Hi,
Question for Home Theater owners with little ones at home.

I've got a new set up I'm putting together and have a pair of Polk RTi4s on some Sanus 30" Stands in the family room where I want the Home Theater to go.

The speakers are not 'fastened' in any way to the stands and even if they were, they would still not be very stable from a child inadvertently bumping into the stand (the left from speaker is on a corner wall to a hallway and so in a spot that is vulnerable to 'rough play').

Does anyone else actually have a HT setup with bookshelf speakers on stands? And if so, do you have kids and have you done anything special to 'child proof' the setup?

Thanks!
Erik

barbed wire........................................................ ..........................:DI kid, I kid . Not the best but maybe you could try heavy duty velcro from home depot. You could cover the bottom of the stand with velcro to the floor and the speaker to the stand where it sits. Its the only thing I could think of. unless of corse you like the barbed wire idea.:)

Electrify the stands! :D

Now thats a hard one. Floorstanders are a bit safer. But when it comes to troublesome toddlers nothing is safe. Oh how about some serious old fashioned discipline and guidelines. When i was growing up certain things were out of bound the iron the stove and of course dad stereo. But hey this is quite a different generation now altogether right :P

I would do something like this...

I would hard mount the stands into the floor concrete. - like with big ass bolts.

Then I would cover the entire bottom of the speaker and stand with 3m velcro so it wont come off.

Maybe that will work, or wait a few years.

The speaker stands for my Atlantic Tech. 8200e's have sandbags in the base -- about 80# worth. A toddler would bump off of these. The heavy duty velcro is also a great idea.

velcroing the speakers to the stands is a definite must....not sure whether you rent or own, or what your floors/stands are made of....but you could possibly screw the stands right into the floor without too much damage to stand or floor as long as you predrill everything. just a thought.

Go to a hobby store that sells RC planes or cars and ask for a roll of "servo tape". It's a rubbery two sided tape that is hi-tack yet can be easily removed without damaging the surface it's stuck to. Get the 1.5" wide roll and put a square in each corner. It's strong and much better than Velcro to stick a speaker to a stand. Fill the stand's tubes with leadshot or sand and they'll be heavier than a floorstander with the same footprint.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

The more time I spend pondering and fretting the detailed design (I'm an engineer - can't help it) of my HT setup, the more I'm inclined to wall mount the speakers using some sort of articulated wall mount to get clearance from the wall and some flexibility to angle & aim the speakers.

I'm really not that impressed with the Sanus 30 Natural Foundation 30 stands:
* the vertical supports are not that rigid when screwed to the base
* the alignment of base to top is off by a bit - not sure why - all the holes are pre-drilled from the factory
* the stands seem 'wobbly' when placed on my wood floor.
* the stands feature a cable channel in the back to hide cables that has to be installed using supplied plastic strips that you must force/bend and install in two slots on the back - the plastic is *very* rigid and on one stand it 'popped' out and ripped part of the black finish from the back of the vertical stand.

I've got several layout configurations I'm considering accounting for acoustic and video factors (speaker height, hdtv height, speaker separation, sub woofer placement, equipment racks, etc) - all with certain room constraints - all indicating that mounting the speakers on the walls has the fewest drawbacks - and solves the 'child proof' issue as well.

Back to the drawing board! :)

Thanks again,
Erik

when my little one was growing up i had the same problem. I used a small fence around the speakers- bought from babies -r- us. It's around 2 feet tall plastic play yard fence made from sections that can be turned at different angles and its quite strudy too if you place it properly and can take the kids weight leaning on it. Sure it was an eyesore for a while but it kept both the kid and the speaker's safe.

when my little one was growing up i had the same problem. I used a small fence around the speakers- bought from babies -r- us. It's around 2 feet tall plastic play yard fence made from sections that can be turned at different angles and its quite strudy too if you place it properly and can take the kids weight leaning on it. Sure it was an eyesore for a while but it kept both the kid and the speaker's safe.

That's a good idea, Daman. Can you post some pic for your setup? I had the same problem with my kid as well. I am currently setting up my first HT and was thinking to put together a long tv bench and then put the speaker stand behind tv bench. Not sure if it will work.

That's a good idea, Daman. Can you post some pic for your setup? I had the same problem with my kid as well. I am currently setting up my first HT and was thinking to put together a long tv bench and then put the speaker stand behind tv bench. Not sure if it will work.

Ivan, i have set everything up in the basement now, and unfortunately i don't have a picture to post, but this is a link to the particular fence i was using http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2266978

You can also buy add-on two piece sets to this if you need longer runs. I basically had the 3 front speaker's covered by this and fence was supported by the back wall(behind the speakers).

The tv bench would work as long as the child has no way to reach behind it. Do keep in mind the kid's tend to surprise you at the number of places they can reach ;) All the best!

I would say encase the entire setup in concrete but that would probably yield a big fat no storm.

To me the only way to child proof anything is to keep it out of reach which means of course mounting on the wall up high and pointed downwards to the listening position. Like a lot of people I prefer my speakers down low at ear level but then again I don't have kids or a wife either so I guess there is a trade-off in there somewhere.

To go along with the fence idea...you might consider if there is room to literally custom build a stage of sorts that puts everything up and out of the way. I'm thinking something about 18'' high and very pleasing to the eye would be a nice project. Perhaps even incorporating the speakers into the stage with hard grilles protecting the speakers without muffling the sound. Just a thought.

I suggest building small "Moats" around all AV equipment and then filling the moats with your choice of Piranha, crocodiles or Jelly fish. I suggest the jelly fish since they seem like they would be easy to care for. After all this whole "moat thing" needs to be user friendly.

Hello there.

For my HT setup I put my bookshelf speakers on my TV stand. I purchased a stand that was wide enough to have the TV and speakers on top.

I'm in the same boat when it comes to our den. I have a pair of bookshelf speakers on stands, and just don't feel that they are sturdy enough. I have been looking at either in-wall, in-ceiling or wall mount speakers. I have already ruled out in-ceiling for several reasons. When comparing in-wall to wall mount I would definitely say that wall mount has a sonic advantage, although I may still go in-wall. Sanus has some nice looking wall speaker mounts for regular bookshelf speakers. Check them out.

Good Luck.

Charlie