As my friends from Michigan know, my dad is a very demanding person (I can probably thank him for my impatience, among other things). There’s a great story that Chris tells of the time he was hanging out with me on Super Bowl Sunday one year. We were celebrating my dad’s birthday that day as well, as it always falls within a week of the Super Bowl. My mom and sister got my dad a silver tie in the shiny, fancy Regis Philbin mode, as that was popular at the time in conjunction with monochromatic shirts and suits (this was back in the early 2000s). Whatever the merits of the tie, it was definitely not my dad’s style, and he greeted it with a suspicious eye. My sister excitedly (and perhaps nervously) exclaimed, “Dad, you’ll look great in it!” My dad responded, “Maybe…” Since then, we’ve had a good time throwing out a “Maybe…” at appropriate moments within the friend group.
Anyway, when I was back home in Michigan in June, my dad asked me to spec out a new home theater system for our family room back east. The TV, god forbid, was a Sony cathode ray tube monster that displayed HD in only maybe a 30″ window on the screen, and the speakers were these giant Mitsubishis from the early ’90s that were not great to begin with, didn’t improve with age (due to little incidents like the time I accidentally managed to get a superball down the front of one, inside the speaker grille, and crushed a tweeter cone in the process) and were positioned so far wide of the viewing position that it was like they were in another room. The TV stand was also a fancy Italian model from Bell’O, but about as impractical as a stand could be. So there was room for improvement.
I specced out some very nice equipment, my dad negotiated the price with a local A/V store and after a few weeks the equipment was delivered and installed. Last Saturday my dad texted me to say “Watched Bourne last nite on new Sony [TV]. Wow!” He also reported “I can’t believe how fabulous the spkrs are”. And then this week he left me a voicemail that in part discussed how great the new system is. Beyond my amusement at texting regularly with my dad (and check it out, he’s abbreviating words), I report this exchange because he’s not going to tell you that something is great merely to smooth over a social encounter and make you feel better, so when you do get a thumbs up, it means an awful lot.
I could be wrong, but I recall your dad’s “Maybe…” response being preceded by an “Oh yeah?” Is that right? If not, I’d rather remember that to be the true story in any event. Makes me laugh just thinking about it.
Glad to hear he likes the new setup, and that you’ve talked him into proper speaker placement.
No, I think you’re probably right about your recollection.