Small Children & Speakers - Any Advice?

[DCC]

Hi -

My wife and I are in the early stages of starting family...that time where, you know, s-x becomes a part-time job; schedules, performance reviews, on-call status. So now In my free time i'm often plagued by visions of youngsters...poking holes in grilles, holes in cones, knocking stands and all over with the bigwheel...in short having a good time.

Am I worrying too much or will it be 24/7 damage control?

Experienced parents please advise.

 

[Broner]

Electric fencing seems to work well against cats...

 

[andyjm]

Hi -

My wife and I are in the early stages of starting family...that time where, you know, s-x becomes a part-time job; schedules, performance reviews, on-call status. So now In my free time i'm often plagued by visions of youngsters...poking holes in grilles, holes in cones, knocking stands and all over with the bigwheel...in short having a good time.

Am I worrying too much or will it be 24/7 damage control?

Experienced parents please advise.

I have replaced one tweeter and two bass drivers thanks to my brood. That runs at one driver per child. Also at least 4 remote controls either lost, or used as a teething chew. If you budget for that, you won't go far wrong.

The good news is that with the demise of VHS you don't have to plan for jam sandwiches or Lego posted into the tape slot on the player, and with CRTs having gone the way of the Dodo, the 'my first magnet' set doesn't get used to make pretty patterns on the TV display, magnetising the shadow mask.

Best advice is to keep everything out of reach.

 

[Neptune_Twilight]

After having 4 children & had hi-fi throughout 3 have now left home (thank goodness) but I've never had anything damaged by any of them in 30 years - I've found that a consistent firm no with touching speakers from an early age & actually showing them from a small age to actually use the gear with respect really does work, I feel perhaps that’s the most important thing.

IMO things you respect & show care with your offspring will follow suit as children usually do as you do & not what say - Sorry if it sounds preachy but I grew up with hi-fi too and was taught the same - As for visiting children speaker covers are a must! All offspring that’s moved out all have hi-fi & one with a two year, old his speakers remain undamaged despite metal dome tweeters with no protection.

 

[Kamikaze Bitter]

You're worrying too much. Kids cause chaos and not just with hifi. But you tend to love them more than you chattels. So its ok.

 

[stevee1966]

In my case it wasn't my children who was a bit heavy handed but my wife. She was doing some polishing and in went the tweeter dome on my B+W 685. Thinking she could repair the damage without me noticing she had another prod around and made it worse.

Luckily it wasn't damaged to the point of needing a replacement (though the wife had to go :wave: ) and sound is unaffected.

 

[jonathanRD]

We taught our children in general to look after things - ie not wreck everything in sight - so even most of their toys survived in good nick. My speaker stand spikes used to be on pennies (on a woodblock floor) and got knocked off a few times, spiking the floor, but otherwise my speakers have remained largely untouched for years. The hifi kit was kept for many years in an 80's Technics hifi cabinet with a glass door - which proved very good for keeping fingers away from them.

I was brought up the same - to appreciate and look after things - so I suppose I passed that onto my children.

Both children are now in their early 20's, my daughter's boyfreind always laughs at me when my sister-in-law's children come to visit or stay, he says the look of horror on my face anytime they go near my hifi is very funny.

 

[ifor]

I never had a problem, but if you're really concerned go for the vasectomy before it's too late. If it is too late just use old fashioned discipline.

 

[margetti]

After having 4 children & had hi-fi throughout 3 have now left home (thank goodness) but I've never had anything damaged by any of them in 30 years - I've found that a consistent firm no with touching speakers from an early age & actually showing them from a small age to actually use the gear with respect really does work, I feel perhaps that’s the most important thing.

IMO things you respect & show care with your offspring will follow suit as children usually do as you do & not what say - Sorry if it sounds preachy but I grew up with hi-fi too and was taught the same - As for visiting children speaker covers are a must! All offspring that’s moved out all have hi-fi & one with a two year, old his speakers remain undamaged despite metal dome tweeters with no protection.

Couldn't have put it better myself...

And unless you have an eye-level wall oven, you'll very quickly suss out how to get them not to touch things they shouldn't for sure!

Enjoy the little ones when they do arrive - nothing in this world beats it! :dance:

 

[scene]

If you're really, really worried, go wall-mounted and/or in-ceiling (or in-wall) for your speakers

I've got three boys, who are, how shall I put it "boisterous" and my floorstanding Monitor Audio speakers have survived. To be fair I have probably put the fear of God (or at least Dad) in them should they touch them... In fact, I think floorstanders are much better than standmounted speakers, which are just way too unstable. If you have floormounters with grille covers, they're just part of the furniture and a bit to big to climb on.

I would recommend a cabinet, with a door for all your other equipment - you can use an IR repeater to get signals through. Out of sight really is out of mind with small people. Rip your CDs to a NAS and do the same with your favourite films (DVDs / Blu Rays). Then you can play music back without ever having to open the cabinet (mine's still got child locks on the doors... and the youngest is now 6...). I use SONOS for this - and I've got the advantage of having been able to put Sonos players in each of their rooms and use this for playing music and stories at night (we wrote off three portable CD players and numerous CDs before this was done).

I've got one huge AV cabinet with all my kit in, with wooden doors - that have taken some damage. The equipment inside is completely safe. The screen (my lovely Kuro) sits above it - a bit higher than is common these days - but actually good for watching and playing on the Wii with the boys. The cabinet acts as a pretty good safety buffer between small people and the screen - and was even better when they were smaller...

Good luck with the small people.

 

[john1000000boy]

After having 4 children & had hi-fi throughout 3 have now left home (thank goodness) but I've never had anything damaged by any of them in 30 years - I've found that a consistent firm no with touching speakers from an early age & actually showing them from a small age to actually use the gear with respect really does work, I feel perhaps that’s the most important thing.

IMO things you respect & show care with your offspring will follow suit as children usually do as you do & not what say - Sorry if it sounds preachy but I grew up with hi-fi too and was taught the same - As for visiting children speaker covers are a must! All offspring that’s moved out all have hi-fi & one with a two year, old his speakers remain undamaged despite metal dome tweeters with no protection.

Couldn't have put it better myself...

And unless you have an eye-level wall oven, you'll very quickly suss out how to get them not to touch things they shouldn't for sure!

Enjoy the little ones when they do arrive - nothing in this world beats it! :dance:

I draw breath when my youngest is running around with a 99p football. He is now just 15cm shorter than my rx6. He also has a fascination with what's going on behind the cabinet where all the cables hide, loves leaning over my sub and lifting his feet off the ground and looks for a reaction with a grin that is priceless...

I have found with my nearly 2 yr old is not to overreact but as another member said use a firm no works.

He loves the sky remote too. And nothing else can substitute it. We even bought him a toy remote to use himself. It's at the bottom of toy box somewhere.

Grills on and just use the rubber feet on speakers with spikes removed, far safer that way if god forbid there were any tumbles.

failing all that there is this:

Tippitoes Extending Fireguard by TippitoesLink: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003N7NHAC
Hifi is replaceable and these are the best days of a family's life so relax, enjoy and keep the grills on!!

john

 

[Covenanter]

Buy n granite speaker plinths where n = no of children.

Place granite plinths as far from speakers as possible.

Super-glue children to plinths.

Chris

PS You may need to super-glue their mouths shut too.

 

[scene]

Tempting

Unfortunately, doesn't stop them throwing stuff at speakers - unless you locate them in another room...

 

[ID.]

I was OK for a while, but the firm no technique backfired because he loved playing the game where he could get dad to say "No". Then he discovered how to remove the grills and started testing his strength on the speaker cables, so eventually I packed it all away. It was just too much temptation for him in the living room where he spends most of the day playing. I recently set it up again in my bedroom, and he doesn't seem to be as interested. Apart from the speakers, it is all out of his reach/sight now. As mentioned above, out of sight is out of mind.

Try out the various techniques mentioned. All kids are different. For what its worth, I never felt that my speakers and the sturdy stands were in much danger of being knocked over. Mind you, my son is only 1.5 now, so they still probably weigh more than him.

 

[knaithrover]

As a battle hardened Father of 3 i would say that you are on a hiding to nothing when they are very small, once they understand no means NO the damage is often already done. Out of reach/sight works, floorstanders without spikes are probably safest (with the grilles on). Watch out for other peoples kids too - ive had 2 sets of speakers prodded to oblivion by being complacent and leaving the grilles off with visitors in the house as my kids knew not to touch them (Daddy would strangle them)

No 2 kids are the same either - my 2 sons were never interested in my records/tapes/cd's but my little Princess destroyed half of my cd collection in 10 minutes.

When aforementioned Princesst was pre-school i made do with actives and an ipod - the simple fact was that i couldnt listen to music properly when she was around anyway. Headphones aswell are a must.

 

[BenLaw]

Much good advice already, save for the potential implication of 'old fashioned discipline'.

Definitely not the thing to worry about at this stage, prior to conception let alone birth. And you'll have somewhere around 6 months post birth before it's even an issue.

Your priority is safety of child, not of possessions. Obvious dangers are possibility of pulling TV or speakers onto small self. Flimsy standmounts a no-no therefore. I have sand filled dreadnoughts which I can barely move or rock, let alone a small child. Like scene, my tv is quite high up on a stand.

After that, yes you'll work out your own way. I've found a little playing gets them to the realisation what they're playing with isn't that interesting, and they'll move onto other things. Exceptions are remote control, as already mentioned, and speaker cables, fun to pull! Mine are strapped in with duck tape now. My only casualty so far is the thin wooden frame of the grille on my centre speaker. Twirly volume knobs also still provide intermittent amusement, but nothing too concerning.

 

[scene]

+1 on Benlaw's comments.

My screen is bolted to the wall - no chance of it falling on little ones without major structural failure of our house...

Twirly knobs, flashing lights, etc. seem to be an irresistable draw for little people - which is why I went for a solid-wood doored cabinet and IR blaster - nothing to see here...

Speakers inside a large, extendable, fire grate aren't too shabby an idea either. Put all your stuff in there and protects both them and your little one from each other. Make sure - if possible - that any power sockets are hidden away...

 

[CarlDW]

My 3 little ones seem to be fairly respectful of most electronic equipment in the house - fingerprints on the TV aside - simply saying no seems to do the trick. The main aspect is safety, and making sure wires are out of sight and unused sockets are covered.

 

[cannibal_ox77]

Some good suggestions above, it will largely depend on the kids. I downsized from floorstanders & separates to a one box solution (bose sound dock then vita audio r4) after my first started toddling. Went back to a full sized setup but then had another, who despite being much more curious, knows better than to touch! She's 2 now and the hifi has been there all her life and hopefully any novelty/temptation of knob twiddling and button pushing has worn off. Floorstanders do help I think, and make sure the grills are true protectors and not just dust covers (fabric stretched over the outer frame). My office hifi and marshall guitar amp took more abuse from little fingers (all sold now), but suprisingly my guitars have remained intact. The living room stuff has remained spotless though touch wood, even the speakers are still practically like new. I just slide the coffee table in front of the hifi rack when the kids are in there, although i noticed my Blok rack has got a scratch on it just in the last week, though that's more likely to have been the wife.

 

[John Duncan]

Hi -

My wife and I are in the early stages of starting family...that time where, you know, s-x becomes a part-time job; schedules, performance reviews, on-call status. So now In my free time i'm often plagued by visions of youngsters...poking holes in grilles, holes in cones, knocking stands and all over with the bigwheel...in short having a good time.

Am I worrying too much or will it be 24/7 damage control?

Experienced parents please advise.

I would recommend one subwoofer per child. They tend to come in very sturdy cardboard boxes...

 

[matt49]

Provide the kids with so many other things to explore and dismantle that the hi-fi is of no interest to them.

If your speakers are easily accessible to a toddler, make something to cover the speakers: e.g. a nicely fitting cardboard box covered in fabric. While the first kid is still immobile, you and your other half will be spending so much time watching over the little one while s/he sleeps, that handicrafts of this kind won't seem a burden. OK, it might look rubbish, but your lovely living room will be full of brightly coloured tat anyway.

Matt

 

[mikeparker59]

Hi -

My wife and I are in the early stages of starting family...that time where, you know, s-x becomes a part-time job; schedules, performance reviews, on-call status. So now In my free time i'm often plagued by visions of youngsters...poking holes in grilles, holes in cones, knocking stands and all over with the bigwheel...in short having a good time.

Am I worrying too much or will it be 24/7 damage control?

Experienced parents please advise.

Leave them with a family member or trusted friend for the first 18 years of their lives :shifty:

 

[Tackleberry1]

Hello DCC,

All I can say, is that (coming from someone that stresses about stuff like this). Don't worry too much. Like everyone has said, it's great fun and your perspective will change anyway.

If you can raise your component to be high enough until their a ltie older and most importantly, keep the grills on! With my kids I still have them on.

One of the best things I did, which has been echoed on this thread is to (in a limited manner) get them involved. Get them to pick out a cd of their choice from your collection, make bit of a deal about it and get them excited by the idea of putting music on. They'll soon learn its not a toy, and that it. An be something special. Any break from them watching tv is a bonus aswell.

Good luck!

 

[fr0g]

I have two kids,,now 4 and 8. Never been a problem.

I have never had anything "pushed in" or anything fall.

Sturdy blutack, a strong word here and there. That's it. I never understand the problem,

Obviously you keep grilles "on"... Otherwise you are asking for trouble.

 

[simon3102000]

My kids respect my stuff and stay well away, ive brought them up properly,.