Getting married, and I need to redo system.. ?'s..


Hello Everyone:

How is everyone doing today??? I hope everything is going all and well for each and every one of you. Now, I have something I to discuss with all of my fellow "Goners" here at "Audiogon", and I would appreciate any input or opinions that any one of you may/will provide to me.

Okay, now that the formalities are out of the way, I got something I want to share with all of you guys here at "Audiogon". The VERY thing that I want to share with each and every one of you is this. It has recently been discussed with my girlfriend of four plus years and it has been decided that we're going to be tying the knot. No date has been set as of this moment, but right now, we're shooting for the spring of 2004. And while some aspects of my life may (and in fact, will) change after I say "I DO" to what is going to be my "better half", the one thing that's NOT going to change, is that I am NOT going to stop being an audiophile. I say this because the way I see this is this. If I marry her, I am going to be marrying her for her. And that means I will have to put up with all of her. And that goes for all of the points she has about herself. Her good points and bad points. By the same token, she will have to put up with the same thing from me as well. And also, as part of the package, she has to know (in fact, she and I have already had that discussion) that she's marrying an audiophile as well. And if she is to be married to me, she's stuck with an audiophile for life. But now, with the intentions of getting a house together someday, I am hoping on getting a house in which either will have either a room that I can convert into an "audio/video room with a home office", or a basement that has a nice sized room that I can seal off from the utility room and the laundry area, and then what I will do after that is hire an acoustic technician and have some acoustic tile installed, and then hire an electrician to redo the electrical system of the whole house so that I can beef up the electrical capabilities of the room in question so that I can install the kind of system that I really want to install in the room that I have just so mentioned. What I am going to probably be doing after that is kind of redo my system up to the point of where it is going to have to be a consolidated and downsized version of the systems that I have right now. And those systems are as follows.

HOME THEATER (located in my bedroom):

Panasonic CT-27SF37 "SuperFlat" 27" Television/Monitor
Toshiba SD-2700 DVD/CD Player
Sony SLV-R5UC S-VHS Hi-Fi VCR
JVC HR-VP638U VHS Hi-Fi VCR
Harman/Kardon AVR-210 Dolby-Digital/DTS Audio/Video Receiver
Sennheiser HD-580 Headphones
Monster Cable Interconnects
Monster Cable HTS1000 Power Center Surge Suppressor

AUDIO SYSTEM (located in my living room):

KEF Reference 102 Speaker System w/KUBE Equalizer
Adcom GFA-545 MkII Power Amplifier (100 WPC)
Adcom GFP-750 Active/Passive Line Stage Preamplifier w/Remote Control
Magnum Dynalab FT-101 FM Tuner
Terk AM FM Q Amplified Antenna
Thorens TD-165 Belt-Drive Turntable (not yet hooked up)
Grado Prestige Gold Moving Magnet Phono Cartridge
Pioneer Elite DV-37 Progressive Scan DVD/CD Player (being used as a CD Player)
JVC XL-M509TN 6+1 CD Player/Changer
Nakamichi BX-300 Cassette Deck
MITerminator 2 and 3 Interconnects and MITerminator 2 Speaker Cables
Sanus SF-24 Speaker Stands
Monster Cable HTS2500 Power Center

And now, here's what I am proposing my system will look like after I become a married man.

AUDIO/VIDEO SYSTEM (to be located in either in a den, or in a room to be determined in a basement once we get our house):

KEF Q1 Speaker System (mains or fronts in a home theater system, or the main speakers in a stereo system)*
KEF Q9c Speaker System (center channel....... to be used in home theater only)
KEF Q8s Speaker System (surround channels...... to be used in home theater only)
REL Strata III Powered Subwoofer (in a finish that matches the KEF Q1 and Q9c)***
Rotel RMB-1075 5 Channel Power Amplifier (will eventually replace the Adcom GFA-545 MkII)*
Rotel RSP-1066 7.1 Surround Processor/Preamplifier (will eventually replace the Adcom GFP-750)*
Sennheiser HD-580 Headphones (retained from old system)
Creek Headphone Amplifier (Special Edition Version)
Magnum Dynalab FT-101 FM Tuner (retained from old system)
Magnum Dynalab Indoor/Outdoor Antenna (to replace the Terk AM FM Q Amplified Antenna)
Monolithic PS-1 + HC-1 Phono Stage with matching Power Supply
Rega Planar 25 Belt-Drive Turntable (the "table" I plan to own after I upgrade the Thorens TD-165)*
Grado Sonata Reference Moving Magnet Cartridge (the cartridge I will upgrade to after replacing the Prestige Gold)*
Sony DVP-NS999ES Progressive Scan DVD/SACD/CD Player (one player will have to do it all)*
Nakamichi BX-300 Cassette Deck (again.... retained from old system)
Panasonic PT-47WX52 or PT-53WX52 47" or 53" 16:9 HDTV RPTV (but not both)*
Sony TiVo and the JVC HR-VP638U VHS Hi-Fi VCR (to replace the Sony SLV-R5UC)*
Microsoft "X-BOX" Gaming System
MITerminator 2 Interconnects (retained from old system.... new ones will be added later on)**
MITerminator 3 Interconnects (retained from old system.... again, new ones will be added later on)**
MITerminator 2 Speaker Cables (retained from old system.... new ones will be added later on)**
Osiris Speaker Stands (if they can be found, they will be added to the system later on)*
Monster Cable Reference Power Center HTS3600 (will eventually replace the HTS2500)*

* means that these components will replace the ones that was previously in my system. For example:

The KEF Q1 will replace the KEF Reference 102's
The Rotel RMB-1075 will replace the Adcom GFA-545 MkII
The Rotel RSP-1066 will replace the Adcom GP-750
The Rega Planar 25 will replace the Thorens TD-165
The Grado Sonata Reference will replace the Grado Prestige Gold
The Sony DVP-NS999ES will replace both, the Pioneer Elite DV-37 and the JVC XL-M509TN
The Panasonic PT-47WX52 or PT-53WX52 will replace the Panasonic CT-27SF37 SuperFlat
The Sony TiVo and JVC HR-VP638U will replace the Sony SLV-R5UC S-VHS Hi-Fi VCR
The Osiris Speaker Stands (if found) will replace the Sanus SF-24 Speaker Stands
The Monster Cable HTS3600 will replace the Monster Cable HTS2500

** means that more cables will be purchased later on to accomodate the additional channels that the home theater is likely require/demand.

*** means that the REL Strata III Powered Subwoofer is going to be used both in stereo and in home theater

And finally, the rest of the components that I did not name or mention in my current home theater will either be sold, put on consignment, given away to charity, or any other means deemed necessary. But the given is, they will be eliminated.

But anyway, that's the way my new "combined" audio/video system will look after I am married. And when you stop and think about, my system won't be changed all that much. It'll just be changed enough out of necessity, but my new system will pretty much look the same as my current one(s) do now.

What do any of you think???? Do any of you have any questions????

Thanks in advance for your replies.......

--Charles--
128x128chaskelljr2001
Congratulations!
I would also heed John's & Sean's advice above, although it's difficult to sully affairs of the heart with those of the pocket (that's before you "I do" the situation of course).

Looking into the future, the HT/audio combo may prove a logistics nightmare: when you want to listen to music the rest of the family may want to watch a movie... be prepared that any rules set in advance usually don't apply when it comes to real-life situations!

How about negotiating separate systems for audio/HT?
Congratulations Charles.
I recommend keeping a copy of this page for your files. And then you can look at it in 5 years, and see whether you did what you wanted, or are listening to a Bose shelf system. Remember, women consider their men to be a "work in progress" and will try to change you over time. A copy of this page may be a guideline as to who's priorities are being met, and who's aren't. I would wonder if your fiance is making a similar list of her concessions, or instead, a list of her priorities regarding which concessions of yours you will be required to concede first. If there was a woman's website like this, there would be no talk of her conceding anything, but rather, how to get you to concede everything. Good Luck.

That being said, I recommend getting away from the Grado line as long as you have a Rega TT. The Grado's have problems with Rega's and there are alot of good cartridges out there that can walk all over a Grado, at similar prices or less. So there is no reason to "get married" to your Grado. Have a "fling" with a Dynavector 10x4 Mk2, for some High-output MC enjoyment.
Listen to the Psychic...

Keep audio and video separate--if you want to keep sanity in your married life!!!

It's better to have a simple nearfield setup for your audio and then a den for movies and background music...
Ummm . . . . maybe it's just me, but I always thought that a spouse was supposed to SUPPORT you in the things you loved and felt passionate about. Or maybe I'm just lucky -- my wife accepted the A/V rig AND the art collection and actually became a staunch supporter of both. You'd have to tear the 51" widescreen out from her dead clutching fingers if you wanted to remove it from the living room . . . ;-0)

Make sure that you get music and movies that your significant other really likes, and show her how much BETTER they sound and look on a good system. If she has decent ears and good taste (and we'll assume she does, since she's marrying you!), she'll appreciate the benefits of having an audiophile around.

Charles, don't assume that you will be beaten into submission . . . it CAN happen, but not all women are like that. Think positively, and here's hoping you got one of the good ones!

Pat
Jmcgrogan2 is definately right about the purse strings. I got married about a month ago and I'd second the advice to do as much as you can right now. This is not to say that you won't be able to do more later, but it'll probably be more difficult as a married guy.

The dedicated room is the way to go for sure. That's exactly what I did. It's my retreat from dishes, laundry, work, gardening, and sometimes the wife.

Buy what you really want now, and then dig in for the long haul. Your days of dabbling in the tweak-of-the-month club are numbered.

In retrospect, for me, this has been a VERY good thing. I'm a nut, and my wife is pragmatic, so she does bring a sense of reality into the hobby. For example, "What the F#$@!...$500 for a power cord!".

And I soon realized she's right. That IS silly when you step back and think about it. So I decided to start a few DIY projects, and spend the large dollars where they can make the most differenc: speakers, amp, and more music, etc.

No more ridiculous cables and tweaks for me...