Childproofing speakers

[johnhb]

Start laughing now. Take a paragon, Hartsfields, L-300,65,110,100,200,212,150 4312, B460,Aquarius. All mint and restored and running in different rooms. Add a child in about three weeks. I'd say the L-300s will go first. The grills will be smashed and the lens obliterated. I bought a pair of metal grills to install over the woofers on the 12 inch woofers. Will I be reported to child protective services if I put mouse traps in the paragon on the path to the woofer? Anyone make titanium lens for the LE-85s? Any thoughts or sources for the metal grills like the ones used in cars? I use a 1/8 inch router bit and screen spline to install cloth so that won't be a problem. My friends put electric tape around thier oriental carpet to keep the cat off and they kept stepping on it so forget that. Oh and that idea of disipline? Start your keyboards now...........

[oldsoundz]

Take a paragon, Hartsfields, L-300,65,110,100,200,212,150 4312, B460,Aquarius. All mint and restored .

I would love to. Where do you live?

Kidding of course. Best of luck!

Try reasoning with the child.

[duaneage]

Cattle prods. They aren't just for cattle anymore

[subwoof]

As mentioned before, The newest cone treatment:

Aquablast

Actually a pressure treated mat in front of the speakers connected to an air horn works well.

Getting the cat claw marks off the ceiling and dog shit off the floor is another matter

:cheers:

[JBLOG]

I can not comment on cats as I have none. Besides, I would not want to mess with PETA!

But...Kids I know ....... I have a boy and girl who are now fourteen and seven respectively. Trust me...Child proof only exists in the imagination of those who have not experienced the extended joy and bliss of parenthood. Don't let your kids fool you....they are resourseful and tenacious! I've had torn grill cloth, fingers holes in woofers, toppled speakers, maimed veneer and peanut butter sandwiches (open faced) manhandled into dvd players. Need I say more!

Since it's against the law to spank your kids, what worked for me is duct tape. Try Duck taping them to the back of a closet door when you're not supervising them or when you're trying enjoying your rig. :)

Seriously...Good Luck! Its only money! Teach them the joys of JBL!

[duaneage]

I know someone with 4 cats. One of them attacked a midrange surround. No cat fessed up to it so alas no one was punished. He is nicer than I am.

[Allanvh5150]

Children with thier hands and feet tied never seem to be a problem around speakers......

Allan.

[hjames]

Children with their hands and feet tied never seem to be a problem around speakers......

Allan.

If thy child offend thee, duct tape them to a chair ...

Robert Heinlein claimed he subscribed to the bung theory of child rearing -
when they are young, put them in a barrel and feed through the bung hole ...
when they turn 17, hammer in the bung.

[JBL 4645]

Seriously...Good Luck! Its only money! Teach them the joys of JBL!

LOL yes teach them the ways of JBL convert them to JBL and give them a Bose speaker and screw driver!:D

Children are like cats their just curious that’s all, little buggers. Mouse traps indeed. :D

[BMWCCA]

Man-cave for the good stuff.

From someone whose L112s survived three kids.

The comparatively indestructible C37 wasn't a problem in the living room.

But then my three were all girls. If you have a boy, my condolences to your JBLs. ;)

[JBLAddict]

funny thread that just caught my eye on the main page, but a topic I'm sensitive to. I hv a 3yr old that is an absolute destructive monster (have a 7 and 9 yr old and this one is 3x worse than the other two).

I own L100 (original owner), L7, L5, and an LC1. He recently took the cover off my LC1 and "push buttons".....you know the "buttons" they put in the middle of the drivers, some might call it, a, uh, dust cap.

The dust cap on the mids is not the end of the world, and this is a new speaker over a vintage (still cost 300 bones), but he managed to get his grubby little fingers on the Ti tweeter behind the waveguide and push it in, sound still comes out but no doubt not the same sound. my wife put a giant rubber band around the speaker when he first started screwing with it, and in my stubborness for looks I took it off, which took his deviant mind about 1 day to notice and go right for the jugular. I wish I never would have taken the rubber band off!! The L5/L7 covers are little trickier to remove but in a stroke of complete genius JBL made the dust caps of the same neoprene rubber the surrounds are made from, you can push them in all day long and they just come right back out:applaud:. Bottom line, tape...bad for wood finish, I really recommend the giant packing rubber bands as something they cannot remove and will not damage the finish.....won't look real pretty, but effective.

[jeenie67]

....Boys will be boys and girls have long since entered the equation. A long time ago...I just happen to look at my speakers..the drivers and such as I was relaxing, and noticed one midrange dust cap dinged in! I did ask my two boys if they knew anything about this..(they were about 6 and 7 at the time and perfectly behaved, never any problem, lots of fun to go to the races with and camping etc.) and they so honestly replied...jee..no! It was a few years later when I traded those speakers for ...can't remember .. ? and my oldest boy fested' up to it....I was just curious and well....touched it....and....

Well at least he admitted to being part of the plot. As a teacher of Exceptional Education (special ed) I've sure learned how to read the face! And realized no matter what rule you ever should impose...it will be broken.
The only way to child proof a system is to install it in a separate building...and just say it's the septic recycling center. :montyp:

[bigyank]

I know someone with 4 cats. One of them attacked a midrange surround. No cat fessed up to it so alas no one was punished. He is nicer than I am.

Gee I wonder who you are talking about! :(

Actually 2 midranges and an irreplaceable tweeter (Allison).

[Wornears]

Discipline depends on their age:

1) Positive

Kids. Leave dad's "precious" audio stuff alone and I'll give you $X.XX/day to do so. (Depending on your budget. Maybe after getting all that cool gear you have no money left over.) Of course, this leads them on a greedy capitalistic path.

2) Negative

Kids. Touch dad's "precious" audio stuff and he will touch one of your "precious" items. It will disappear for an amount of time you don't want to think about. Then again, you may be fostering years of counseling when they grow up.

Wait until you come home one day and your two year old daughter has extracted about 40 of your precious cassette archive tapes. She's had so much fun pulling the pretty tape out and playing with it.

Stashing all in another building with you with the only keys is the best solution so far.

[jcrobso]

But I only had girls, would probably been different if I had son.;)
I only had one indecent, my oldest daughter at age 3 tried to play a record and destroyed the stylist on my Shure M55e. After this I built some shelf's and put every thing up high where little hands could not get to. I all wise keep grill cloth on my speakers.
I think I also used the phrase "TOUCH AND DIE!!!!:D John

[Robh3606]

Just set them down and talk to them. I have had speakers all over the house, my kids never damaged any of them. They had a basement system that was "theirs" to play with as well as boom boxes in their rooms.

I had more problems from one of my dogs than my kids.

Rob:)

[Cyclotronguy]

Any long suffering parent knows the real secret. Food, shelter and clothing are required... quality and quantity are negotiated.

Cyclotronguy

[robertbartsch]

It is easier to speakerproof your child than to childproof your speekers.

If all else fails, install an electric shock fense around the speakers. One or two good jolts of 120V and they should stay clear of them for the remainder of their adolesent years.

[duaneage]

Gee I wonder who you are talking about! :(

Actually 2 midranges and an irreplaceable tweeter (Allison).
I told you how I would have handled it. Hold court and the first cat that makes a move for the door gets dunked in the toilet.

[jeenie67]

....I love this site!! For the gentlemen that suggested sitting down and talking....boy I'm glad it works for you. There are so many independent factors that will influence a child's respect/ adherence/ acknowledgment of a guardians directive....even at very early ages. How can I explain about a first grader...when I first started student teaching Ex Ed..that was already suspended a few times for various infractions? And the rich suburbia student I overhear talking to a friend about ....screw Mom...I do what I please when they're not around....10 years old! ....???
The system that worked for me (not regarding my personal stuff) was....good things happen to good boys....bad things happen to bad boys. Like the other reply....we can go to Donuts For Kids.... or I can burn some grilled processed cheese for ya'!

[Krunchy]

Just set them down and talk to them. I have had speakers all over the house, my kids never damaged any of them. They had a basement system that was "theirs" to play with as well as boom boxes in their rooms.

I had more problems from one of my dogs than my kids.

Rob:)

I'm with Rob, my kids (3&5) never even thought about touching them, they knew they were daddy's "speakes" & it was never an issue. When our neighbor's kid's came over once, they were all over the place, touching everything. of course the "boy" went up to the pre amp and started touching everything including the volume, I got to him just in time & put an end to his reign of terror. This scene has to be taken in perspective though, while the boy was going around dumping things out of bins and generally wreakin havoc, the parents did not do anything, they threatened him a couple of times but the kid knew they were idle threats and reacted accordingly. Needless to say they only come over when there are outside activities or we go to their house :D To this day that kid has no boundaries and I fear his parents are in for some real treats in the future (they are already getting a taste of it now).

Some kids are more mischevous/adventurous than others & thats perfectly natural & should not discouraged in the proper context, but ultimately IMO it all comes back to the parents (for better or worse).

Like Rob, our pet cat (my wife's Cat, that I unwittingly got for her) was much more of a problem than the kids ever were. Lucky it did not get de-clawed, little bastart :D

[johnhb]

Okay, ten months and counting. It's a girl, by the way. She stands by the paragon horn and dances while holding the support piece. Life is good. To refine my question. If I buy the round metal grills used for auto subwoofers I can drill them to match the 12,15 and 18 inch hole spacing on the JBL woofers. What I need is a metal tube about 1/2 to 3/8th inch long with ID that will pass a 10/32 screw and OD that matches the fillister head screws we use on the woofers. The tubing will hold the grills just above the foam or cork surrounds or just snug to them and will press to the speaker basket the way the fillister heads do. No long term alteration to the speakers like adding the pro clamps to the outside to hold the grills on. Okay who knows the machinist who can make these?

[1audiohack]

What I need is a metal tube about 1/2 to 3/8th inch long with ID that will pass a 10/32 screw and OD that matches the fillister head screws we use on the woofers. Okay who knows the machinist who can make these?


Actually it's even easier than that, I would bet if you looked around you could find "stand-off's" in the dimensions you're after. If not you can buy extruded aluminum tubing of almost any dimension. The smallest I have on the rack is 0.250" I.D. 0.375" O.D., sorry. If it's a size we don't use much of we usually buy a few feet from McMasterCarr. Cutting to length on a lathe is the nicest however you can cut it with anything that cuts wood.

I've been lucky, I have had speakers with no grill covers for 20 years of children and the problem has always been visiting children, a dust cap on a 2225.. The only real damage to date was from some combination of too much fun on the part of my 11 year old boy (the youngest) and our 105 pound dog. Whats a 2123 kit and an hour of my time to recone it? I didn't even get mad.

[Marvin]

I would suggest rubber washers (found at Lowes) as you will not get any rattling from the metal grills. Just use as many as needed to get the required distance. I also used them on the metal horn mounting on My A7's and they really deaden the vibrations.

[jcrobso]

Okay, ten months and counting. It's a girl, by the way. She stands by the paragon horn and dances while holding the support piece. Life is good. To refine my question. If I buy the round metal grills used for auto subwoofers I can drill them to match the 12,15 and 18 inch hole spacing on the JBL woofers. What I need is a metal tube about 1/2 to 3/8th inch long with ID that will pass a 10/32 screw and OD that matches the fillister head screws we use on the woofers. The tubing will hold the grills just above the foam or cork surrounds or just snug to them and will press to the speaker basket the way the fillister heads do. No long term alteration to the speakers like adding the pro clamps to the outside to hold the grills on. Okay who knows the machinist who can make these?

When I first finished my C40 cabinets I only had grill cloth over the D140F, the bottom part where the horn is was open. One day we couldn't find our 14 month old daughter, she had crawled into the horn and upon standing up in the horn only her legs from the knees down were visible. She heard us calling but she was playing hide and seek.:blink:
Cloth grill cloth will do the job, just enough to keep fingers away.

[lgvenable]

it was our older dog....Lance

As he nibbled off the foam around the 2213H driver on my 4312, 's. Thank goodness he didn't nibble the surrounds!;)

Great dog, long since though gone to doggy heaven; I just remember being shocked.

[coruphius]

i dont have skids yet, but my pup thought the sound and the movement was fascinating on the 2225H's and when i was out decided it was fun to take the dustcap off one of them, lucky it was only that lol! but one thing i do regret doing was holding one of my LE5-2's almost lost balance, fell outta my hand and landed on my 123a-1 wasnt happy... shoulda had the driver facing the other way to prevent that kinda stupidity, ah the things you do when your young lol

[Wornears]

Has worked so far.

[bigyank]

Has worked so far.

I like it! :applaud:

Yank

[JBL 4645]

Has worked so far.
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=44421&stc=1&d=1266684168


:rotfl::thmbsup:
Yeah that will keep the nippers fingers off items that they have been told time and time again! Do not touch my JBL or else!

[Audiobeer]

Been there done that. Storage if you want to sleep at night. :D

[ampzilla747]

My 3 yo son never touches my speakers. I'm really not sure how I got him not to,I can't remember? My 1 yo daughter doesn't either. Maybe I'm just lucky. In fact, my son will turn on the amp and pre amp on demand. At age 3 I think that is pretty cool.It's an Aragon pre amp too,no power button,you have to twist a knob!lol.