Guest suddenly takes it upon herself to move my speakers


Has this ever happened to anyone here?

You have your speakers positioned just as you like them, and then a guest takes it upon themselves to suddenly move your speakers?

Obviously I’m not going to get any sympathy from anyone in the non Audio world, so I thought I’d post my frustrating experience here.

I also imagine that many of your speakers can’t simply be slid out of position due to spikes or carpeting or sheer weight. Probably a good number of you, who like me have speakers on hardwood floors, have some marks in place to be able to return speakers to their exact position. (Which I didn’t)

But a recent female first time guest was sitting on the floor positioned between the speakers as we listened and for some reason decided that they should be pointed directly at her. Now some people might think “how obnoxious,” and others might think, ‘hey, a woman who wants the toe in angle optimzed for her seating position! She’s a keeper! Let her handle whatever she wants!”

And while I did like the enthusiasm, there was a supertweeter precariously balanced atop each speaker fireing rearward that could have easily toppled off and broken. (And no, there are no kids in the house).

I still haven’t found the exact sweet spot I had them in. For a long time I felt like a bit of an audio slacker since I never installed the factory spikes or rounded cones TAD provides for the CR1’s. Until a few months ago I read on another forum that many CR1 owners choose to just keep the stands on the floor, or haven’t found a benefit to using the spikes/cones on hardwood.

Obviously I’ll use the incident to try and eventually find an even more optimal positioning than they were in, but it still irks me that someone would just assume it’s okay to move a sophisticated audio setup that they truly know nothing about.

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Showing 6 responses by nonoise

People like to touch things. Go to any car museum, show or display and despite all the Do Not Touch signs displayed in full view, people will touch the cars.

I used to go to a lot of auto shows and it always amazed me. The same goes for museums. If guards and crowd ropes aren't present, people will go right up to a centuries old painting and touch it, knowing they shouldn't. 

Ignorance abounds and it's nothing new to anyone here so the onus is on the host to let it be known that no one touches their system. Don't let that little voice in the back of your head tell you you'll be considered weird or eccentric and hope against hope that your guest will behave. They won't. And, you know it, so some proactive measures have to be taken on your part.

I had a friend who'd intentionally touch, tweak and manhandle things just to inflict damage. He was jealous of anyone who had it better than him. It could be anything, a book or magazine, some stereo gear, or even a car and he'd mess with it. It taught me that there are myriad reasons why people do stupid things and not to trust them. Don't even try to figure them out.

All the best,
Nonoise
Dog stories are something we can all relate to, as well as cats. I had a Labrador/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix causally bump into my turntable stand and knocked everything over. 

I also had a kitten that loved to climb up my Magneplaner Tympani panels one time too many. I was much younger and less tolerant back then.

All the best,Nonoise
It's all good, pops. Nothing I said was meant to offend but to reflect on what is said as this thread seemed to be taking a turn for the worse, which is getting commonplace, good intentions aside. 

I was just looking at other threads past performance as an indicator. I guess that makes me the party pooper. 

All the best,
Nonoise
It's hard to discern the intent behind the post on a venue like this. 
One need only to remember that there are women in this hobby and on this site and it's the casualness of comments that can lead one to think that we've not come a long way, baby (to coin a bad phrase).

All the best,
Nonoise
People here are getting really worked up about this. The OP stated that he appreciated her interest but could have told her not to do that. Awkward as that would be, it would have ended right there and then.
I've been in the same situation and it is awkward. I once had to tell a handyman not to stand on my speaker cable. He moved. Conflict over and done with.

I wonder how many here who would have harmed her would do the same if it were a man, or would they simply speak up and explain things.
I guess we can add misogynist to our growing list of biases. Some take the term, boys club, a bit too literally.

All the best,
Nonoise