It was inevitable - Kiddie friendly HiFi

Howlindawg

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Mar 9, 2009
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Leixlip, Ireland
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Martin
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  1. No
I knew this was coming... just didn't really expect it to happen so suddenly.

Two weeks ago my ten month old daughter was lying beningly on a mat playing with her toys. Then she started crawling around and within a few days was able to stand up against any convenient piece of furniture. Seriously, is the transformation always so sudden? :shock:

The main attraction in our living room is apparently the dog. The HiFi is a very close second. Bright lights and shiney knobs proved irresistable and SWMBO was going frantic that A] Aisling would hurt herself and B] The kit would get damaged.

Yesterday my Luxman Amp, Meridian Transport, dCS and Young were boxed up and stored carefully away. Replacing them is a DIY power amp, DIY Phonostage and CDQ8200 which the SBT feeds directly into. The Townshend rock V had already been replaced with an SL1210 which should be somewhat more durable, or at least expendible if it comes to it.

So, for those of you that have been through this parenting lark... how long is my kit likely to be in storage before it's safe for it to make a return?

 

Chris-_007

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Aug 28, 2010
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Chris
Excellent,

We are going through the same with our 13 month old son at the moment. He loves my Kef reference front ports and whilst our backs have been turned he's been stuffing all sorts of things inside. We caught him today doing it and he just laughed at us as he started filling it up.

I can see a bit of diy work coming up.

We're probably looking at years!

 

dudywoxer

Looking for a bigger stirring stick
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Jul 19, 2005
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sunny scunny
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colin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
At the risk of sounding like a right prick, as long as it takes you to make her understand NO.

In the case of my grandson, about six weeks, the granddaughter, 3 months and counting.

 

Valvebloke

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Dec 3, 2009
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Graeme
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Shelves attached directly to the wall, not standing on the floor. No trailing wires (get a sparky to fit an eye-level 13A outlet). This works fine as long as you can put up with the "Want, want, want ..." wailing. Otherwise make it a cupboard. This works fine as long as you can put up with your own internal "Want to see it, want to see it, want to see it ..." wailing. By the time she's worked out how to construct a climbing frame out of the remaining contents of the living room (including the dog I'm afraid) she'll be old enough to reason with. The real mistake is to have another one. Then the big one does the naughty things you've told her not to and blames it on the little one. We don't have kids but I had much younger siblings when I was a teenager so I am speaking from experience. They're not too bad now though - aged 42 and 44 - although they can still act up sometimes come to think of it.

VB

 

meninblack

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Jul 20, 2005
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HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
Buy kit with exposed valves and high voltages. The kids will learn fast. :D

 
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aswillman

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Feb 7, 2008
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Upavon, UK
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Antony Willman
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Just a slightly different way of looking at things. I had a rack made for me. When my now 2 1/2 year old first got interested in the HiFi, I found a plastic manufacturer online. I had a piece of Perspex made to go in the front of the rack & got a strap to go around it. Frustrates the hell out of the little darling but things are safe.

You could get a cheap rack from IKEA or somewhere & do this maybe?

u6yvynah.jpg


I've attempted to show it in a piccie but I'm sure you get the idea!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

voiceofthemysterons

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Nov 7, 2007
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MindSpace.
Hi. Sort of agree with the above. (Dudywoxer)

As soon as he was able to understand which are his toys and which are Daddy's, the fiddling with switches and volume knob quickly tapered off. Didn't move anything except the turntables, put everything through a powerblock so there's two levels of switching to get anything powered up.

Hasn't fiddled with the speakers or records (yet), in fact we found he 'd actually cleaned off some toothpaste he'd got on one of the speaker grille covers.

He figured out how to use the Bluray player within about a fortnight of us having it and I'm happy to let him handle his discs, figure he'll learn quickly enough if he does something to stop them playing.

He's two and a few months now.

As others have previously said in similar threads, it's when their friends visit you need to watch out for most.

 

SergeAuckland

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May 6, 2008
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Bury St Edmunds, UK
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Serge
HiFi Trade?
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I fortunately had none of these problems with my two when small. The 'speakers at the time were IMF TLS50s, with the grilles on, so nothing to see there. The turntable was on a high shelf well out of reach, and the amp etc was also high up above the turntable so out of reach. My stuff is much more vulnerable now from grandchildren, but it's not had any interest from them. The most concern I have is for the LPs as they are perfect for a toddler to pull out and scatter round the room.

S

 

Rob998

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Nov 19, 2013
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Pie heaven
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Err...
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Your kit will be OK as long as you teach her to leave it alone. A few sharp "Nooooooooo!!!!!!!"s works wonders. However, when she's old enough to have parties make sure the music comes from a boombox or similar and that anything shiny/tactile/interesting looking is put out of reach of poking fingers. Tonearms and tweeter domes are irresistible to toddlers in my unfortunate experience. :wall:

 

diplomat2.6

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Jan 11, 2012
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Peter
We have a 4 and 9 year old. Neither have ever touched my system. I think they know it is something very special - and the old Krell frightens them. It's their friends that you have to watch -

 

Brown Bottle

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Jul 27, 2005
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Steve
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
  2. No
As others have said, teach them not to touch. 3 kids all grew up with the Hi-Fi, only thing that happend, when they were old enough to know better, a tweeter was pushed in, but I managed to rescue it.

cheers BB

 

Ant

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Aug 5, 2005
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I had no issues other than I moved my TT from an 18 inch high rack to a wall shelf. Sometimes I catch her with a hand on the speaker grill but my valve amp lives on the floor and is on frequently and no issues. Then again she's 5 now so no excuse.

 

Howlindawg

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Mar 9, 2009
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Leixlip, Ireland
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Martin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
At the risk of sounding like a right prick, as long as it takes you to make her understand NO.
This is pretty much what i was thinking myself, I'm just not sure at what age an average kiddie will start to develop that level of comprehension. I'm not concerned about her doing damage. Speaker grills are in place and the TT has a lid that I've secured so no issues there. I was more concerned about her hurting herself by pulling a sharp edged metal box (like the Young DAC) on top of herself before she learns not to touch.

As for being more worried about the friends... I suspect that will apply just as much to daddy's friends as Aisling's friends. :D

That Perspex door looks a good idea, although probably not particularly compatable with valves and class A when in use.

 

awkwardbydesign

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Mar 5, 2012
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My stereo moved higher and higher as the kids grew. Then it suddenly came down again. When they understood the word "consequences". Bloody grandsons now. But only that I have to set them up with their own system.

The biggest worry with my daughter was that she learned to climb when we were living in a 14th floor flat. With a balcony. When we lost a cat to gravity we knew we had to get out.

- - - Updated - - -

That Perspex door looks a good idea, although probably not particularly compatable with valves and class A when in use.
12v computer fans, run at 5-6v for quiet.

 

Bluemessiah

Not now
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Jun 21, 2012
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HiFi Trade?
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Never moved anything and the kids never showed any interest in the black boxes in the corner (but the speaker grilles were always on)

As soon as they learn to put a DVD in the DVD player you're safe, no interest in anything else!

 

Toe rag

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Apr 17, 2009
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After witnessing daddies tantrum rolling around the floor screaming like a banshee the little one left my equipment alone favourite game was getting my wallet and flushing the notes couple at a time I never understood the fascination that held.

 

minorrevival

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Mar 13, 2012
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France
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Andrew
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Buy kit with exposed valves and high voltages. The kids will learn fast. :D
There's something in that. My son's now 5 but even as a toddler he never tried to touch the Solista - he could feel the intense heat radiating from it and kept a safe distance.

 

AmDismal

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Apr 22, 2007
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Some kids are quick to respect boundaries, some are a nightmare. Find out which yours are, and then act accordingly. And as mentioned above, watch out for parties, that's when you need an exclusion zone (old cardboard box worked for me once). I never packaged mine away though.

 

eastsoutheast

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Nov 13, 2011
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Wimblington Cambridgeshire
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Brian
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I never boxed up any of my gear and had 3 kids. I also purchased a piece of Perspex which I placed in front of the equipment rack fixed in place with some Velcro. My speakers were never touched although I had to be very firm with them all when they were young. This can be hard to do although it was my partner that struggled being firm enough. The equipment remained in perfect condition.

The grand kids are a different matter as they are not given the same boundarys. They are left to touch whatever they want at home with the response that "they are only kids" when they break something else. I keep them well away from my system now and would never leave them unsupervised in my living room.

 

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