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How to childproof these..

great thread. i feel all of this

i've just "downgraded" until my kids (4 and 1) are old enough to not destroy stuff. My one kid likes to chew (!! wtf?!) on the knobs/controls on my Yamaha AS-801. now they're all scraped up. i guess i'm keeping that one
 
Mr Pig said:
Educate, train and discipline your children!

I had a friend who was a few years ahead of us on the kids conveyor and I noticed one day that his hearth was a collection of broken ornaments. Ceramic horses with no legs etc. When I inquired I was told there was no point on putting good stuff there as junior would break it.

A short while later I had this in mind as we faced the same situation. An LP12 on a low Audiotech table among other potential attractions. I thought about fire guards, shelves etc but decided this was ridiculous. Children are not stupid and should be taught to behave in the way you want them to.

And that's what I did. If they are old enough to do the things you don't want them to do, they are old enough to learn not to. The LP12 stayed where it was, two-feet off the floor, and it was never damaged. Neither was anything else. What was interesting is that our first kid had to be taught the dos and don'ts but the next two did not. They seemed to just follow their big brother and pick up the rules by osmosis. They sometimes broke of damaged their own toys but they never did any harm to anything of value. In fact my eldest had his own turntable when he was four, never damaged it either.
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i agree but 18 months old they can be quite a handful !!!
 
Buy some cheap acoustic cloth off of eBay or Amazon, cut the width to match the height of the speaker, the length to go around the speaker once plus ~20cm. Then glue it into a tube shape with a circumference slightly smaller than the speaker (spray adhesive or hot glue?). Pull the cloth wraps over the speaker like a sock. They'd probably end up looking a bit like older Definitive Technology speakers.
 
I would pack the speakers away and listen to music some other way untill the child is of an age were they understand more, just to be careful.
 
There are lots of childless couples in the States that will pay serious money for a child....you could upgrade your Hifi then too.

Where’s the downside? ;)
 
Bjork67 said:
I would pack the speakers away and listen to music some other way untill the child is of an age were they understand more, just to be careful.
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I think that's a decent suggestion, I sold a pair of then expensive floorstanders when my kids were young
wish I had them now
 
Rug Doc said:
What would you do??
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Given they are such a rare and collectable speaker I’d protect them at all costs. I have no concept of children, so I just don’t know how they work at various ages, but I’d either keep them out of the room (e.g. my cat is not allowed in the room with the vintage Lockwood cabs in case she takes a liking to the grilles), ring-fence them, or get them way up out of reach until that age is passed. Maybe buy a couple of cheap bits of furniture, a couple of chests of drawers or whatever from the local auction, even some really solid wall shelves, get them safely out of reach, then get rid once the child is programmable.
 
hifinutt said:
i agree but 18 months old they can be quite a handful !!!
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Sure, but they can be 'trained'. Kids are all different and you need to find what works with each of them but in my experience, the only time kids are badly behaved is when the parents lack the will, brains or desire to teach them.

It's really simple and starts with the understanding kids are not dumb. They lack experience and knowledge but they are smart, reasonable people. Why do people have badly behaved dogs? Because they are idiots who haven't trained their dogs. Kids are much smarter, and therefore easier to train than a dog. If your kid smashes up your stuff you have no one to blame but yourself.
 
Around 5 years ago I bought a brand new pair of B&W800 Diamonds. I’d had them around a month when I thought they suddenly sounded very flat. Checked cables and all the usual.....all looked ok.
Turned out that my 3 year old had noticed the very shiny diamond coated tweeters and thought they’d be nice to touch. Popped the magnetic cover off and put her finger straight through it. Being the clever little monkey she is, she thought I was bound to notice so did the same to the other one to ‘make them look the same’.

The wife is hoping she’ll get home soon..:p
 
In all seriousness, I am a teacher, my wife is a childminder and we have two more grown up children now.
By 18 months you are over the worst of the experimental phase. If an 18 month old is doing this for attention they need rewarding for doing something else. They are saying they want attention, and giving it to them, good or bad, when they do this won’t help. Distraction and reward. Don’t get me wrong, I always gave my best cross voice and stood between the Hi-Fi and them when they got close, then distracted with a toy and spent time playing. It’s like training a dog at that age (no rolled up newspaper jokes). Reward for good behaviour, they just want to please and have your attention. It won’t last long.
 
Faux said:
In all seriousness, I am a teacher, my wife is a childminder and we have two more grown up children now.
By 18 months you are over the worst of the experimental phase. If an 18 month old is doing this for attention they need rewarding for doing something else. They are saying they want attention, and giving it to them, good or bad, when they do this won’t help. Distraction and reward. Don’t get me wrong, I always gave my best cross voice and stood between the Hi-Fi and them when they got close, then distracted with a toy and spent time playing. It’s like training a dog at that age (no rolled up newspaper jokes). Reward for good behaviour, they just want to please and have your attention. It won’t last long.
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Sound advice (pun intended)
 
I used an expandable play pen that blocked of the whole hifi/ tv until my son was old enough to understand do not touch on pain of death! £20 well spent
 
The OPs parenting is none of my business and he's clearly a gentle, patient parent which is sweet.
When my children were toddlers my system was of a much higher value than now and the speakers (Amphion xenons) lacked grills.
Their mum explained to the girls that the hifi was one of Daddy's favourite things and that he would be very, very sad if they damaged it. If they wanted to look at it and touch it they should ask Daddy and he would show them.
I never had a problem. They have grown into sensitive, inquisitive young adults and they often ask to play their music on my system. I'm pleased to share it with them.
 
Funny thread..

All the hifi is exposed on an open rack and none of the kids (9, 6, 4 & 18 months) touch that... I spend time simply picking them up and moving them away when they get to close and explain that they can’t touch.. this has worked with them all so I’m pleased with my parenting skills here...

It’s just these grills are so inviting to little un... she’s just started talking and my wife said (I’ve been in Scotland for three days) that she lightly touches the grill and says “bad” so she knows that she’s being naughty...

Tape has been off them all day today and she’s gotten close and turned round and looked at mum and said “bad” but not touched them, so I think we are nearly there!

I’m going to get some of the Velcro and attach it to the reverse of the grills (they are wooden framed) and then wrap around the speakers, so from the front you won’t see it... I trust my kids, but some other little shits often turn up and turn the whole house upside down!!!
 
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