The pursuit of AV excellence – why doesn't my GF get it?

I have spent a lot of my time and money getting my HiFi just right for my listening tastes and the same getting the best 55″ TV for Blu-ray and HD broadcasts (IMHO, obviously), yet my GF is happy listening to low resolution MP3 on her phone and just doesn’t get the HiFi thing. She also watches SD on my TV. The awful picture resolution is magnified on a TV this size, making it unwatchable for me, yet she either doesn’t notice it or even care. Is this pursuit of AV nervana a boy thing, or is my GF an exception?

You’re into it. 99% of people aren’t.

Like mountainbiking.

They generally don’t get HiFi or AV stuff.

My Mrs cannot be bothered to use my Roksan pre and power amp to play music and uses the blue ray and TV!

Content more important then method of delivery.

We have a spare room I’m thinking of converting into a AV man cave, and buy some cheap sh*t for the living room/GF 🙂

Yeah yeah. I used to love expensive hifi. But since I’ve been able to carry all my music round on my
iPhone or listen to internet radio I actually listen to more than I ever did because it’s always with me. If I hear a tune I like I can buy it instantly and not have to remember it and go to a record store. I can steam my music anywhere in the house now, and get good enough sound quality in an unobtrusive package. It’s a lot better IMO. You just have to give up on the old ‘I must own a disc’ blinkeredness 🙂

Content more important then method of delivery.

Exactly. There is a point at which dimishing returns occur for enjoyment of the content vs increasing quality of reproduction.

video killed the radio star…then MP3 came and chopped him to little pieces, flame throwered them and threw the ashes into the sea 😀

Without getting into a record vs cd debate, once we got rid of dust on records I think that was as good as it needs to be.

They generally don’t get HiFi or AV stuff.

My Mrs cannot be bothered to use my Roksan pre and power amp to play music and uses the blue ray and TV

Thanks for that, winston_dog. I was beginning to feel like I was the odd one out here!

Buy a projector, that’ll turn her.

We’ve got a hd projector which looks great – my wife is definitely less bothered about the quality of the source material we play on it. Sometimes when watching films I find myself obsessing over sharpness rather than enjoying the film. 😳

Aston Villa are struggling at the moment. Give me a shout when they’re excellent again and I’ll get pursuing them again.

Some people are more interested in the sound the music makes. And are jokes funnier in HD?

if I had a pound for every time I’d asked, “why are we watching this in cataract-o-vision?” I could buy a new amp.

Sometimes when watching films I find myself obsessing over sharpness rather than enjoying the film.

I don’t know what to type…

Must admit that I am privileged to have a wife that does appreciate good picture and sound. When I moved up to be with her I brought up my collection of 90’s hi-fi and soon after we got married and bought a new house she suggested that the black speakers and components were not the prettiest and did suck the light/life out of the living room. She even came to audition A/V amps and speakers with me and did comment on the palpable nuances between those we tried.

Must admit that I am privileged to have a wife that does appreciate good picture and sound. When I moved up to be with her I brought up my collection of 90’s hi-fi qoon after we got married and bought a new house she suggested that the black speakers and components were not the prettiest and did suck the light/life out of the living room. She even came to audition A/V amps and speakers with me and did comment on the palpable nuances between those we tried.

..err, any more like her at home, househusband? Maybe I could trade my GF in for a newer model.

Forget that, she’s just got hold of the tablet and read my post! 🙂

oldboy; forgot to add that she also approved expenditure from joint finances, too! 8)

The awful picture resolution is magnified on a TV this size, making it unwatchable for me, yet she either doesn’t notice it or even care.

Awful scripts , direction and acting make stuff unwatchable for me. Never picture quality.
Focusing on picture quality is like focusing on the quality of the font that a book’s written in rather what the narrative is imo.

You old fellas should be bloody grateful that your beloved other halves don’t pay so much attention to details. When they get glasses, you might want to choose what household goods you’ll get when you get kicked out.

Is it better though? Or just different. I bought a TV about 5 years ago. The Sony shop had 4 different models lined up with their pries lose by but not exactly where they should be. the salesman told me that for money I got a better picture. I then proceeded to guess which was which. Totally opposite to what they should have been according to him. the so called better model had colours brighter than reality.
TV with surround sound is mostly wrong as sound comes from one source much of the time. Maybe the opening scene to Saving Private Ryan might justify surround sound but sounds matches our vision much of the time.
Equally music is often unrealistic when enhanced. You cannot improve on the live sound any more than synthetic cream is better than the real stuff.
Finally maybe the Op’s other half realises that to many of us TV and music come somewhere below paint drying in interest. To me electric toys are so bloody ugly. Black and silver plastic and glass everywhere. Ug. Much better to buy another bike which everyone knows is the best way to spend time and money! 😆

My wife is quite a fan of surround sound, also helped select the TV too. Although she hated my endless indecision over the choice as I did spend a very long time selecting it.

My iPad is my hifi these days. 🙁

Want a sonos though. I reckon that that will be better than I will ever need.

They don’t appreciate it that much… We’ve sorted out a decent AV setup but I’m not allowed to listen to it at a reasonable volume very often.

Quite a few years ago a previous GF moved in (sort of, she had her own room in a shared house with her friends) and when i was away for the weekend she decided to rearrange my living room as she always threatened to change it, according to her it wasn’t friendly or nice for folk (ie – her friends) to sit in. She removed my stacking Hi-Fi and B&W 603 floor standers with the cabling, she removed the acoustic tiles and bass traps i had on the walls and ceiling – she bought a gopping throw for my Mies van der rohe Barcelona sofa and moved my big comfy square Habitat listening chair to the corner of the room and she bought a 2nd hand massive crt tv for the corner of the room and she filled every surface with pictures and utterly pointless crap.

I went batshit crazy when i got home, everything was moved back into place the following day, and she ended up living back in her flatshare with the CRT TV within a week.

Prob why i’m still single but to be honest i much prefer it, i make as much noise whenever i like, i’ve realised i’m far too arsid to live with anyone.

HD TV here.

I can’t remember the last time my OH went beyond the first page of sky guide to find the HD flavours of any channels. Mind you unless she has her contacts in it probably doesn’t make any odds to her.

As mentioned, content is more important than delivery method. 99% of people value ease of access above most other qualities. Like PeterPoddy, I used to have good separates and so on, but the best hifi investment I ever made was an ipod (well, phone these days) and a pair of sennheiser hd600s.

Headphones work a lot better when monkjnr is asleep, too.

It’s just women – their little blonde heads can’t cope with this complicated stuff. Give them a handbag or a new pair of shoes from time to time and they’re happy. Anything more – forget it.

You’re meeting the wrong women DrJ.

When I met my OH she had a stack of separates. Unbelievably, she seemed to use them on a regular basis to listen (mainly) to vinyl and CDs. No idea how her little blonde head managed to cope with this clearly very complicated stuff.

My wife appreciates my inexpensive hifi separates, she uses it much more than I do (due to spending more time in the living room). However she did insist on the 40″ TV instead of the 46″ when we were shopping. I do somewhat wish we had the bigger one for gaming, sometimes I have to sit on a stool 2ft closer than the sofa, but it’s great for watching TV. The advantage of a smaller TV of course is that SD looks fine 🙂

Mr M – I suspect that your OH has a secret. Ever seen The Crying Game? No other explanation.

she removed the acoustic tiles and bass traps i had on the walls and ceiling

somafunk – that’s taking things too far! I’m with your ex on that!

I went around to a friends house the other day who was complaining that she couldn’t hear the TV properly.

It was set to surround sound, so on enquiring more I found out that her previous fella had installed speakers/cables etc. She’d never like the offensive items and pulled them out…

Be careful with creating an AV mancave. I did such a thing with a lovely 46″ Samsung flat panel, amp, 5.1 setup, etc with a PS3 present as the BluRay player (*ahem*).

Within weeks of it being set up, me and the PS3 have been relegated to the shit old 32″ flat panel and my wife gets to put her feet up in the nice room when she watches SD Made in Chelsea and Hollyoaks.

…… and my wife gets to put her feet up in the nice room when she watches SD Made in Chelsea and Hollyoaks.

🙂 Exactly the same sh*t my GF watches in SD, and she’s actually quite intelligent!

Focusing on picture quality is like focusing on the quality of the font that a book’s written in rather what the narrative is imo.

This. Whenever I watch something in Blu-ray it’ll start, and I’ll think “wow, that’s sharp”, then I’ll enjoy the film.

You’re weird.

My GF loves a girthy sound stage.
She just doesn’t always know which channel to put the preamp on, usually settling for sound through the TV.
As a result, I take the digital out from the telly and put it into a PC with a decent sound card and use the PC to stream it across the network, where Raspberry Pis connected to other speakers in other rooms pick it up for easy listening in the kitchen etc. I then have the preamp to default to the PC’s output through the DAC so, usually, all she has to do is turn the amp on & mute the telly.
She just doesn’t want to break my stuff.