your priority list, you need to tighten your belt and set some better ground rules for the "negotiations". -Kirk

I heard the Vienna Acoustics "Waltz" and they come in a variety of wood finishes. They hang on the wall and sounded pretty good. Perhaps you can sneek in a small sub woofer such as a REL Strata or Storm and you would be set.