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.
So if a guest wants to place his drink on top of an expensive speaker possibly marring the nice finish and also lowering its resale value, I should just suck it up and not ameliorate the situation because “the guest is always right?”
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.
Geez, a little boat humor with @tomic601 and my post gets scrubbed? I’m Sorry if the humor of my wife forgetting to put the hull plug in the Baja was offensive.
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.
Never caught anyone moving things. Have had to whisk other people's children away from my system as they just couldn't listen to the "do not touch" command. The worst thing to happen here was my niece coming for a visit and she had to bring her dog since she couldn't find a sitter. Second day here we were sitting in the room where my stuff is set up. In strolls her mastiff Milo, surveys the room, gives all of us a sniff and lick to say hello and looks like he's headed back to the other side of the house. Well, not before passing my Maggies and lifting his leg to relieve himself. It didn't matter how fast I clapped, yelled and jumped up......wet Mylar, MDF and cloth. Niece gulped and asked me "How much is that going to cost me?" Told her "nothing, don't worry about." Thank goodness it was only the MMGs and not the 3.6s !
Guests are allowed to do anything. Otherwise the host is not that great.
Thats ridiculous. So if a guest wants to place his drink on top of an expensive speaker possibly marring the nice finish and also lowering its resale value, I should just suck it up and not ameliorate the situation because “the guest is always right?”
Sorry, no. I think you are looking at this from only one side. I wouldn’t want to incaringiy ruin anything my host owns when I’m invited somewhere. And I don’t teach my kids “you can do whatever the hell you want at someone’s house because your the guest.” Do you?
@stereo5 wrote: "You gentlemen are very good at blowing this off as nothing. I would love to see your reaction if it happened to one of you. I bet everyone of you who said to “get over it” would not be able to."
I had it happen in the final half-hour leading up to the opening of an audio show. A well-meaning friend came into the room and "fixed" my speakers’ toe-in. So I let him listen like that for a song or two then put them back the way I wanted, which to his surprise actually worked as advertised. He learned more that way than if I had taken it as a personal affront.
Some things may be worth taking offense over, but most are not.
Call the insurance company, there's a claim to be made. And please don't be too hard on the gal, she might have just been comparing the setup to her i-phone ear buds, a classic rookie mistake. What was playing on your system and where you out of the room (doing what) when it happened?
I did laugh out loud at this thread, so spouse and houseguest asked “ what’s up? “ so I gave them the synopsis...
long silence from houseguest who also housesitter at our Seattle place...
she says - I didn’t want to say anything because I thought you knew that the gal who cleans house moved the speakers out into the room - it looks like you are getting ready to paint...
I have been over the last year moving them out 2” every visit and have now got them out an additional 14”....
I "label" strong women in my life as exactly that, raised by a single mom, surrounded by brilliant women my entire life, and willing to walk the walk when somebody says, "I would have knocked her out" even if followed by a creep's pathetic backpedaling...I suppose for some claiming to have known strong, brilliant women is somehow "pathetic," I'd say I'm lucky!
You frequent this forum AND can convince someone for an in-house first date (presumably without extortion and / or elicit substances)? Consider yourself in an elite club. And if she moved my speakers, I’ll move them back according to the marks on my floor and documented relative measurements to the side and back walls, and then hold onto her like grim death.
You gentlemen are very good at blowing this off as nothing. I would love to see your reaction if it happened to one of you. I bet everyone of you who said to “get over it” would not be able to.
I would go into someone’s home and move their Ming Dynasty Vase to suit my aesthetic preferences... But she was probably not aware that just one of those speakers is nearly $20k... glad nothing was damaged... nice speakers btw
Get a can of hi contrast spray paint, mask-off the bottom of your speakers and spray liberally around the base. This will mark your floor* with an outline of your speaker's base. You will be able to return them to the exact position with no trouble at all. Now, if she changed the tilt, you will need to bolt a laser pointer to the back of each speaker (best done when set to your liking) and note the position of the dot on the ceiling. Using a ultra-fine point Sharpie put an almost invisible dot on the ceiling where the laser dot is. Since this may be hard to see, get a can of orange street marking paint and put a large circle around the tiny Sharpie dot.
If you think that these thing are too much to deal with , then this phrase may help "GET OVER IT" or no one will want to spend time with a person who takes the time to complain about this.
* works well with any flooring type. It's Saturday morning and the time it took to type this seems to be the same time as it takes for the coffee to finish dripping.
To the OP, go to Amazon and purchase Bosch GLM20 laser measure, good to a 1/16 inch. Less than $40.
As a young audiophile I had a Radio Shack 140w/channel receiver and the large Advents, pretty good for a 16 yr old. My dad doesn't know a thing about it and thought it was a passing "phase". The loudest it could be played safely was at about 5. I was sound asleep and my dad had shut off the breaker to my room, snuck into my room and set it at 10 and hit the power button, went back down and turned the breaker on. I almost had a heart attack, dove for the volume and hit it to 0. I was so pissed off I didn't talk to him for several days. Amazingly nothing was damaged.
Its 50 years later and I still tell anyone and everyone not to go freakin' near my gear. I never leave workman alone in my music room. Period.
what the heck was a supertweeter doing facing backwards?
big deal, each time you re-do something, it takes less time and you may get it 'righter'. In which case she did you a favor.
actually, toed in more would have given a wider center image, and retained l/r off center better for 2 people, she must have latent audio genes. make those marks for 2 corners movable.
how I wish I could move my friends speakers, but I wouldn't dare.
Hahhha of course!!! It is hard to catch them when you are relaxed and such action is unexpected. The risc is not the position but that they damage the speaker!!! I am sure you will find your setting again (btw it is worth to marked it). hope nothing serius happend. warn your guests to not touch enything. I just installed the lock to my audio room because my 2 nieces comming with a visit!
And there you go. Honestly, I get nervous Anytime we have company. People do like to touch the drivers. Going for a dome tweeter isn't rare. I remember actually standing in front of my VPI Scout while the landlord and his wife did some minor work. They did give me some odd stares, but it didn't matter to me. It would have been just a matter of time before trouble started in so many situations.
My kids(28 yr old kids) had a late night dance party and kicked mine out of position. When I sat down I could tell. Luckily I have distances written down. But I never figured out how they kicked a 50 lb amp out of position. All good. Everything works.
My pest control guy was spraying the inside of my house. I told him if anything needed to be moved in my listening room to please let me know. I, too, had finally gotten my speakers in their optimum placement. When I was finally able to get off the phone I went in to check on him and he had moved one of my speakers away from the wall. He said it should not be a problem as there were indentations in the carpet where the speaker's feet should go! Luckily he had not disturbed the other speaker, so I could use its measurements for a guide. His final insult, "Nice stereo, I see you have a record player. I have a Bose record player at home."
I had drunk friends once try to "help" by reconnecting my 2 NAD Monitor series amps after I had turned in. Turns out they had no idea what bridged mode was. No harm in the end. I think the OP fared pretty well all considered.
@perkri, I guess I needed to either put the amps in anechoic chambers or AT LEAST 2 inches of concrete, or both.
I have my speakers with spikes on my carpet, positioned 9.5 feet apart, my “special couch position” I’m 12.5 feet from speakers. slightly toed in to aim at me. great sweet spot.
If someone moved my stuff, I would be a little upset. theres one rule in my house, wife and kid know, don’t muck with Daddy’s stereo stuff. It took me 30 years to get where I am at, and I’m proud of my stereo, and it does not get touched, maybe the volume knob at times, if the wife turns it down, other than that she don’t know how to use my stereo, and I like it that way.
how ironic ,my electrician came to put in my 4 wire dedicated outlets and I moved all j6 wires he said he didnot need to move anything ,I come down stairs my monitors were moved i flipped out ,I told him they took me and brother over 5 hours to get them sonicly even , luckilly the heavy llead filled stands ,the spokes left marks in the carpeting and subs I marked with painters tape before moving.i don’t like Anybody touching my gear.we had a party last year and my brothers friend put a been on my speaker. Their are a lot of idiots out there. I told him plainly have some common sense if the beer spilled it would be a costly fix.I now make it clear hands off.
I'm nowhere near an audiophile, so I live through others in this group. As a rule, though, I think it's rude as hell to touch someone else's stuff without explicit permission. Audio, video, computers, cameras, whatever.
I think there may be a solution that is being discussed in a separate thread. Simply mount the drivers in the outside walls of the house. They will never be moved again.
tomic and I are strictly referring to boating...nothing else. @tomic601
lol, at least they’re unsinkable.....kinda. I kept pushing the Baja’s trim tabs down to get on plane and it just didn’t get there.....that’s when the light bulb lit. You had one job woman!
Wait till your spouse moves your speakers, while you're away, because they think the current position does not suit the layout of the other furniture in the room. One thing audiophoolism teaches you is patience, patience....
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