Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners how to protect the speakers from pet or toddler?

Hello,

I took the plunge and ordered the M60s, VP150 and QS8s without seeing them first, it was probably a big mistake.

I received them last Thursday. After I set it up, I found that I have a problem with the M60s - the cloth grille is elastic and very close to the drivers. I didn’t realized that they would be so close to the drivers when I saw pictures of them before I ordered. I’ve seen other brand speakers with similar grille covers in stores (like Infinity), and they leave much more room between the drivers and the cover. when I pressed a little on the cloth cover, I could touch the drivers. I would say this is a design flaw with Axiom tower speakers.

My problem is, I have a 2-year-old toddler who loves to bang her toys on everything she could reach, not to mention when she looses her balance walking, she would fall on anything and uses it as support. I have the floorstanding speakers in the living room, and her toys and her little hands (with possibly her full bodyweight) are very likely to hit right on the drivers. unless the drivers are designed and built to withstand such impact (which I don't think), I'll need some better protection on the speakers.

Instead of returning the speakers (I do love their sound), I hope I could find a solution to this problem. I’m sure there are other folks on this board who have pets or small children with the M60s? how do you protect the drivers?

Thanks!

I like the flaming molten lava effect. Just dig around your speakers, pour the molten lava into said trench...and voila! Seems to keep everyone away

can you possibly turn them 90 degrees when she's up terrorizing, and then face them front once she's in bed?

Short term problem. Get your self some of those stand up scissors gates (the kind that keeps kids from falling down steps) and wrap them around the Axioms. Should be able to form a circle.

Not sure how aestetically pleasing it would be, but this is the kind of crap that pops into my head randomly...

Get some astroturf, and a few tiny potted plants that look tree-ish. Bonsai would be ideal. Set it up in front of your entertainment center as though it were a front lawn. Then build a mini 3-sided white picket fence with some supports that hold it in place relative to the entertainment center. Make sure the fence is high enough to be a tike-proof barrier. Get a few ken/barbie dolls and epoxy them to the astroturf.

Other themes for the non "white-picket fence" folks. (As well as two halfway reasonable ideas):

Replace the ken and barbie dolls with GI Joes, burn random patches of the astroturf and put toy tanks and some small stone walls, replace the white picket fence with chickenwire.

Build two small stone walls in sections to replace the white picket fence. Line the space between them with plastic and fill it with water. Make a small wooden drawbridge on the inner wall and a wooden gate for the outer wall. Put a plastic dragon/lizard type of thing in the water.

Make the whole thing out of legos, hot-glued together. I recommend the castle series, but something done with the technics set that involved moving parts would be pretty sweet.

Or maybe you could just get some throw cushions, stitch them to a piece of elastic, and put it on the base of each speaker. Maybe something to help "tie the room together" like the dude's rug.

It also might be possible to just reinforce the cover from the back with some chickenwire or stiff metal screen.

Andrew, ROFLMAO. Whew!

Now THAT is the kind of creative engineering we're looking for!

Where the heck is Ray? I'm betting he can come up with something on this. Although the "molten lava" idea is going to be hard to beat.

I say wall-mount 'em. Or maybe hang them from the ceiling with pulleys. Some kind of a "Monster House" contraption, including a garage-door-opener to retract them when not in use? Could you put something rigid over the entire speaker (or just the front panel, even) when she is "in the zone"? Did you keep the boxes? You could decorate them with kid art and slide them over the top. Put them on really robust stands (like 2' of concrete blocks or some other WAF-horror)? Seems like Craig liked his raised up a bit.

Okay, seriously, I know I'm not helping. Don't you think "design flaw" is a little strong? Putting tower speakers in your toddlers world is probably a lot better than putting bookshelves-on-stands in it. She'll grow up, you'll get some matchbox cars in the ports, a bit of grape jam on the grillcloth. So what? Life is like that.

You could buy some M22's and wall mount those, but I kind of like the mitigation measures already proposed by others (turn them, build a separation zone, etc.).

Enjoy the music. Enjoy your kids. Enjoy them together.

Along the lines this thread is already headed...

You could build a false floor in your living room about 18 inches above the real floor. Let your kid have free reign in the subfloor area, and keep your speakers, components, and the rest of your furniture on the raised floor. This you protect your speakers, electronics, furniture, and even your walls from wandering hands, spills, and crayons.

This could also be a solution to austinbirdman's volume knob issues as well.

I remember seeing a picture of something a guy built for this very purpose, but I don't remember where I saw it. His TV was elevated 24" or so and he just built a very nice looking indoor fence across the front of the room. The picture he posted was priceless - his toddler was standing there looking over the fence at the equipment he could not get at. It actually looked pretty nice.

That picture is on AVS in the RPTV section, the thread is called "Lets See Some pics" or something to that effect. Its pretty funny with the white barrier in front of the tv and his daughter standing in front of it.

Heres a link to the thread that I think it is in.

Linky.

I had to track it down after reading

"I've been reading posts for a while, but decided I better register so I can start posting because I had a JVC 56wp74 delivered last week.

Our 2 year old boy liked to go up and whack the screen of our old Sanyo tube tv, so I thought I'd better make a wall to keep him away from the screen on the JVC. Not a real good pic, but "the wall" keeps him far enough away from the screen so he can't get at the screen.

We just moved into our new house, and I've been VERY busy and haven't had alot of time to play with the new TV yet, but so far it's GREAT!"

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?s=8a846e302f178538cf5d0481cdd32b1f&postid=2759184&fullpage=1

i think i saw that on david letterman's top 10 ways to keep your kid away from expensive home theatre items.

LOL!

Let me give you a serious shot at an answer (having enjoyed all of these suggestions, especially the molten lava ... the wall won't work of course, since it will block the M60 woofers).

One big question is -- is this 2-yr-old the last spawn who will be attacking your speakers, or do you expect 1 or more down the pike? If the latter, send back your M60s and get M22s and wall-mount them. I write from my own experience, having once knocked over (and once seen my 1.5 yr-old nearly blow via volume knob) an old Energy tower speaker. Peace of mind is worth it to place your nice speakers on the wall, and hey, with M22s, you'll have something worth keeping 10-20 years, even if you end up getting M60s in 1-2 years on top of the 22s. (And you'll always be able to sell the M22s to recoup some of the costs.)

Now, if this 2-yr-old is the last, I think you should keep the M60s (which I own, along with a 1 yr old and 4 yr old)engage in some old-fashioned PARENTING. Teach the little sucker to leave the speakers alone. 2 is mighty close to being able to master such a lesson -- 2.5 for sure. So buy a copy of "Dare to Discipline," and get with it. Your kids will thank you for it. Children like boundaries -- within boundaries, they can be free. "Leave the speaker alone" is a defensible boundary. If you fear for the speaker, try a short-term protection, but you should be able to get it to a free zone within a couple of weeks of solid home training.

My (wholly unsolicited) .02.

Birdman

Seems pretty obvious to me...






Get rid of the kids.

And sell the wife.

I have to agree with Austinbman on this one.
With some parental due diligence until the child is old enough to be taught respect (age 2-3 and up), the speaker set should be fine.
I have a good friend of mine who has two young daughters and he collects vintage audio equipment like crazy. He has a beloved pair of Boston Acoustic speakers that he would not even consider loaning to anyone and yet his daughters are both allowed to turn on the stereo when he is there and they both know not to touch anything otherwise.
His BA speakers (or his equipment) have not seen any damage through 2 kids now.
I plan on using his same method with our upcoming child as it appears to be quite effective, and incidentally, similar to what ABman has suggested.

The fence idea is certainly a novel idea though and could be useful for a short period of time. That being said, the fence would have to be sonically compatible with the speakers.
Otherwise, one would have to start up a company to specifically make 'child proof' speakers, if any such thing is truly possible.

What about those eletric dog fences they have. Set up a perimeter around the equipment, and the little ones could wear the collars like belts.

???

In reply to:

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That being said, the fence would have to be sonically compatible with the speakers.

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How long DOES it take for fencing to exhibit the laid back treble and expanded soundstage of a properly burned-in barrier?

Bren R.

This thread has been great- burn-in for a fence!!!
As the Dad of two teenagers, one of whom put a penny into
the cd slot of my cd player when she was three, my advise is that "this too shall pass." Love them while they are young, kids are the best. Now as teenagers, they dont destroy the speakers, they just hog the stereo. I have learnt alot about "punk", but they have been forced to learn about Miles, Coltrane and Shostakovich.

Chuck

I hear you can "break-in" a fence simply by leaning on it.
Of course, too much leaning and it just breaks because that is what happens to things that, "break-in", they "break down".
Whew.
I need a break from all this speak of breaking things.
I'll be break later...uh, back later.
Darn brain.

You need a break from all of this. When do you leave for (break) arrive at Axiomville?

Birdman speaks the truth. Parenting with vigilance is the key. My kids are 5, 2, & 4 months. They know that the speakers, (M80's) are like the fireplace - not to be touched. So far I've only had one mishap, and it was my fault. I left the grilles off once, and out of curiosity, my 2 year old pushed in one of the woofer dust caps.

Be sure not to do anything that will leave permanent emotional scars on your kids. (erhem, Spiff)

It seems seafan didn't find all those posts helpful or amusing, as he has not responded. Some good ideas, though.
One more: call Axiom for replacement drivers if anything gets damaged while in the process of teaching the kids to leave stuff alone. Won't be a big deal at all. They probably wouldn't charge you much - especially if you tell them how much you like Canadian beer.

I've been reading this and trying to think of anything to say that may be helpful for the original poster. I can think of nothing. I was originally afraid that my grilles would be savaged by my cats, but for some reason they have left them alone while sharpening their claws on every other cloth covered object in the room. I got lucky. Children are another matter however. Until their brains fully develop when they are around 30-40, there is not much that can be done to protect your possessions. When they stop destroying what you own, they will begin borrowing what you own. Just like in a marriage, what’s yours is theirs and what’s theirs is theirs.
Speaker grilles are not meant to be childproof. Even rigid ones such are found on PSB or Klipsch are not designed to withstand the punishment that a determined 2 year old is capable of delivering
Some sort of physical barrier is your best bet. I’m sure that your electronics are protected, speakers are much more exposed but you will find something. Most likely you will get lucky and nothing will happen, but if something does well…welcome to the joys of parenthood.
Any speaker you buy will be in danger of being destroyed, so you have a choice, you can put crap out there and not care one way or the other, or you can go with the choice you made and keep listening. With luck, the kids will develop an appreciation and keep their hands off. At least until they discover the remote.