Yes indeed, it seems magnetic grilles are not 2-year-old-proof.
Looking at a price list I found I hope that a re coning is all that’s required although the bass driver looks to have taken a beating so I’ll ask them to check the voice coil also. Either way I’m looking at around 500 quid plus any labour I suspect, just what I needed, think someone somewhere has it in for me at the moment.
Not sure what the process is going to be but hopefully my dealer can help out with shipping them back for repair. Gutted.
Any great ideas on how to keep the grilles affixed more securely?
I’d have a few beers to take the sting off but I’m on antibiotics at the moment trying to shake off a 2 month chest infection. Nvm eh
It may be worth claiming on your insurance if you have accidental damage cover and depending on your excess.
I’d get some suitably coloured elastic and basically tie the grilles on to the speakers. I did this with my SBLs after the second tweeter destruction incident.
Sorry to hear what happened. I have been there. My advice is to possibly put the speakers away for a few years and get something cheaper unless you can come up with a suitable solution. I had it happen twice. Well multiple times, but two really bad ones. In my experience once they find out how taboo it is, they just can’t help themselves. That could just be my son though. My daughter didn’t do the same.
I have successfully “pulled” such out with a carefully placed, relatively focused suction force like the crevice wand of a vacuum…takes good, firm, 2-handed muscle control to keep the wand end about an inch or so away. Not a perfect solution, but worth a shot if they are otherwise destined for replacement anyway.
Have you tried sucking them out using a toilet paper roll (just the inner cardboard) and a vacuum cleaner? I’ve had to do this a few times are a certain nephew has visited…
I think better do something as HH suggests, and don’t let kids be on their own in the hifi room until they have learnt what they can and can’t touch. (But absolutely let them be in there to hear music.)
Yes, I have managed to manipulate the mid driver back into shape however I can feel that the stiffness has been compromised, hence ill have it replaced anyway.
The bass driver isn’t budging however, although it’s probably cosmetic only, it will bother me if I don’t get it fixed, they are only a few months old.
Ill figure a way to keep the grilles more securely in place
Sorry to see this. It can be disheartening, for certain. I’ve luckily never had this happen (knock, knock), even with two boys and their friends/cousins always around my old setup. I had always feared it, though; even took down my system for a few years and sold off most things until they were older (kept the things I knew I’d regret selling, especially as I knew I’d be getting back into audio again).
At the end of the day, these things are just that—things. 500 quid isn’t chump change, but it could always be worse. I had a pretty bad day, but not that bad. Again, sorry about your incident.
Depends on the house layout I suppose. Having open plan homes as most have in Australia it’s not really possible to keep them away. After the first incident (which was repairable) my wife said “you should put the big speakers away and put the bookshelf speakers up on wall brackets” i replied “no he will have learned now, it will be ok”. I should have listened to her. I ended up having to buy new drivers. It was not too bad as they were diy speakers. The scan speak sliced paper cones. Turns out it’s rather easy to poke a finger straight through the dust cap.
I feel your pain. Not sure if you want to hear this right now but I got ATC HTS 7 (they are wall mounted) precisely for this reason and they have been perfectly suited for avoiding these types of situations. They don’t sacrifice anything in terms of sound quality vs the stand mount 7s. The 11s and 40s also come in wall mount versions. You could return to floor standers in a few years.
In the mean time duct tape is good at pulling those domes out.
When my son was little I used dog gates to close off the room when adults weren’t present. Then when I was going in the living room I’d let the little ankle biter in and taught him not to touch daddy’s toys. Never had an incident. Worked on my dogs too
Touches wood - I’ve managed to get all my speakers through two kids, four grand kids and a couple of dogs. The secret was to make some leatherette pouches that held a sheet of hardboard to cover the front of the speakers, a simple Velcro lip attached to the back of the speaker and could be removed or installed in seconds. Like little speaker flack-jackets - well not so little as I have a pair for my DBL’s!
As others have suggested, try popping them out with either a toilet roll holder or a vacuum cleaner nozzle. My son did something similar to the soft dome tweeters on my ATC SCM7s a few years back. I was amazed and relieved that two crunched up drivers (looking similar to yours) could be popped out in a matter of seconds with no permanent damage.
