Speaker Placement Crimes

[Twill]

I need to commit an audio crime and find some budget little standmounters to go on a bookshelf. It's a shame, because I have a decent pair of atacama nexus stands, but my lad is starting to crawl and toddle and is finding the stands fascinating to pull himself up on. He's had them over already, and obviously they could injure him so they've got to go, short term.

He's also pulling the grills off the speakers and has poked in a tweeter dome already!

So I'm thinking time to get a decent pair of budget standmounters to replace the now slightly compromised pair I've got, and get them out of the reach of little hands until things settle down.

Bookshelf seems like the obvious place, although in hi-fi terms there are some obvious compromises: firstly that they'll be on a shelf not on a stand, secondly that they'll be enclosed by the walls on either side and the rear wall; and thirdly that they'll have to be elevated above sitting level.

I don't mind these compromises in the short term, knowing I can go back to better kit and a better setup later. If I can get 80 - 85% of the same sonic result and have it all elevated out of the way, then that's fine by me.

I don't want to spend much cash, as it's not a long term thing, so something £200 or less would be good, and something with a small cabinet may also help. I know the QA 2020i's have quite a large cabinet by modern budget standards for example.

Any thoughts?

Could always just get a B&W A5/A7 for now and then pop it in another room later on I guess. Certainly compact.

 

[jjbomber]

A couple of old fashioned fire guards around the speaker stands

 

[toyota man]

Hi Twill I hate to brake it to you as you lovely son gets older he will become even more of a hifi hazzard as when his friends come round they will chase each other playig tag or whatever I changed to floor standers which helped but they got knocked over more than once I did try wall brackets not realy ideal as the cheap ones are not rigid enough and the expensive hurt when you bang your head on them good luck in your search and enjoy your son growing up

 

[hammill]

I have two sons. They have never run into or in anyway damaged my RS6s. Otherwise, I would have less than two sons They are far from angels and I have not been able to stop them jumping onto the sofas etc but the HiFi is one step too far

 

[Twill]

Hahaha, thanks all. Seems liek the general feeling is 'live with it, there's nothing you can do'.

I don't really mind the hi-fi kit kopping it every once in a while, but I don't want a speaker to fall on his head right now, especially as his mum assures me it's going to happen any day. When it does, it's therefore 100% my fault. In a couple of years we'll be able to have the 'touch daddy's special hi-fi kit and you'll have to live with granny forever' talk, but obviously we can't explain this right now.

I was just thinking a decent lifestyle unit, whilst not being hi-fi, might fill a gap nicely and conviniently until then. A Denon Ceol with a couple of decent budget speakers on a shelf, or a B&W A7 or some such.

 

[philipjohnwright]

Have a listen to the A5/A7, the Zeppelin, maybe even a Meridian M80 (just discontinued so should be available for below its recent price of £999). Or similar (don't laugh but at £500 the Bose Sounddock 10 is awsomely good fun, with stupendous bass). I have an M80 and am happy with it 80-90% of the time.

Do experiment with what it (or bookshelf speakers) sit on though - the old marble cutting board trick still works.

Oh and do take heed of the comments about it not being for a couple of years. One of my three - still don't know which one 10 years later on - managed to push the tweeter in on my B&W Nautilus 802. Suspect my son (blatant discrimination against son's there) who was 10 at the time. Good luck!

ps good headphones?!

 

[theadmans]

I switched to AVI Neutron speakers when my son was born. I have them on bookshelves either side of the chimney breast. They sound fine to me - the rear port does not even chuff. My son is now 9 and I am still running them on the bookshelves.

The AVIs were designed for bookshelves - their promotional literature used to show them surrrounded by books.

I have the Neutron IV model - you may be able to find a used pair for around £200.

You could also buy yourself a decent set of Headphones and Headphone Amp. I run Sennheiser HD650s with chinese valve headphone amp (Little Dot III). This is always a good option if you want to listen to your music after the ankle biters have gone to bed !

 

[ID.]

The obvious candidate would be something sealed like ATC SCM 7. I've got a little un who isn'ty even crawling yet, but most of my kit was purchased with the thought in mind that I may have to move it all onto a hogh shelf or my bedroom, not that that's any guarantee of safety. I don't mind my PMC DB1i on the top shelf, but some people report booming when placed in confined spaces.