Her name is Karen.
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.
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.
194 responses Add your response
Sounds like you need to shop for a new pair of speakers with better off axis imaging capabilities. The design team, if there is one, of any speaker that requires such precise placement in relation to your listening position needs to return to the drawing board. There are several, many, numerous, speakers on today's market that provide outstanding performance outside the "prime listening position." |
What does it matter if it was a woman or a man? Bottom line is - your speakers are and look 5 figures and no one should be touching anything they don't own. That's a guest I don't want back in my house and I would have said politely to please not touch my equipment, it's positioned where it is for a reason and is quite expensive. If the person can't respect your wishes or gets offended you don't want them in your house or your life. Happy listening! |
You have made my day. I laughed and laughed because you did hit it in the nail. Someone not an audio buff has no clue as to speaker placement and the audacity of coming to your home and rearranging the speakers was too funny. Many years ago, our cleaning helper moved my speakers (on spikes on top of the living room carpet) and I went ballistic. The poor lady could not figure out what to problem was; like its only speakers for crying out loud. Needless to say, she never came cose to my sound system again. So I do sympathize with you. One question: did you invite your female guest over to your home again? And what was the outcome of the "speaker mover"? |
Years ago in a small dedicated audio room I had a pair of monitors I had lovingly built, precisely perched on their shot filled stands. My wife and neighbor friend came down to have a listen and then broke out into a dance. There was a lot of reckless butt gyrating and my neighbor's hip sent my precious speaker project flying into the wall. As she ran from the room there was an "oops sorry". My wife thought that was a sincere and adequate apology. My new room has a lock. |
Whether she moved your speakers, your other furniture or did any other like thing in your home without the courtesy of first discussing it with you, does not sound like a good sign. I think asserting oneself like this in order to control or change what someone else has done in their own home suggests worse things for the future. The proper placement of speakers is a personal thing and can take a considerable amount of time in order to get them "just right" - this would have annoyed me a great deal. |
Completely out of line. Regardless of sex or sexual background. I do not know if I would have lost my cool. Or handled the situation casually. I toohad beer cans put on my speakers And a drunken idiot sit on my subwoofer. I did indeed scream that night. We work hard to obtain this equipment. And yes. We do have an emotional connect with out gear. People these days. The horror! |
As a licensed and practicing therapist I get asked this question repeatedly in different settings, but it’s the same fundamental question. Whether it be her moving your things, scoffing at your motorcycle, getting rid of your old torn t-shirts, whatever. My response is always the same: How does she look in her underwear? |
Half and hour. Just half an hour of listening to my new expensive turntable is all I got in before the cleaning lady ravaged it. Sigh... I always love how they just sort of prop or set the broken item back and assume you're not going to notice. Like nailing the dead parrot to its perch. So many destroyed things. Had one cleaning lady I kept for years. She wasn't very good - but she had a very light touch! |
Common sense would have prevented 99.47% of people from moving the speakers. This one got loose. Slight correction, common sense would have prevented 99.47% of adults from..... Need a whole different percentage for young kids, they don't usually realize that the big people's speakers are revered holy objects, not just old boxes with cloth on them or funny little round thingies that move when you poke them. |
I would truly like to understand how it would be acceptable to enter someone's house,and think it would be "ok" to move the hosts electronics,furniture or any other items in the house. This is NOT proper behavior. PERIOD. If you think in any way,shape or form that it is ok,you and I are destined not to be friends or pleasant acquaintances. I was brought up to respect people and their property. Sometimes,people suck. |
uncle monkey Yup. When I upgraded my turntable a couple years ago I took the plunge and spent a whopping amount on a Transrotor turntable which came with a really expensive cartridge. I didn’t even set it up for the first month or so as I re-built my equipment rack with an isolation base during that time.Finally, just before we went away on a week vacation the rack was ready, I set up the turntable and had time for about 1/2 hour listen just to make sure things were working. Yay. It sounded glorious. Came home from vacation, went to listen to a record and...wha? The cartridge was hanging off the arm at a wild angle! Aside from being alarming it was completely perplexing? What the hell happened? Then I remembered: The Cleaning Lady! She had come while we were away! I called her and sure enough, yes, she remembered that big new shiny thing in the corner of the room. She was cleaning around it with a cloth and heard a sudden "bang!" Said she notice the long silver thing (arm) hanging at a weird angle. "I guess it caught on my cleaning cloth when I moved my arm." She placed it back like she thought it supposed to be and went on none the wiser. Yup, her cleaning cloth had snagged on the cartridge needle, yanking it off the arm and slamming the arm off the table on to the platter. Half and hour. Just half an hour of listening to my new expensive turntable is all I got in before the cleaning lady ravaged it. Sigh... |
I once set up a pair of Klipsch kg 1 on a pair of stands for my daughters graduation party. I put my Revels in another room that was not being used.....good thing I did, I walked in and one of our guests was using it as a table, he was literally eating potato salad on top of my speaker.... pretty rude |
Let's not move on the the horrors caused by cleaning ladies. Oh yeah. I've fought housekeepers for over 40 years. First thing is tell them the TT is off limits. Some of them start to freak when they see dust on the piano black and still try. Even with a dustcover they'll mess it up. Knocked off the stands, anti-skate laying on the base, belt off the track... But that's better than seeing a piece of "swiffer" hanging off of your stylus... 😭 |
Hahaha, yeah I’ve had idiots move my speakers. My drunken ex had a bunch of drunken friends from her HS reunion over. There might have been around 50 or more people at the house. My listening room was upstairs, looking down on the great room kitchen area where most people were. I had tunes going so you could hear throughout the house. At one point, a bunch went upstairs, moved my Thiel 2.2’s (on spikes) table and sofa so they could dance. A spike fell out of one of the speakers (they just sort of slide into holes in the bottom) so it was listing to the starboard. No doubt they tried dragging first, but they were planted! Luckily no damage done to (70lb) speaker or carpet. I was cooking outside so I didn’t know what was going on, just one of my discoveries cleaning up late that evening. And yes, I've got other horror stories over the decades. Luckily nothing severe. |
Hello, it sounds like if we are chill and are OK when accidents happen then that person is Ok when things go wrong. I respect that and wish I could be like that. For the rest of us who are a little OCD like myself it sounds like we need to do our do diligence and take safeguards. I even understand that your date might have thought you were coo coo for coco puffs and said see ya. You have to decide what is more important to you. |
prof, I get it. I may simply be lucky as none of my adult guests ever tried to (semi)intentionally damage anything. At the same time, the last thing on my mind would be resale value. I would be more concerned about hanging out with people who enjoy damaging anything. That would be a wake-up call and price of the damaged speaker may be worth paying to find out this unacceptable personality trait. However, if you place a glass on the speaker, be my, well, guest. It is just a speaker and it is just a glass. For some reason, nobody ever did that. Instead, I put things there all the time. It may help that I do not sell these things so resale value is really not on my personal radar. Moving speakers would be even less important, as far as I am concerned. I do not know if I am a chill friendly host, but, yes, those who get angry about people touching or accidentaly damaging their equipment are uptight. |
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 |
glupson I understand the mathematical point. I truly do. However, having some kind of attachment to humans rather than to some inanimate object is what I am talking about. It may be whatever kind of difference, but I had people put glasses all over the place and I never got upset. It is simply that once I invite a person, that one is welcome to feel at home. Including opening refrigerator, moving speakers, etc. What kind of host restricts guests? Again, maybe different world and values we all have. I think you are imagining some false dichotomy. You, the chill, friendly host, me (or others) uptight, breaking in to some party-pooping anger. No. Someone puts their drink on my speaker, I solve the problem by getting a tray or coaster and putting the drink on that for them. People feel very at home in my place. I host people all the time (I have guests coming tonight to watch a movie, had guests a couple days ago watching movies), my place is the de facto gathering place for certain big sporting events (I have a great home theater room with a big projection screen) and everyone raves about the experience. But, for instance, there is a speaker covered in black velvet (to disappear in low light near the projection screen) near the room entrance. I will sometimes point out to new guests the presence of that speaker so they’ll know not to bump in to it by mistake and possibly knock it over.No one’s time is spoiled by this and usually they thank me for letting them know. I don’t want my equipment to be ruined; my guests don’t want to unknowingly ruin my equipment either. This is not some non-negotiable situation that can only mean me being a prick or their being made to feel unwelcome. Again...do YOU not care about ruining anything in someone else’s home? If YOU as a guest decide to put out a cigarette through the speaker grill of the host’s expensive speakers, do you really see that as your right, and that any consternation from the host is their fault? If so, you’d be a truly rotten guest. If not...then I don’t know what you are going on about this "a host should let a guest do whatever he wants and everyone should be fine with that." |
+1 big-greg, jl35. I don’t think the OP’s guest knew what she was doing. Maybe it’s more like watching a TV show, and turning the TV slightly so it is more viewable from your seat. Yes, you should always ask first… But I imagine she did not know the implications. @onhwy61 and others with similar statements, I do not get your premise that you standby and watch while a guest does something drstructive, either out of ignorance or malevolence… A host only need practice kindness, not foolishness. OP: What happened to you while you watched as your guest rearranged you speakers? Were you paralyzed? Others who are incensed: if it were you, would you also have just stood by and watched and then gotten resentful? |
Grab a female "Guests" purse and start rummaging through it... Yup that will end in a restraining order against you, PTSD charges and restitution for the victim that you pay for, Lets not forget the Xanex/Kpin prescription that she needs now... A "NEW' guest would never touch your Audio gear. "Life partners" know you and would never... Just a random??? There are 3.5 billion women on Earth and much MUCH easier that getting your sound stage correct. |
I brought a buddy to an audiophile friend's house. Went to his music room to listen to a new record I gave as Christmas gift. My buddy didn't really pay attention to the music but was curious, approached the KEF 105.2 left channel, then touched and turned the mid-range and tweeter enclusures. I couldn't say a word as I watched in disbelief but our host blurted, "Oh nooh...!", then proceeded to explain in a nice way to my buddy what he just did. That ruined our listening session. And I had to apologize. Good my friend kept a record of everything. Sad story, but there are people who don't know enough about stereo. Everytime we invite people, especially those we are not familiar with to our music rooms, we also invite risk. After that incident, I took note of everything from stylus tracking pressure to speaker position in my own system. |
If you are going to invite people into your house you should treat them like guest. If you don't want them looking at, touching, breathing on, moving or otherwise interacting with your high fidelity system, then keep your system in a locked room. If that is not possible, then you need to accept that there could be an "incident". What the OP described is not a big deal. Even if the person had damaged the loudspeakers the proper response of the host should be, "Don't worry, it's not a problem." Tradesmen are a different type of problem. IMO, you should be in the room with them at all times. |
Hello, this seams like a good lesson for everyone who cares about their gear. Tell people your concern, protect your gear, and trust no one. It is being overprotective, but it is such a pain to deal with it later. It is amazing how many people do not claim responsibility. I would write down your specs, get locks for your gear. And when you have a service person in your listening room cover your gear in moving blankets and watch them like a hawk. I don’t leave the room. If I do I would ask them to leave. Also make sure the service company gets you a copy of their insurance. I know this sounds way too over protective. Look at what can happen. Some gear cannot be fixed or replaced. As for the girl who moved the speakers. Ask her to help you set them back up. If she doesn’t, she better be worth the hassle. |
Oh my god! You were sitting in the room with her, watched while she moved the speakers, and now you are complaining about HER! Get a grip and take some responsibility! She had no idea what she was doing, but you did, and you did nothing about it... Learn from the experience and speak up. Perhaps you were led by other thoughts! |
I repair audio gear for a living and have been at it for nearly 50 years. I have one client who has a small child who likes to push in the DIAMOND domes of his daddy's B&W loudspeakers. After it happened the first time, I made a few suggestions like putting a heavy low obstacle in front of the speakers to prevent him from getting close. Oh, he'll never do it again. I had a long talk with him about this and he says he'll never do it again. At 5 years of age, these words meant nothing. I have replaced 4 tweeters in less than a year for this man. These tweeters are over $1100 each plus labor and tax that comes to just about $1300 each time. I guess he really like that kid! Or maybe the college fund will be down to community college by the time the kid is ready to go. |
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Please submit a photo of the subject in question and we will get back to you with our recommendation/disposition of this case. And, put some removable painter's tape down, like the rest of us do, for when YOU get the bright idea to try and find a better speaker placement, even though what you have is already the best it can be in your room. Finally, you should get her fingerprinted and see if she's the same one who messed with the other poster complaining about a fingerprint on his MOFI album. |
Good point
richopp ... If she was super hot shes allowed to move the speakers. haha... Also depends if she knew how much music and audio means to you. I will never forget when my son was 5 and pushed in the dust cap of the left side of my brand new speakers!!! I had to get in my car drive down the street SCREAM at the top of my lungs then come home and say its just a speaker. It still hurts to think about Haha. |
