Hope everyone having a better day than me

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 :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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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!

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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.

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Isnt this accidental damage on \house insurance?
Such a shame!

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Omg… I feel your pain on that one, at least ATC are decent to deal with and you should be able to sort quickly. Have a chat with Ben Lilly to start with.

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In the early 80s I went into Laskys on Tottenham court road and the domes on every single speaker had been pushed in, dozens of them! Presumably some kid had run around unnoticed by the staff.

How they expected to sell any of these I’ve no idea, maybe they hoped people wouldn’t notice?

The first time my grandson visited here his eyes lit up on seeing my floor standing Focal speakers. The grilles were immediately fitted and have stayed! I hadn’t used them up to that point, as surprisingly my wife preferred the uncovered look.

There’s something magnetic about speakers and toddlers!

Indeed I’ll have to fathom some way of preventing future catastrophes, probably some elastic cord or similar to hold the grilles on and I’m even thinking of utilising the speaker bags which they were delivered in in times of non use, although I’m sure my wife won’t like that.

ATC have advised that just the drivers can be shipped back for repair so that’s one less issue logistically, they also advised that they may be able to just replace the dust cap on the bass unit and possible re coat the mid although I think I’d prefer peace of mind with a re coning of the mid with the speakers being only a few months old. Ill ask them to give the bass unit a thorough test to see if a dust cap is all that’s required, I have no issue with re coning both drivers to give me peace of mind tbh so I’ll see what diagnosis they come up with, they are the experts after all.

I’ll give the house insurance a call today and see what they say, either way I look forward to it getting sorted, I dont think ill be able to enjoy music until they are, even if the damage is mostly cosmetic. Music and riding my bike have been my main outlets for the past few difficult months following the death of my dear father, biking has pretty much been put the window for the past few weeks with a bad chest infection so this was a real kick in the nuts. Onwards and upwards as they say.

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions, I’ll let you know what method I come up with for future protection, im sure I have some electric fencing in the shed :slightly_smiling_face:

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Funnily enough I was considering a pair of hts7 for my rear surround channels, did you audition them against the standard speakers?

As much as I’d like to remove the possibility of future events, I wouldn’t want to put these away for a few years as I’ve only just upgraded to them.

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I did not do a simultaneous A:B but I had the standmount 7s prior to the wallmount 7s and I thought the wallmount 7s were better.

Just in case the kids come round! They take seconds to fit and remove if you are over five feet tall. :grinning::ok_hand:

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Sounds like the same thing I’ve had, absolutely horrible. To cheer you up the antibiotics didn’t clear it properly, but gone now at last. Cheered myself up by upgrading my power amp to a 300DR :grin:

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Custom covers for people that have pets(cats) and kids. I had jokes made at my speaker “coats” on another thread, but my speakers remain pristine to this day. You may want to look into it.

Scott

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At the risk of coming across as controversial…do you have a cupboard under the stairs by any chance?

I’ll get me coat… :joy:

Cheers,

Ian

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Deepest sympathies. Maaaaany moons ago I left my HiFi set up in my parents house in my old bedroom. I returned one weekend to find that a young cousin had similarly pushed in the dust caps on my Spendors. My mother used her hoover to pull them out. Whilst I felt that the parents should get them properly mended I also felt in a bit of a no-win situation as I was using my parents as free storage.

A number if years later when I had children I used Kans, and had them far enough up the wall to be out of reach!

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I think the solution in the near future will be some clear elastic to hold the grilles more securely in place when in use and then the covering with the speaker bags when not in use as pictured, the Mrs isn’t too offended by them when placed on neatly (more neatly than pictured) and they are branded too!

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Sorry to hear of your speaker trauma.

I have ATC SCM 40’s too and despite the rather industrial look of the grilles, which I can and do live with, I think that they offer some of the most effective mechanical protection I have seen of domestic speakers.

That is, of course, provided the grilles stay in place! I must look out for some clear bands to fit.

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I’ll let you know how my elastic modification turns out, I’ve ordered some 1mm clear elastic cord in the hope that it’s both strong enough and minimally visible. I suspect that it will still leave tan lines so may need to move it around every few days but that’s a lesser worry than damage to be honest.

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Kids, my lad did the same about 23 years ago

Feel your pain, but looks like you are sorting it

Kind thoughts. Thats how I feel about my old truck that’s been bumped by everyone.