platinum audio vs. soliloquy vs. dunlavy?

Thanks to both of you for your thoughtful replies. Your experience will certainly be of benefit to me in planning ahead for the wee one. I think Todd should write an article on the subject of child/audio interaction and submit it to Stereophile. I was reading one of their recent issues, and someone (yet another subscription canceler) was saying how he felt every issue reads like the next, that Stereophile rarely has articles that address a broader range of topics and real-life situations that people face. I have to admit I agree...and here Todd has just the kind of story that would probably be of a lot more interest to a lot of people than another review of yet another $30,000 amplifier or $3000 cartridge. In any case, I've made my decision, and am selling the Platinum Audio speakers. The Soliloquys are going to my office. As for my main home speakers, I am going to stick with the Dunlavys, with two modifications. First, I am going to make metal grilles that will cover the drivers (and, hopefully, not interfere with sound!), and I am going to drill through each base corner (each Dunlavy tower bolts to a large flat base), drill holes in my hardwood floors, and bolt the bases to my floor. Then I'm going to invite our local pee-wee football team over and see if they can gang-tackle one over!...no, just kidding....I think. Thanks again to you both, and Todd, I'm going to keep an eye peeled for your article in Stereophile. Regards, Ben

Well, I can't recommend any of the speakers to you, as you know this a a personal choice regarding sound. I've had the similar problem for the last three years, 2 babies and dealing with audio in the room/house. The kids are 2 1/2 and 18 months, just over a year apart. Here's what I have done and found out:

1. Regarding the statement about large/heavy speakers - yes, these CAN be knocked over by your baby/toddler. Don't even think twice about this. It has happened with both of my children. Though heavy, speakers are tall and their center of gravity is high, so it really doesn't take a lot to knock them over. The one solution that has helped is to have them installed on bases/platforms that make the bottom wider, they will still fall, but it takes a bit more effort.

2. The finger jabbing lasts for just a few short months (3-to-9). As indicated by another member, a few redirects of your child (OK several thousand redirects) and eventually they learn not to play with it and become bored. At that point they leave well enough alone but they continue to play all around it - which brings you back to the falling over issue.

3. Not only will your kids be all around these speakers, but eventually so will their younger cousins, friends, neighbors. Your child may learn pretty quickly, but the others will probably have NO IDEA. Further, their parents will probably have not idea the personal value you have on these speakers. And it'll take just one second to happen, and you can not watch them every second, that's been proven already.

4. Speakers on stands MUST GO, they are entirely to unsteady, they will fall over and possibly on a kid (this happened with my 8 year old neice at my daughters first birthday). There is nothing to easily correct this situation and it is an accident that will happen (OK, you can bolt the speaker to the stand and the stand to the floor, but ...).

5. Large ports are an attractive storage space for hiding small toys and other items, yes you too will get to know the internals of your speaker cabinets intimately, your husband/wife may become jealous. If possible, put a screen/chicken wire over the port somehow, it'll save you a lot on the long run.

6. So far, in-wall, in-ceiling, and wall mounted speakers have been great. And isolate a small-to-medium size sub elsewhere.

7. No matter how far away you will place your child and their toys from the speakers, the speakers will get hit and dinged. Who knows how this happens, but it will. Again, it may not even be your child that does it. Toys get thrown, sticks get swung, and cups/bottles dropped and kicked. And out of everything that is in the room, it will be the speakers that get the abuse.

8. Pens, pencils, crayons, and markers, unless you can account for every writing implement in your house all the time, these will be concerns as well.

9. Gates, absolutely, until you get tired of them being in your way all the time. I like the metal, foot operated, doorway gates, they have been consistently the best and least obtrusive. Though at somehwere between 30-32 lbs, any kid who knows how to jump/bounce will figure how to open the gate. As you know, any safety object you install or put up is just a limited deterent, it is not going to stop you child, just slow them down. They are going to figure out how to use it, and probably better than you by just watching and learning from you. And the one time you leave the gate open - their gone faster than you know.

10. I have some used, older towers in our basement playroom from a manufacturer that I like, they already had some minor dings, so I am not worried over any other. I found them on Audiogon. They sound great, they are mounted on a large base, and very difficult to knock over. In our family room, I have the surrounds mounted on the wall, and bookshelfs (in a bookshelf). My nice speakers have been moved to our bedroom and my office where the kids spend little to no time (they like bouncing on the bed too much or playing with my printers).

It's great having music around - and this being a Friday night (as I write this) - we typically turn up the music, pull out the happy juice (virgin colada's - coconut and pineapple juice), and have some fun dancing aqnd singing. The kids are starting to understand what the speakers are about and what they should do or shouldn't do with them. It's been a long 2 years (I didn't have to wory until they started crawling, and I figure in the next year or so, I'll only have to worry about the electronics (OK, who left the volume at full, I just blew out the speakers when I turned on the stereo).

Fortunately, the CD battle is minimal, I have most of my general listening music on an isolated, fanless PC. I have access to the files anywhere in the house. I use a combination of direct connection, Prismiq media receiver, and an FM wireless transmitter. And I can still use the CD for more critical listening when I want. So the bulk of our CD's are stored away in my office but still accessible to my wife and I.

DVD's on the other hand have been a bit more of an issue to manage, and I see a day soon that I'll have to replace at least one or two discs. There does appear to be an advantage with with VHS tapes, they are cheaper to replace.

OK, too much info, but hopefully helps you in deciding what to do, or at least gives you some ideas.

Todd

Hello, I am going through the same thing right now. My boy is almost nine months and he is every where. I have a pair of Soliloquy 6.5 in my office system. The speakers weigh 130 lbs each so they are too heavy to tip over. The problem is that the grills are at his level. He tries to put his little fingers through the cloth. I tried to remove the grills. He then wanted to test the strength of the woofer material. The only way to stop him is to be in the room and tell him NO and move him away from the speakers. I also have a small set of Platinum monitors in my bedroom on heavy metal stands. My wife saw him almost tip them over the other day, so they may have to go away or up on top of the bedroom armoir. The difference is that the monitors can fall off the stands onto him. After all that, what I am learning is that you need to remove the potential danger and monitor the rest of the time. One more word "BABY GATES" Jim