childproofing rear speakers

I have three little ones all within 22 mos. of eachother, so I speak from experience on this topic. Have a pair of B&W CDM-1NTs in our family room as mains. . .here's what I did.

I bought a a pair of very heavy steel four-column stands and filled each with 100 lbs. of lead shot--net weight is now 135 lbs each (not including speakers). That pretty much takes care of the "topple" factor. Plus, it gave me the excuse to go a little OCD on mass loading.

Next, I carefully drilled into the bottoms of the speakers and installed threaded inserts. Yes, I know that this will "kill" the resale value, but I don't plan on parting with these terrific monitors. I also drilled a hole completely through the top plate of the stand--now I can insert a allen head bolt up through this hole in the top plate and into the threaded insert in the bottom of the speaker. So it's not going anwhere. And the speaker is firmly coupled to the stand (I used some Blu-Tack to protect finish of speaker and for constrained layer damping. . .uh oh, more OCD behavior. . time for meds).

Next, I bought some extra long zip ties and secured the grilles by going all the way around the perimeter of the speaker/grille at the top and bottom. . .so that took care of that. Ugly? Yes. Effective? Yes. Temporary? Yes. I made sure the smooth surface of the zip tie was up against the cabinet walls, as I didn't want to chance that those little 'teeth' on the ties would mar the finish. . .plus, I read somewhere the little teeth will tame room resonance but you have to be sure to have an odd number of them exposed. . .or maybe I just dreamed that part.

Finally, I enjoyed my speakers and waited until my kids grew up enough to no longer show an interest in them and would also listen to our gentle admonitions. Zip ties are now gone and kids are way cool about respecting the gear. Plus, they LOVE music which is the outcome I'd hoped for.

No disagreement about the cost of the stands/shot (did I mention the OCD?). The stand were $200, and about the same for the shot. But I got a smoking deal on these speakers ($600 vs $1200) so I was still ahead of the game, but that's not really my point.

I don't wish to sound defensive. . .Kenny's alternative is a good one, but it was recommended primarily as rebuttal on the 'demerits' of my method, so I'll offer some additional comments.

I have a separate Meridian digital theater and a separate BAT/Magneplanar 2-channel setup, both with floor standers, so I'm not an evangelist for monitors. I went this route because I already had the CDMs on hand and wanted to make use of them in the family room, where I didn't want to put a $5k speaker in harm's way.

Are floor standers less prone to getting toppled than stand mounteds? I'll enthusiastically agree, which is why I did what I did. But now, my mass loaded and bolted down setup has such a low and heavy center of gravity, they are significantly more stable than my Meridian DSP5000s (which are pretty heavy due to built-in DACs and 225 watts of amplification). And the CDM1-NTs are a fine sounding speaker regardless of box size, and worthy of a solid foundation.

I'm pretty sure that vending machines are not stand mounted, so the comparison is equally apt with any speaker. . .if enough force is applied, I'm sure you could pull that Wilson Audio MAXX, Dali Megaline, or PBN Montana WAS onto yourself and experience a literal moment of killer sound !

"You'll end up with better sound" from floor based speakers is a pretty bold statement and would certainly invite a debate of what constitutes better sound. . .is it frequency response? imaging? PRAT? soundstaging? timbral accuracy? in-room response/interaction? Clearly, every speaker is a mix/compromise of these and more. Box size (or complete lack thereof such as with 'stats and planars) is not the final arbiter of better sound. All three of my systems sound pretty different (and terrific)!

At any rate, since DBw1 already has monitors, my post was meant to respond directly to his question "Anyone with experience in this area?" Again, I don't mean to sound defensive (truly), but wanted to suggest that there's not "one true way."

Hey Kenny! Likewise. . .wan't trying to antagonize , but rather offer some clarity regaring my post. As for the Meridian gear, that stuff is simply amazing, isn't it? I have to say there's nothing I've yet heard that is as uncontrived for home theater. It doesn't sound like anything, except what it's supposed to. And I do agree that running five full range speakers, especially in the era of Dolby Digital and DTS has a lot of merit. Throw in the processing that Meridian can do on music surround, and the case grows even stronger!

DBW1, there are some mounts out there that are designed to hold small televisions that use an "arm and tray" to hold the TV. I have an old 13" tv sitting on one of these. The tray can be tilted downward and has a nice lip on the front edge to keep the tv from sliding off. You could even add a fabric strap if necessary. The nice thing about the arm is that it will hold you speaker a reasonable distance off the wall. And the tray might suffice to protect the speaker from the radiator. These can be found in most home improvement stores these days.

Hi Hatari:

Regarding those Verity's, just put them in the flight cases and send them to me for the next six or so years. I'll keep them in my dedicated listening room (restricted access) and make sure the drivers get daily exercise.

If that won't work for you, then I'm out of ideas! In my case, my stand mounted/child resistant CDMs are my front speakers so I didn't have a separate protocol for floorstanders.

My dedicated listening room is on a separate floor, and the gate we used to keep our twins from tumbling down the stairs also kept them away from my main system's Maggies.

I will say that while my daughter never showed much interest in my speakers, the twin boys were incessantly drawn to them--as if the driver magnets were attracting them! In reality, I think the idea that an inanimate object could emanate sound was fascinating--even today (at six years old), they will frequently put their ear up to the grill to localize the sound. But it used to be their little fingers that did the probing, so protection is definitely necessary.

I should also mention that I lost one Benz and two Clearaudios (broken cantilevers) to them, but given the choice between some repair/replacement cost and closeting the gear, I chose the risk (and cost). Now we're past that phase and my kids love music of all kinds, which was the objective I was going for. I hope their lives will be richer as a result, even if I'm a bit financially poorer for the experience.