Guest Hawk7 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 (edited) Hi All, Hopefully someone out there has been in a similar situation and might be able to offer some good solutions! My wife and I have a young child who is just about to gain the ability of movement via crawling! While this is an awesome milestone it does mean that we need to make a few changes around the house! Currently in the HT room we have two floor standing front speakers that are just sitting on the floor (with the spikes). I am concerned about my boy knocking one of them over and hurting himself (and the speaker!!!). What have other people done to secure speakers? Some ideas were: - attach them to the skirting boards? - raise them off the floor onto the cabinet? - securing them to the cabinet? Here is a picture of my front speakers and cabinet to give you an idea (sorry, a little messy) Front speakers Edited December 3, 2008 by Hawk7
jmtheo1503560626 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 (edited) Maybe try fixing them to the wall or skirting with those slot-in style picture hook thingos, the ones that have a pear-shaped slot that a screw head can go in to and then it locks in position by sliding down. Does that even make sense....? Take a look at this pic http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n163/je...00/IMG_8963.jpg Edited December 3, 2008 by jmtheo
SDL Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Maybe try fixing them to the wall or skirting with those slot-in style picture hook thingos, Just to clarify, that is the speakers and not the kids? I find you need a bigger hook for the kids.
SDL Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 In all seriousness, while I'm lucky that my speakers are in a different room to where my son learned to crawl around, there were other things such as lamps, a fire place, cabling, chairs, stools, curtains - well basically a complete living room. We basically supervised him or put him in his playpen initially. He soon learned through the supervision what he could and couldn't go near and now he rarely touches things and he is running around the place. Yes I wouldn't trust him alone in the room with all my HT gear, but when he is in there with me we have bookshelf speakers as well as floor speakers and he doesn't touch. The lights interest him more and the remote as he knows that is the source of power
Mr.Bitey Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Unless your HT is in the room you generally live in (well the family lives in) then just belt them if they go into the HT.. As far as other things go (antyhing with a glowing light, things that open/close) etc.. just give em a belt when they go near it.. Leave everything where you want it, and use a few belts to correct any unwarranted behaviours Worked for me. Cheers, Beltey
dax Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Why not just lie the speakers down on their side. They will still work and it looks like you got room to do it. If you are that worried about hearing something in better quality, then stand them up for that and put them down again when you are done.
Guest Hawk7 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Hi guys - great replies so far. Aren't forums great for this kind of thing - you get hepas of different perspecitives (eg: laying them down is a great option that I don't reckon I would have thought of myslef - so simple!!!). Not sure about the belting one though - my boy might start to belt me back when he can!!
tb1231503560936 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 I guess adoption is out of the question? We left our speakers where they were and taught the kids not to touch them. Never had any problems, although falling furniture is certainly a concern for the little ones. I made sure I moved the wine though, cant trust them completly, no matter how well they are "trained"!
50mxe20 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 I made sure I moved the wine though, cant trust them completly, no matter how well they are "trained"! Surely they are too young to work a cork screw and drink it?!
hakka69 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 If they have screw in spikes you could cut out some platforms larger than the speaker footprint and attatch them to the speakers using the threaded holes for the spikes, and then screw the spikes into the platforms. Does that make sense?? Something like the B&W 683s http://www.audiocostruzioni.com/r_s/diffus...amp;w%20683.jpg Or you could sell the kids on ebay. Hakka.
tb1231503560936 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Surely they are too young to work a cork screw and drink it?! I was more worried about them being dropped on the slate floor!
quijibo Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Can I suggest a couple of picture hooks? Use the nail-in type on the plaster wall and get a screw in hook for the back of your speakers and then attach them together with a bit of wire. The biggest problem then is that you shouldn't have floor standers, or any speakers for that matter, as close to wall as that unless they were designed for it. But it might solve your problem.
DarrenW Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 When my daughter was a toddler, she was facinated by the A/V system............ Always wanted to touch the coloured lights and the floorstanders. I was always worried that the VCR would end up with a slice of toast in it I ended up getting a couple of old wooden playpens, and altered them to make a fence around the system. That kept her at bay. She lost interest in the system after about 6 months, and we were able to take the fence down. When my son was the same age, he was never interested, so we were able to get rid of the fence, as it was a bit of an eyesore, but did the job! Best of luck with your children
quijibo Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Or maybe some sort of proximity collar. If the kid gets too close to the area the little blighter will get a zap until they move away. Best to get that with some sort of override, so that you can turn it off if the kids a bit of a dunce... or even better so that you can just give them a zap at the press of a button... hmmm.. I might go and see if anybody has patented this one yet. Might be on to something methinks...
dax Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Aren't forums great for this kind of thing - you get hepas of different perspecitives (eg: laying them down is a great option that I don't reckon I would have thought of myslef - so simple!!!). I should be an engineer!
joz Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Razor wire or something softer like double D battery powered electric fence. Well I thought it was funny years ago with our dogs and our new garden..
Mitcon1503562253 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 If they have screw in spikes you could cut out some platforms larger than the speaker footprint and attatch them to the speakers using the threaded holes for the spikes, and then screw the spikes into the platforms. Does that make sense??Something like the B&W 683s http://www.audiocostruzioni.com/r_s/diffus...amp;w%20683.jpg Or you could sell the kids on ebay. Hakka. I too think it's best to teach them, but the above idea of putting a larger/wider base is a good one and better than mounting on a wall. I will add some things though, put wires in the wall or under the carpet as little kids can find these and hurt themself, I have heard of kids getting strangled by speaker cable and then make sure your speaker covers don;t come off easy as finger holes in your drivers is never good either.
tb1231503560936 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Razor wire or something softer like double D battery powered electric fence.Well I thought it was funny years ago with our dogs and our new garden.. years ago in a company far far away when practical joking was a way of life, someone hooked up some (low) voltage to the mens urinal. Anyone that hit the flush button while still taking a leak got more than they bargained for!
Fouler Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 When my daughter was a toddler, she was facinated by the A/V system............ Always wanted to touch the coloured lights and the floorstanders.I was always worried that the VCR would end up with a slice of toast in it I ended up getting a couple of old wooden playpens, and altered them to make a fence around the system. That kept her at bay. Ditto for me. Mine's about 2.5m in length and anchored on lift out hinges so I can swivel it or lift it out when viewing a worthwhile movie. The boy is still keen, even after a year of the HT Wall and when in temper mode will go up and rattle the fence, to gauge my reaction. Came home tonight and saw this carnage {scene} - shudder to think what may have happened without the barrier.
mwd Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Also Beware small children are attracted by sounds so will probably try poking your speaker drivers either with fingers or any tool they happen to be holding in their hands. Holes in driver cones and crushed tweaters can get very expensive. Anybody make armour plated speaker grills.
rocky500 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 How about putting your speakers away in the shed and buy some cheap small bookshelf speakers. Mount them high up.
Guest teflon Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Glad to see others had the same problem as me. Hawk7, what I did was screw an L bracket to the wall, and then used duct tape to attach the bracket to the top of the speaker thereby avoiding the need to screw the bracket into the speaker (can post a photo if you like). Surprisingly stable - duct tape solves everything! My speakers are on carpet + spikes as well. I know supervision is the key, but you can't always know what your 2 year old is doing!
Fouler Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 It was 5 or 6 years ago that the representative Rugby League player, Julian O'Neil, had his toddler killed when an unsecured plasma tv toppled over. So out of reach or anchored is the way to go with these heavy things.
darent74 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 floor standers, had come close to being knocked over , they were in perfect condition and sooner or later it would have been child on floor pinned by speaker. Decided that , that was it, so i sold them. Building new set to be hidden away in cabinet, which is also to be built.
shrek Posted December 5, 2008 Posted December 5, 2008 How heavy are your floorstanders? There's no way my kids could topple over my 603's. Even i'd need to good them a good shove to push them over........they're bloody heavy. Anyway, my 2 girls know not to touch any of the HT stuff......otherwise i'll get bitey to fix them. If you leave the grill on the speakers you'll find that kids won't touch the drivers.
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