Wife stepping on speaker wire

Tell her the current in the wire will damage her shoes!

That should make her more careful!

KP

MIT (There is a reason they call them "music hose">

Virtual Dynamics are garden water hose sized. If you get a set of shotgun bi-wire there is enough cable to trip a horse. They're running specials all the time & if you call Rick & tell him what you're looking for I'm sure he'll fix you up.

Another way to make the wife aware is to use one of those cable protectors that are used at live shows, where the cable runs under & it is taped down to the floor. She might get tired of seeing half a roll of duct tape holding them down & will be somewhat more careful.

Boy-o-boy I know why I am single :) did you ever think of cutting her feet off? lol. Telling her they will damage the shoes may work though, good idea ;)

~TIm

Get some split loom tubing from your local car stereo shop, etc. This will make the speaker wires look big and provide some limited protection and won't cost much at all.
Here is one web site that has prices and a picture:
http://www.allelectronics.com/matrix/Split_Loom_Tubing.html

Her stepping on your cable is indicative of a much deeper problem in your relationship. Her expression of apparent disregard towards your system is a reflection of an underlying jealousy towards what she sees as a rival. The stepping on the cable is an obvious metaphor for her true intent.

Solution(s) - ask her how her day went (actually listen to her reply). If this fails then try flowers and dinner. If still no reaction, then you'll have to go the full monty and buy her a gift equal to cost of your last component upgrade.

No charge!

It's time to trade her in for an audiophile upgrade. I don't know what your budget is, but FIM Gold speaker cables look like 2 inch thick snakes.

Here is Richard's (Vantage Audio) "Jackhammer".

Audio Magic Illusion (I love them!). They are two runs of 1in diameter cables. The tubing is filled with sand / damping material. They are extremely heavy. Even if she doesn't see them, she will trip on them without moving the cable. Last, but most important, they sound heavenly.

Don't laugh about that cartoon! I just did exactly that using an big gas powered wet saw. The fumes were pretty bad and I had to scoop up about 100 gallons of water from my living room floor, but 3 long trenches of 2" x 2" were dug out of my concrete slab which allows me to run cables under the tile floor from where the racks are located to where the speakers and Buttkickers will be positioned.

Gotta love those Buttkickers for HT! www.thebuttkicker.com

PURIST AUDIO DESIGN DOMINUS CABLES ARE PYTHONS, IN ADDITION THEY WORK VERY WELL. AND STEPPING ON THEM WILL NOT HURT THEM I TRIP ON MINE ALL THE TIME.

Have you thought about carrying her when she is in that room?

.........rig the necessary bare wires, plugs, etc. and occasionally plug the speaker cables into a 110 outlet. She'll probably only step on them one more time..........

Hughes, everyone's having fun with this. Just get cables long enough to push back to the wall and out of the way. Use 12 gauge or lower, and the few extra feet will not degrade the sound. In answer to your question, Audioquest cables are thick and obvious. Kimber 8tc is pretty bright and obvious. But I think an appropriate length to get the cables outof the way is what you need.

One thing you could do is buy you a REALLY cheappair of speaker stands made from MDF, sit them between your amp and speakers, and use them as a cable props. If this does not work find you some yellow "POLICE LINE - DO NOT CROSS" tape and string it up from wall to wall in front of your entire system.

The key to success here lays in spousal behavior modification, rather than audio tweaks and home remodeling:

(1) Call Invisible Fence, have them surround the speaker cables with their own cables, and make her wear that collar ... it works with dogs ... it should work with your wife (I've seen her);

(2) Surround the cables with electrified bare wire ... this works with horses (no further comment);

(3) Keep one of those HUGE squirt guns (squirt cannons, actually) handy. Squirt (well, fire away!) when she comes perilously close to the cherished speaker cables. This works quite well with cats in behavior modofication, and I figure if it works with one pussy, then ...

(4) C4 ... strategically placed. This is a one-time behavior modification approach, and an extreme example of the art. Try this only if (1) -- (3), above, fail to achieve the desired results.

(8-(l) Doh!

Paul, in my experience, spousal behavior modification only works one way...female changing male. If the male should attempt to try this, specific and sometime legal remedies may apply/occur. Usually, you just end up on the couch.

The way I see it, you have two battles to fight, only one you'll win. If she will let you put your speakers where you want to in the room, consider this victory and let the cable stepping phenomea continue-split loom may divert this enough. If you push the speaker cable issue to much, then she may move the speakers against the wall-you loose, but your cable is ok.

Bear traps on either side of the wire should work.--Of course,I'm divorced--!!

Easy, get some diamond ring and place it every six inches on the wire. She'll see it from miles away.

I am looking for some seed money for a cable company to be called "Barbed Wired Audio Designs Limited", Our Motto "she'll step on em once, but that will be her last"

How about going to officemax and buying a cable cover ? I have the same situation - I just put a thin piece of foam over the cable, and a small throw carpet over that - works fine.

Go to Home Depot and get 5" dryer hose - the pliable version and insert the cables into these. Although I can't speak to how the sonics will change as they have a wire wrapped in them so one can bend them to position but the low WAF should make her realize just how important your cables are to you. Because of their size I can't see how she can miss them and should have no problem avoiding them... Sonics aside what about that sturdy black pvc pipe, also available from HD???

If you try most of these suggestions you'll end up divorced like the one guy. From a woman's point of view she's probably trying to get you to hide them. Wires or cables being visible on the floor looks horrible reguardless of how nice they look. Most women spend hours putting together the decor of a room and when you have speaker wire running across the floor it destroys her dream. Run the wire under the carpet or along the side of the wall. This would solve your problem. Question, did you speak with her before laying the wires across the floor? Maybe if you did you never would of had this problem to begin with.

I don't know any back ground information, but have ya'll actually had a conversation about it (other than you "telling her not to step on your speaker wire")? If you're "telling" her to do something, chances are she'll do the exact opposit.

Kristy

A small decorative bridge might work well

Place your cables off the floor with fluorescent colored paper cups and for added benefit place x-mas wire down on the floor.

Use duct tape (preferably brightly colored) to tape the cables to the floor. Serves two purposes ... protects the cable, and makes it much easier to see, all in one !
That's what we used to do with guitar and mic cables when we were gigging and it works a treat. Hardwood, tile, carpet, duct tape does it all.

Is there some sort of spray you can get to spray the floor around your cables to keep your wife away ? "Wife repellant". (perhaps beer would do it).

I thought it obvious that my comments, like those of many others, were made completely in jest. I wonder if I'm the only one who got four ... yes, FOUR ... nasty emails from Mrs. Hughes ... LOL. Personally, I'm betting she steps on more than just speaker cables (oooh, boy, now I'm gonna get more hate grams from Mrs. Hughes ... LOL).

Hey lady ... lighten up.

As a women who's father is into audio and now who's husband is into audio I find that finding ways to include the cables into my decor is a challenge but one that keeps me on my toes litterly.

We're talkingabout a creature that doesn't mind putting up the lid, but resents putting down the seat. I put my cables under a rug, and after time they made a groove in the carpet beneath it. that isn't seen, so not resented, and technically it was a higher rise under that throw rug, made of the same carpet, bound at a shop, but worked for some reason. Maybe make a ramped trough, and toss her choice of rug over it.

Send her to her room with no dinner my wife would NEVER go near my system. Good luck.

Wow.
Irreconcilable differences, no question.
If the judge is an audiophile, he might even consider that as moral turpitude, gross negligence, or intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Y'all realize this thread is over a decade old?

Yep; over a decade. He certainly must have broken both her feet, long before now!

A good pair of glasses or move the stereo.

Time to see a lawyer...

A good woman is worth more than all the audio systems in the world .

Tell her not to feel too bad. I stepped on the Omega Mikro cables made by Mapleshade, you know, the really fragile ones with the 54 ga conductors. It wouldn't have been such a big deal except it was CES just before opening day and Pierre was standing right next to me.

+1 Schubert.

+2 Schubert.

Best regards,
-- Al

A, "good woman" would love her man enough NOT to step on anything he valued!

Had a friend with a big dog that ate cables for lunch. His solution was speaker cables in aluminum conduit clamped to baseboards. :) LOL.

Dump the dog and the wife.

Put up a sign near cables saying "Let's have sex" she will never come near them again.

Put up one that says ,I want to make love to the most wonderful women in the world" and your outcome will likely be different .

but Schubert, his wife might get suspicious and stomp those wires.

Lloydc, perhaps but I doubt it.
It is impossible to flatter a woman too much IF you say something that has a grain of truth to it AND you really want to.

Put up a sign right by the cables that reads: "Step on these cables and I will never have sex with you again!" Oh wait ...

Electrify the cables and see what happens. :) LOL.

I always felt that the original Bride of Frankenstein was kinda hot.
Anyone else???