Sneaky tweaks!

My wife's away for a few days, and I have a couple days off, so I thought I'd tweak my room setup/acoustics, and hope she doesn't notice! Here's the domino effect that ensued.

First off, I moved my Summits out another 6" from the wall. I then moved our couch (aka my listening position), and (acoustic nightmare) coffee table 6" forward. That 12" net gain really deepened the soundstage, and snapped the imaging into even better focus. Unfortunately, it messed up the overall feng shui balance of furniture in the room. I kept chanting... "the acoustics must prevail, the acoustics must prevail."

So, I then moved everything on the right side of the room 6" forward as well (including a recliner, side table, floor lamp, 7 ft tall cabinet, and even three wall mounted shelves (which, fortunately, have hidden adjustable mounts). I then moved all the furniture on the left side of the room 3" forward (max I could get on that side).

Now, walking into our family/listening room you sense that something is different, but it's not particularly obvious! Fortunately, my wife will be super busy when she gets back, and I'm hoping it'll be weeks (maybe months!) before she even notices the difference, if at all. If I get away with this, I might try to sneak a C-J CT5 preamp into my setup when she goes away again.

Anybody else ever try something like this?

I'll let you know happens when she gets back. If you don't see any posts from me next week, call the audio police!

NO chance in Hell. She will walk in and stare for one moment and immediately ask "Why did you move the furniture"

Believe ME THEY KNOW WHAT 6 Inches is.:ROFL:

hilarious! but do this stuff all the time also. im on the lucky side, my wife isnt the most observant person in the world so i usually get away with it. unfortunately its not this easy with money, she adds well.

your an acoustic jedi, the force is strong with this one.

Chris, you crack me up !!!

Alan, good find with the 'tweak', here's hopin' the wife has her eyes closed !!

I agree with CAP.
When Ellen comes in I bet she doesn't make it past the couch. She will stop and look around the room turn her gaze to you and start to laugh. Your lucky to have a great wife with an equally great since of humor.

Alan, please do let us know if it sounds the way you remember after your wife makes you move it all back

I replaced my vantages with my now summits. I would have gotten away with it, but my vantages I put in my office under a blanket. She would have never known if I was able to get them out of the house. I did get away with replacing my McIntosh 871 dvd player with the McIntosh MCD 500. That was easy. My live in girlfriend never notices things like this.

Very funny post. I used to have the same problem before I made the dedicated room and the stereo was in the living room before. Did you move those speakers out more?Caught again.
Cheers

I move the stuff incrementally. When I bought my first ML, Gordon called me and told me pull 'em way out in the room, do this and that which I did. Wife walks in and asks me very nonchalantly, are those going to stay there? Of course not, I say. Just for today. Push them back and daily move them out an inch or two until they are where I want them. Wife says nothing, except the "look". Who am I kidding? She knows exactly what I did and goes along with it once she sat and listened.

I think this hobby requires an understanding spouse, especially when all the gear is in the living room.

Gordon

HAHA - I do the same thing too. Fortunately my wife knows how much it means to me. Listening room = my domain!

I'll be surprised if she doesn't notice almost immediately. I'm very curious to find out if I'm right though so keep us posted!

So, here's how it went down. My wife got back today, and was home for 3+ hrs, but didn't notice a thing until she went to plug in her laptop, and realized the cabinet was now blocking the outlet! She gave me an incredulous look, and proclaimed "you moved the cabinet!" I confessed that I had, and asked if anything else looked different? She walked around the room, studying every item, and proudly concluded... "you also moved the TV farther off the wall!"

True! But she didn't notice the speakers were farther out, nor that everything else (including the side shelves) were shifted 6" forward (which proves that, at least for some women, an additional 6" can be irrelevant ).

I started to explain what I had done, but decided it was just easier to let her read this thread! As Brad predicted, she cracked up laughing, walked back into our family/listening room, surveyed the scene yet again, then gave me one of her "cheshire cat" smiles, and said "it's fine... enjoy!" Made my day! She's definitely one-in-a-million (and I'd post that even if I didn't think she'd be reading it!)

Cost of my setup... thousands. Cost of the sneaky tweak... zero. Finding an audiophile supportive wife... priceless! :rocker:

They do catch everything in the end... heck, my wife notices when I have the plain white pillow on my listening couch upside down, even though it has no pattern on it! She can tell by where the zipper is in relation to the rest of the pillow...