Good stuff in here. We're such a thoughtful bunch.
Unfortunately I can't add a whole lot. I'm lucky in that my wife actually encourages me to explore and buy 'nice' HT gear. She has a more critical ear than I do. While she could care less about how many acronyms are at work to produce the sound, she cares very deeply about the overall sound quality. She's far more critical of MP3 compression than I am, for instance. She actually came home from work somewhat grumpy one day because one of her coworkers had just but in a Bose system at home and wouldn't stop talking about wonderful it was. Seriously.
And we don't have any kids, so there's a huge part of the "equation-of-household-happiness" that we don't have to deal with.
It sounds like you've got a good plan. Before we got married, 9 years ago, we had to talk to the pastor that would be doing the service. He offered us what I feel is good advice. In his view, the #1 priority of marriage is to always support one another. And #2 is to keep each other happy. While those aren't big secrets, I think there's a lot of truth in there.
Just as my wife doesn't know why I want a Reala upscaler, she supports the decision to get one. Just as I may not understand why that Viking mixer is better than the Kitchenaid, I support her when she wants one. So long as you and your partner act responsibly and make realistic decisions with regards to whatever your finances are, there's no reason that either party should be deprived of something that makes them happy.
Last edited by PeterChenoweth; 03/17/09 05:03 PM.
