I appreciate the heads up Dave, but I went ahead and placed an order on the x-cs's. I plan to audition them in my house and see if they're what I'm looking for - thanks to their return policy, if I decide I don't care for them, back they'll go, but at least I'm glad I'm heading in the right direction with all of this finally.
I'm not really in a hurry, and my budget does probably need to remain under the $1500 mark at least until my wife and I get all these other matters taken care of that need to draw from our available funds.
Otherwise it will take longer than a year to save up the dough. Not in a hurry, but not quite that patient either.
This is a luxury, not a necessity after all - at least in her eyes. I see it a bit differently.