"Anchoring" speakers (1 Viewer)

[JohnVB]

We have 2 small children.

I'm curious what some people have done to floor standing, or smaller speakers on stands to prevent them from falling on kids.

Thanks,

- bones

 

[Nathan Cook]

try putting an electrical fence around the speakers.

 

[Cam S]

Haha, I remember one person aorund here had put up chicken wire around the little nook his tv and front speakers were in so his kids couldn't even get near it. Wish I had the link to show you.

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

I was thinking barbed wire or maybe salt, (wait that works with snails)

I've found that speaker spikes help make things more stable since they dig into the carpet better. Attaching a weight on top of the cabinet can help or tie a rope/wire around the speaker and attach it to something so they can't fall over.

 

[Roberto Carlo]

If you're using speaker stands, I strongly suggest using blu-tac, a reusable adhesive. Not only does it acoustically isolate your speaker from the stands, it forms a tight -- and I mean tight-- bond between the stand and the speaker, although one that, paradoxically, can be severed without a lot of trouble.(Just slide a knife between the adhesive and the stand.) You can find it at Staples under the name of Tac' n Stik for $2. It's enough to do your entire HT system and then some.

 

[JohnVB]

Roberto,

Thanks for that suggestion. Do you think the blu-tac would work to attach the speakers to the TV - we have a rear projection HDTV?

I know that next to the TV is not the best position for the speakers with regard to sound. But perhaps that's the best position for my situation.

- bones

 

[KyleS]

JohnVB,
First I wouldnt recommend attaching the front speakers to your TV since they may not be shielded to begin with and 2 because stuff like Tac' N Stick doenst come off that easy after it has had time to get hot and Dry. On the bottom of the speaker you probably would never see or worry about a little bit of stick but on the side....
Another thing that you can do is make sure you fill the stands for your bookshelfs before you stick them to the speakers. Get lead pellets or sand (as long as your stands are sealed so it doesnt go everywhere). This should keep them from tipping over if you are also using the spikes. If you dont like adhesive you can buy Velcro strapes and go all the way over the top of the speakers and under the stands top. This has worked wonders with my 9 month old.
My challenge has been keeping my boy away from my Receiver and DVD player. I swear its like a light to a moth.
KyleS

 

[James Bergeron]

Blu-tac is amazing stuff really. It will hold the speaker there like crazy glue. It's cheap, try it.

 

[JohnVB]

Kyle,

Thanks for the tips. Velcro straps, hmm. I'll have to look into that.

We'll most likely going to get sheilded speakers. With our room arrangement, we'll likely end up with at least one speaker next to the TV anayways.

We're looking into a set of front speakers that's mass loadable, so we may be able to use your sand idea. I didn't know that some stands can be filled too.

We've got our equipement place high so the kids can't get to 'em. So, we've got that problem fixed. We always use the remote on our TV, so the boy doesn't know there's controls on it ;-).

Thanks,

- bones

 

[Jeremy_Watson]

Thanks for this info everyone. I don't have kids per se, but I'm going to be putting my stuff in my dorm and was afraid my drunk friends and myself knocking stuff over. Looks like that Blu-Tak stuff could be just what I'm looking for.

 

[Roberto Carlo]

John, I've also got a kid. Well, he's 10 now. When he was little, he didn't really bother the speakers on the stands. I'm assuming you have toddlers. What you may want to do for the one or two of this stage is buy some stands that Ikea sells that sit on the floor and angle the speakers up towards the listener. It's a compromise but it will guard against what you are concerned about. THey go for $10-15.

 

[Brian Burgoyne]

My kids didn't bother my towers. Have you considered bookshelves mounted on the wall with some type of brackets?

 

[Nathan Cook]

i was thinkin the same thing, mount some bookshelf speakers against the wall with speaker brackets.

 

[Joe Tilley]

I used 50lb of sand in each of my stands & havent seen them budge once. I dont think eather one of my kids could tip them over if they tryed

 

[JohnVB]

Joe,

When you put sand in your stands, do you leave the sand in bags, or do you just dump it in bare?

Where can you get stands that you can fill?

Do you have a Zen rock garden in them? :wink:

- bones

 

[Joe Tilley]

John, the stands I have I made myself. When I put the sand in I first stuck a heavy trash bag in it & poured the sand into that.