Looking for the sturdy bottom weighted stands so my baby doesn't knock off my Klipsch RP600s or whatever other bookshelves I'm playing with at the time. I'm not really looking for audiophile anything as these are for a bedroom.
It's hard to tell "sturdy-ness" online. I would love a granite or marble base for weight but not sure that's affordable.
We used to have these things called "parents" and "grandparents" that would keep an eye on baby. Also back then we had this technology, I forget the name for it, enabled a makeshift wooden gate about three feet high to be placed across doorways. This was more for a toddler than a baby. I guess nowadays no one even knows the difference.
We also used to keep them away from chemicals and stuff under the kitchen sink. Electrical outlets. Stuff like that.
Nowadays I guess only highly trained specialists qualified to watch a baby, no one concerned about anything but their speakers. How times have changed.
Those of us who have had children who share our living spaces, who are free to explore, and who don’t live behind gates, might be able to share some more positive ideas.
When a baby is only crawling or toddling, I found it was when they reach up and pull on things to try and stand that the trouble starts. So a shiny wrap around the stands might help. Something which means they can’t get a grip and pull the stands over onto them. Also, how about running a thin wire from the back of the speaker upwards to the ceiling. Then if the speaker does start to fall, the wire will stop it crashing to the ground on top of your child. It’s when they start running around playing indoor football that your problems really start!
I've had many kids and many speakers. Only way is to ensure that kids can not get to the stands/speakers at all. We used folding gate like things which created a barrier around the speakers which yes are ugly. Out of reach is the only other viable solution I know if if you can put the speakers on a bookcase or piece of furniture until the kids are older. Even with 100lb stands they can still rock them and topple the speakers over on the floor or worse their heads.
FWIW, we only had to do this for a couple years. Of course there is the tweeter poking issue but that argues for horns.
Dtx, simple. You get high strength scotch double sided mounting tape, the red stuff. you run three long strips on the bottom of the speaker and three on the bottom of the stand. If you have a carpeted floor run four 3 inch self tapping wood screws into the floor. Drill pilot holes in the base of the stands and run the screws through the carpet into the subflooring. Trust me on this. You will have a very hard time separating the speaker from the stand. A child will never do it. Removing the screws is far easier. You will not leave a visible mark in the carpet.
My favorite story is my pal that had a nice stereo and a small child. The child pushed open the CD player, put a big handful of oatmeal on the tray, then pushed the close button. That was funnier than watching tweeter domes get pushed in.
MC I belief the word you looking for is belt, however it is not the child fault that he have speaker in the bedplace. My suggest is to cut hole in carpet and have tour wife sow it back right around base of stand. All done.
@tubebuffer haha I agree! My daughter is actually excellent with my speakers.. Never touched them because I instilled in her that these are "no no's" from day 1. But yes a belt would work too. I would just prefer to have sturdy stands.
Its not so much the word I am looking for as someone who has a clue what words mean what. Baby, toddler, and child are three very different things. Adult, parent, ditto. Time was every parent, heck every adult for that matter, knew the difference. Now it seems exactly like what I said in the beginning, only highly trained specialists are qualified to watch a baby. Honestly wrote it as a joke but now reading what has come since everyone is making that sound dead serious. Don't know whether to laugh, or cry?
I built a simple light wood frame and wrapped it with some cloth mesh from a fabric store. Put it over the entire speaker. It worked fine, didn't look nice but with tiny kids nothing looks nice anyway and you'll be too tired to care.
I taught my dog to stay away from the equipment and speakers. I am told children are even smarter. Time will tell. How did we ever keep them from being eaten by T-Rex and Sabre toothed tigers?
A lot of stands are made so they can be filled with sand or kitty litter or shot or some other media for extra weight. If you only fill partially that can really lower the cg and go a long way toward preventing tip-overs. How much weight do you need? I suppose a few sandbags around the base plate could do the same thing and eliminate sharp corners, too.
@cat_doorman that’s it!!!! Sandbags around the feet! My wife already allows Tektons and Klipschorns so what could sandbags hurt! I knew I’d find the perfect answer here.
So I have a daughter, and again, she’s great and trained well... But when we have friends over with boys, it’s a whole different story.
My dad had Cornwalls in college and sold them to pay for us expensive kids.. He bought Advents, just to have something, and of course I kicked the woofers out. Sounded so cool.
There really is a very simple word. No. Works really, really well. Especially if it is stated with a bit of effect. The other suggestions can work as well, but this one is really cheap and works in a multitude of situations...
@geof yep a strong "NO" has worked. However, as she approaches 2 years old, she's enjoying pushing the limits. And that's hard if/when other unruly kids come over.
My daughter is great about it! But it just takes 20 seconds of unsupervised time where they're testing the boundaries. And let's be honest, the first thing I want to do is tap the woofers at Magnolia Home Theater!
Man oh man did we have different Dads.. I wouldn't be typing this right now if I would had done that.. Really.. I would have wound up adopted to someone else for sure.. Not a bad idea come to think of it.. If I would have survived. Kicked out a speaker.. OR a hole in a wall, IT NEVER happened.. Chief Master Sergeant/Chief master mechanic.. 23 years. Mean SOB comes to mind...
My Mother.. an Angel, tougher than him for sure..:-)
Kids and speakers.. I put my stuff away for 16 years, Mac valve gear and TT just didn't work in my head. I had a little rigs in my shops. I taught them in my shop about touching STUFF.. Girls and Boys.. RED is a NO NO etc.. LOL all the shop stuff had child keys..
10 fingers 10 toes.. They gotta have all the parts, or most ay.. Tough to give um away, maybe a circus, or somethin' :-)
dtx, there is no such thing as a sturdy stand for bookshelf /monitor type speakers. They have to be at ear level and people want them aesthetically pleasing. The weight is up high which makes them easy to tip over. The only safe solution is to screw or bolt them down which is relatively easy to do.
As for kicking out the woofer I suspect that would be hard to do with the speaker up on a stand. Keep the grills on. Ignorance is bliss.
I kicked the woofers out. Sounded so cool. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Man oh man did we have different Dads.. I wouldn’t be typing this right now if I would had done that.. Really.. I would have wound up adopted to someone else for sure.. Not a bad idea come to think of it.. If I would have survived. Kicked out a speaker.. OR a hole in a wall, IT NEVER happened..
Your words struck a chord.
My experiences ran along very similar paths.
Many people back then, in the 60s and 70s were living under different kinds of financial pressure.
We were barely even allowed into my dad’s room where he kept his stuff.
If we had kicked out his speakers... I might not be writing this now.
In this instance, some kind of wall bracket, like I used to have with my Rega bookshelves, might be the way to go.
There might be some necessary sacrifices involved such as drilling holes into cabinets, ouch!
Luckily the template and screws Rega provided worked out quite well and the speakers survived relatively unscathed for many years.
OP: If you have the space, maybe get a credenza that fits your space, a pair of isolation stands (e.g. IsoAcoustics Aperta 300), and call it a day.
If you cannot do that, look for stands with a wide and sturdy base, and where the columns can be filled with sand or kitty litter. Second, use something like blu-tak to stick the speakers to the top of the stands. Third, see if you can put small ottomans right behind the speaker stands so they can provide support if the baby tries to use the stands to practice standing up.
By the way, no speaker or audio component has ever replicated the joy of seeing my baby stand up on his own without any support from the parents. Enjoy the moment! It'll be gone before you know it :)
The other day, i was reaching for an album in my record storage and as I was moving back, momentarily lost my balance and shoved up against my left speaker! This nearly resulted in the speaker falling off the stand and doing God knows how much damage! To say my heart stopped would be about right!!! There is no such thing as a speaker on a stand that cannot be knocked off unless it is an integral part of the stand! Lesson learned is to be as careful as possible around stand mount speakers, and I would think if you have a baby around, the stand mount speakers are a no no, period!
Anything that’s tall with a narrow base can be knocked over. But if its just tipping over you are worried about, the only real thing you can do is get a wide plant stand with a very large top plate--something probably multiples the size of the speakers themselves. At this point its basically putting them on a small table. Will affect acoustics a bit, but less likely to fall over.
Just a personal story to share. I was playing fetch with my dog one day and the ball went into the area where I had my setup. The speakers I was listening to that day were 17 pounds each and on stands, of course. So she chases the ball that had gone directly behind one of the speakers. She gets it, but on her way back up, she gets tangled up in the speaker cable, dropping the speaker. Luckily and gratefully, nothing happened to her. She saw it coming and was quick to move out of the way. The speaker had damage on 2 very sharp opposing corners. That situation could've been very ugly at the very least. Yes, the whole thing was my fault. This could've have also easily been a baby. Moral of the story: no speakers on stands EVER around any kids or pets.
Sound anchor stands can be great for babies but if they run into them the baby will get hurt my best advice is keep the baby away from the speakers because any heavy stand will hurt the child i would wall shelf the speakers till the child is older.
You will never childproof anything. Your best reasonable bet is not to have standmounts for a couple of years. It is mostly because children knock them over when running or something like that.
I put some BluTack on my KEF LS50's and stuck them on IKEA toy storage shelves. The LS50 is in my living room which is my sons play room. He listens to music all day like the old man upstairs in the home office.
I did train him for about 2 years (he is close to 5 now) to not touch the audio gear. So far he has complied.
When he was under 3 years old I used desktop speakers that he could not reach. I should have just used headphones to get better sound.
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