I've put off this post too long today....

So my almost-14 year old daughter decides to have a Super Bowl party at our house last night. I say "fine"... It cost us like a total of $25 for pizza and pop (soda for those of you not from around here). Pretty cheap for about 10 kids. Well, the weather turned to a bit of snow, and we ended up with 5 kids over, plus my daughter. So I set up everything in the home theater so that they can watch it in there, I get all of my game room stuff turned on and ready to go. All is good.

So then I go upstairs for about 20 minutes to get away from the noise... They cranked up the volume, and then thought that they had to talk over it. Duh, turn it down a little and you don't have to scream...

Anyway, so I head back downstairs to check in on things. I am just standing there talking to the kids, and out of the corner of my eye I see that my center channel speaker is sitting crooked on the shelf below my screen.... Then I notice the M60 lying on its side. UGH! I kept my cool, but told them (somewhat firmly) to be careful. Nobody fessed up to know ANYTHING about what happened. I told them the ballpark price of a replacement speaker figuring that a $500 M60 and a $410 VP150 thinking that things would settle down. I mean it isn't like the kids were wrestling or throwing a football around down there.

So I calm down a little, and don't really take a damage assessment. Then about 10 minutes into the 4th quarter, do my 20 minute check in, and let one of the girls know that her mom is upstairs waiting for her. So she says by to everyone, and then one of the guys gives her a giant bear-hug and the two of them manage to knock over the M60 right in front of me. This time it falls the other way. I then see the damage that happened after the first fall. Boy was I ticked to say the least. I didn't yell, or swear, or anything, but they could tell I was mad.

So the two come upstairs and they apologize, and I tell them that there are more important things in life than a speaker (although at the moment I couldn't think of anything because I was still miffed), and that the damage was from the first incident and not what they did.

So after the game, I have to run a couple of kids home. I got back and did a full damage assessment. Everything *seems* to function, but there is definite cosmetic damage. The M60 has a BIG "ding" on the top right edge where it crashed into the VP150, where it put a ding into the left center edge of the grill and cabinet corner (not TOO visible likely), and then the back right edge of the M60 is all scraped and scuffed because the speaker fell right against the wall and the frame of the screen.

So the M60 is dinged up pretty well. the VP150 has a small, somewhat hidable ding on it, and the frame to my $820 Carada screen has a 3.5 inch tear in the velvet trim and it pretty obvious, and another 3.5 inch "scuff" as well where the fuzzy part of the velvet is worn off.

I need to do some frequency checks tonight, but I think that the speakers will still function, it just ticks me off. It isn't like a woofer that could be swapped out, or even just covered by the speaker grill. My speakers all came from the factory outlet, but looked like they were regular stock and not B-stock until now.

Dang, that sucks, Nick.

Wow Nick, that sucks. Close call with the screen. That could have turned very costly in a hurry. I'd hate to see what would have happened with more than 5 kids down there!!

Ditto that.

Pretty bad.

Major props for keeping your cool among the kids, but that just sucks.

I have to give you credit Nick, I would have lost it the first go around and probably would have made the late night news the second time.

You did good though ... in due time it probably won't be *that* much of a big deal.

Thank you for reinforcing my decision to not have kids.

About 18 months ago or so, we had friends over, so there were two 6 year olds, two 4 year olds and a 2 year old.

They managed to push in every reachable dust cap on my Axioms... got them out with no problem, but I still refer to the males of the group as the "Serbian Death Squad"

Bren R.

Yeah, Nick, I'd have lost it. Good job on the "calm".

This episode has had me troubled all day.

That does suck Nick. My 9yr old had some kids over not that long ago to watch movies at The Plex. Before I started the movie I laid down some rules about running, wrestling, getting up on my speaker stage, etc. I also explained how expensive every thing was, believe me 9 yr olds do understand.

I came down a few times and noticed they started to lose their concentration on the movies and started throwing pillows. I reminded them in a firm, not loud voice that I would shut the movie off if it continued. So, they were good for another 20 minutes or so.

The next time down I noticed one of the kids trying to juggle 3 pool balls, then he proceded to throw one across the room towards another kid standing by one of my m80's. It bounced off my screen, luckily it is a PVC material and didn't hurt anything.

Now, I don't like to raise my voice, but sometimes it is required. I basicaly said in a pretty loud voice, "What did I say?", that was all it took and they behaved the rest of the movie.

I'm not sure how I would handle it if one of my 80's got knocked over. I know one thing, the kids would be going home, and it would be a long time until another showing.

Freaking kids have no respect anymore, or most likely need an a$$ chewing, time outs just don't work.

Crap man that SUCKS!

The Starlight Theatre has been temporarily shut down for a while. No movies, no TV, no music, no Wii, nothing for a little bit while I am gone for a few days for work, and after that, nobody is allowed in there without me. So there have been some consequences, of course most of the kids that were over have never been over before and won't be for a while anyway, so it really only punishes my daughter, who I don't think had a part of anything bad that happened. With that said, we have a rule at our house that if one of our kids' friends does something, that our kids are partially responsible as an attempt to get them to do the right thing even around their friends.

You did the right thing. If you had exploded you'd still have damaged speakers plus the whole neihgborhood would think of you as "the crazy speaker guy". Having said that- the damage would piss me off every time I went in the room, it would fester like an open wound. I'd suggest calling Axiom to see what a couple new FO empty enclosures would cost.

Nick, another agreement as to the suckiness of the situation.

Nick, I'm sure your daughter felt real bad about the situation as I know she helped you paint your HT rooms. She was probably saying, "what the heck are you guys doing, those are my dads speakers?".

the whole neihgborhood would think of you as "the crazy speaker guy"

I'm sure we all fall into this category.

Very true.

Nick, I would have lost it and made it to the late-night news like Rick. I am sure your daughter is upset as well and likely appreciates your measured handling of the situation.

You may want to contact Debbie at Axiom to see what she suggests in fixing the M60 and VP150 cabinets.

John

Kudus on being able to keep yur cool, the damages suck.

nice work on keeping your cool. i would not be able.

my under construction basement has a dedicated playroom for my two year old. it will always be her room. the HT will always be my room. we are setting up a nice little lobby / snack bar area with a 42" plasma too. she can have this area for viewing.

there will be no sharing.

Good job in keeping calm... I don't know if I'd be able to! Kids can be so disrespectful nowadays (I don't think kids are as much to blame as their parents for raising them that way though).

Accidents happen and kids will be kids, but that's just a downright lack of care for other people's property. I see it all the time in the highschool where I work.

I love kids.

Taste like Chicken!

I love kids.

But I don't think I could eat a whole one.

Thanks for the story Nick, it's good birth control for my wife and I. Man that just totally sucks, I would have completely lost it. I would have made all the kids (together) pay for a new speaker, if no one fessed up for the original knock over. Sooner or later one of them would rat out who really did it.

Unfortunately, my wife would probably make me take it all back after I go upstairs and tell her what I just did...

Your beer is too filling.

Time to ditch the "tastes great" stuff and go for "less filling".

Still, we're talking a fairly small child here. Not one of those big, fat ones.

LOL

Honestly, I have had similar sceanrios happen here. I hold my child accountable.

Was it their fault? My response is, It was someone's, and certainly not mine. I didn't ask these people over; you did. As such, you are accountable for their actions. As you will be when you are in the working world and they are your reports.

Offer them the mature aspect, a reasonable recovery plan (all negative actions require a recovery plan) and while they may not like you more now; they will most likely be more ready for the professional world.

If have to be responsible for my friends, they are no longer ever coming over! EVER.

So it looks like I'll have to decide between kids and a good home theater to get.....

Someone should make a short video clip for home theaters like they do in the movie theaters about turning off cell phones etc.

This one could be aimed at scareing the crap out of the kids if they go near or hit the speakers they explode!

Or just a clip of a speaker getting damaged and a father crying! And then going to the garage to get his chain saw!!!!