It never fails to surprise me just how seemingly universal the dislike women have for speakers, and especially: the sheer 'horror' of them being separated by any distance from an adjacent wall. ... Is there not a married guy here that has a spouse who thinks speakers are cool? I mean, what's the deal?
I have a big pair of old Infinity speakers flanking a brick fireplace in the living room. They are 5.5' tall and 1.5' wide, boxes with black cloth grilles. Even though I have a large, open living room, they are what people see first.
My wife is highly tolerant of them. She's a singer and she appreciates music, for one thing; for another, in a house with two kids, the chaos of papers, toys and books all over the floor make decorating concerns moot anyway. To put things in perspective, on top of the speakers are a plushy Cthulhu and a plushy Nyarlathotep(*). Fashion statements are a non-issue around here.
On the other hand, she owns frogs, salamanders, and about nine species of turtles, swimming in huge vats of water in the upstairs den. Some people have a jacuzzi in the master bedroom: we have large rubbermaid tubs of lukewarm water with turtles staring out of them. Her tanks have more visible wires than my stereo does.
For pity sake, people. If you didn't marry a woman as off the wall as you are - audiophiles as a rule aren't sane - you've got no one to blame but yourself. Give me a wife with turtles, a green belt in Kenpo and a preference for jeans, over one of these horrors with a perfect house, perfect fingernails, and zero spirit of fun.
(*) They are sound treatments for excess high frequency sound from the rear firing tweeters. Yup. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.