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Stereo setups with young kids in the house...


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Definitely thinking about this too in thinking about kids in the next few years. Education is probably a big part, but also gear selection. For instance I'm going with floorstanders and they are more stable and less prone to be knocked off the stands. 

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Children should be taught to respect their surroundings, however toddlers are still in the process of learning this and may damage things you value.   

 

I have lots of kids and the short answer is....it depends on your circumstances. Personally I don't have things in reach that I don't want touched.  I have an ordinary (cheap) setup in the lounge room for the family and a better one in my study for me when they go to bed. 

 

When I no longer have little kids, I'll think about something better in the lounge. The definition of 'little kid' will depend on how well or how quickly you teach them not to wipe snot on things or kick balls (soccer or sibling's) in the house.

15 hours ago, Addicted to music said:

Teach them well while there young.  Enjoy your kids more than your gear,  because you only get one chance at this.

 This pretty much nails it.

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Education and patience is required.

My experience was to put the components and cables out of reach. This meant a change to an an enclosed cabinet with sliding doors. A real PITA when you want to change a cable / move a component. BUT my two kids have not played with the components at all. They're visible all the time so have not been an item of wonder requiring touching. The cables are all out of sight and reach.

 

As for speakers, it turns out that short of putting a fence up across in front of my floor standing speakers (which was never a possibility) there was no way to dissuade my son from touching them. Try as I might I couldn't beat the youthful hard wiring that makes tactile contact an imperative. The fact noise comes out of these boxes demanded contact. After the dust covers on the bass drivers got pushed in a few time (salvageable and no damage done) my wife suggested I buy some bookshelf speakers to spare my frustration and put them on top of the cabinet, beyond his reach.

So the floorstanders were sold to a friend and I bought bookshelf speakers.

They have sat on the tv cabinet since and never been touched by my kids - who well and truly know they shouldn't touch them - nor their friends or my numerous nieces and nephews.

Sure it's less than ideal sitting them on a big timber box, but to me putting them on stands would have been a worse scenario than the hassle of shoo-ing him/them away from the floorstanders. A falling bookshelf speaker is going to do more damage to the child underneath / the wall / the floor / the tv / the speaker itself than a pushed in driver on a floor stander. 

I did have my turntable on the cabinet for a long time too, always with the dust cover down. It didn't seem to interest them at all. With a bit of effort on my behalf, I taught my son at age 4 how to put an LP on and start it up. My daughter the same a year later.

At 10yrs old now my son is all over the whole lot - able to turn on the components, pick out the DAC input, turn on the sub and turn the volume to an appropriate volume for a  good movie session or cd listening. 

 

You don't need to go into hibernation or retire from hifi with kids. You may need to change some furniture, alter your gear a bit but that's only temporary. I'd have gone mad if I couldn't have my music to unwind with (albeit less frequently) in those early years. 

 

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The only thing i changed was swapped the valve amp out for a safer SS one. 

 

As much as i enjoyed the amp, the temptation of a lightly glowing glass bottle would be too much and way to risky to keep it out. Its in a box till they are older.

 

Just enjoy your music and understand that accidents can happen. Moving speakers to less than ideal locations and the like to protect your gear. 

 

Or sell the audio gear to buy more alcohol and a pair of headphones!

 

 

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Guest jakeyb77

My stereo has always been at this height. My son is now seven and never had an issue. Kids aren’t stupid, adults are. 

I’ve had valve amps and everything. The only one that has ever broken anything, a stylus, has been me. 

He even knows how to work the full AVR/ XBox one etc better than me. 

Enjoy your stereo. Enjoy it with others. That’s what life is about. 

882839AD-64CE-4DEB-BB23-D0F82B5EB971.jpeg

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I have two set-ups and 19 month old twins that get into everything.  I put cheap plastic barriers around both systems and have never had a problem.  When they get old enough to understand I'll teach them about the gear, and the music!

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One trick that worked for me was putting adhesive Velcro on my speaker stands. When the kids were really young I also had string so the stands couldn’t fall over.

Overall though, I was surprised how quickly they learned that going anywhere near the speakers or other audio gear would result in a horrible fiery death.

I cringe every time I hear of people selling or storing gear because they have kids. Maybe my gear isn’t expensive enough to make me worry, but there is no way I’d go without a system I could listen to in my main living space with my family.

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I managed to get mine to leave the audio and AV stuff alone. I made it clear it was off limits but neither of my kids were particularity adventurous. I have absolute horror stories from friends and relatives though. I think it helps if you respect your own gear in the first place and treat it carefully. Monkey see monkey do.

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On 29/10/2018 at 9:49 PM, Addicted to music said:

Teach them well while there young.  Enjoy your kids more than your gear,  because you only get one chance at this.

i got two young ones, 7 & 3 and the system is insured!

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17 hours ago, Topman_Chief said:

One trick that worked for me was putting adhesive Velcro on my speaker stands. When the kids were really young I also had string so the stands couldn’t fall over.

Overall though, I was surprised how quickly they learned that going anywhere near the speakers or other audio gear would result in a horrible fiery death.

I cringe every time I hear of people selling or storing gear because they have kids. Maybe my gear isn’t expensive enough to make me worry, but there is no way I’d go without a system I could listen to in my main living space with my family.

I can't like ^ this enough.

 

I don't have a truly hi end system but still around $15k to replace. My love of music was passed down from my mum, even though it was an uncle who was the audiophile and made sure we had great gear while I was growing up, but it was in the formal lounge so I didn't get to use it much (does anybody still have these?).

 

As soon as my kids could understand they were introduced to the family room system and taught how to use it, including the TT. I usually drop the needle (because it doesn't drop completely straight) but they set it in position and change sides etc. My wife likes to limit the kids "screen time" so I put music on at every opportunity, and we create playlists where each family member selects tracks in turn and then we listen while having dinner. Making it a normal part of life is the key... but they know not to play rough near my gear.

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My kids grew up around the Hifi

 

You can get child proof locks if worried about fiddling with dials buttons

 

best approach I think is just have them involved rather barring from use. Supervised if needed initially but it’s nit long they start to appreciate

 

my speakers all have exposed drivers too wasn’t a problem ...

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Guest jakeyb77
30 minutes ago, yamaha_man said:

I had this humble system when my boy was born up until he was 4.

Never had an issue with him touching it. 

0A9E91F8-CAEA-4850-86C0-8792C95E68B7.jpeg

Hmmm you’re not a fan of toe-in I see ?

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Guest thathifiguy

I've actively shown my daughter how to treat the equipment ever since she was tiny, advising that we don't touch the speakers/components and she is really good.

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Very young children: gear up on shelves above their height for everything including speakers (10 years for 4 kids); older age kids: back on the floor with a distinctive 'boundary' and No Man's Land (carpet only); now for grandkids: my mature (caged) valve-based system--and a lot of prayer.

 

Rule#1: The lounge room is for music and most dancing, and reading, and talking, and not for anything else

 

They are all now trained BUT yes, it's their friends you must watch out for, and their parents!  A feral 11 year old turned off my power amp playing 'at full volume' just because she wanted to...one of her relatives kicked a ball into the lounge room where it bounced off my valve amp (no harm done). Her hyperactive father tried to key up the tonearm on a playing record "to see what was underneath"! All of this was a great surprise to me. That family hasn't returned.

 

95% of the time it's all music and fun.

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I got rid of the speaker stands and ended up getting a wider tv cabinet and put the speakers on the cabinet. Now I think the speakers are too big and the TV is too small. The only solution now is to get a bigger TV and a smaller set of speakers. Educating them is the way to go, my son doesn't really go near them.

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Agree with all the above.

Educate them early not to touch stuff that isn't theirs no matter how shiny it is.

Mine only pushed in one midrange.

The child fences you can get for when they're too little to understand but still mobile enough to cause damage.

Or put the shiny gear away somewhere safe for the first year or 2.

 

Enjoy every moment when they're little. They really do grow up too fast....

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