Child friendly hifi speakers.

[phil_cardiff]

At the moment I have a crawling, climbing 8 month old and stand mounted bookshelf speakers. The 2 aren't a great mix. I'm steering my son away from the speakers but want to minimise risk.

Ideally I'd like some low, broad floorstanders but you can't buy them new anymore (that I've seen). I don't mind buying vintage speakers but I'm worried that my Cambridge Audio 640a amp will be too much for them at 75w and will blow them. Are my concerns correct?

[phil_cardiff]

Thanks. I was hoping to spend less than £100. The volume doesn't go very high these days!

[phil_cardiff]

Crackie said:

phil_cardiff said:

At the moment I have a crawling, climbing 8 month old and stand mounted bookshelf speakers. The 2 aren't a great mix. I'm steering my son away from the speakers but want to minimise risk.

Ideally I'd like some low, broad floorstanders but you can't buy them new anymore (that I've seen). I don't mind buying vintage speakers but I'm worried that my Cambridge Audio 640a amp will be too much for them at 75w and will blow them. Are my concerns correct?

Isn't it possible to make your speaker stands much more stable and then attach the speakers securely to the stands ?

Some stands are designed to be mass loaded by lead shot or dry sand. If your stands can't be mass loaded then possibly a heavy weight such as a paving slab, could be fitted to the bottom of the stand. The speakers could be attached to the stands using double sided self adhesive foam tape.

This would be a low cost solution without any concerns regarding power handling.

My stands are filled with sand but are still unstable. I'm not convinced a paving slab in the living with a speaker stand taped to it room will pass the wife test...

[phil_cardiff]

Tom_C76 said:

Don't think floor standing speakers will solve your problems, the dog has knocked mine over a couple of times. Problem seems to be that all the mass is high up, and they're Kef Q5s so not a very stable shape anyway.

The speakers I'm after are the vintage type that are usually about 50cm high and 30cm wide and deep, so much more square and stable than your Q5s. I hope it'll work.

I can't put mine on bookshelves due to a window getting in the way!

[phil_cardiff]

TonyRPH said:

Vintage floorstanders tend to be shallow front to back - so you run a greater risk of the speaker being pulled over on to the child.

When my two kids were going through the crawling / growing up phase, my speakers and HiFi stayed right where it was, and my kids were adequately supervised.

I never had a problem.

Also - double sided tape will just tear with the amount of leverage offered by a speaker on top of a speaker stand.

If you really had to go down that road, you would need to screw the speakers to the stands, and in turn bolt said stand to any concrete supports you use.

You might just as well fix the stands to the floor. That would probably improve your bass anyway.

I'm confident we'll adequately supervise my children too. However I’m risk adverse and I want to minimise potential problems. I take on board your point about vintage speakers and will have a good look at any I may purchase.

I'm not screwing my stands to the floor...

[phil_cardiff]

Funk said:

Wall brackets. The speakers can stay at the right height but without the stands underneath. When sprog is old enough remove and put back on stands, fill mounting holes.

Shouldn't be more than £50 for decent ones and if they're on a solid wall they'll sound fine too.

If only you could screw wall brackets to a window...

[phil_cardiff]

Brackets you say?

[phil_cardiff]

Miocene said:

Look for a closed box design, rather than ported. You'll never know who has rung when your mobile is on vibrate inside a speaker...

Brilliant!