Little Kids and their Parents Stereo
munk
Posts: 258
I read recently about a guy with a 2 year old who'd learned to play CD's. Trouble was, he'd only pick the 'blue' ones from the rack. That made me laugh because that's exactly what at least two of mine did also. Now that my three sons are all in school, I can afford to laugh. Some of the things little hands did weren't funny at the time.
I remember the tone arm of the Linn Axis was found laying on the surface of the machine, off the platter, resting on the stylus. Ouch. I duct taped the lid to the record player closed. That worked as long as I didn't play too many records and wore the tape out.
Then there was the packrat stage, where many of the knobs on the carver reciever were pulled off and carried away to God only knows where. Often the bass would be turned waaay up, or the volume. That makes for an exciting moment when a several toddlers hit the roof when the speakers scream to life.
They never poured any juice in, and the attacks on the system were kept rare thanks to vigilance and lots of talk about what is off limits and what is not. It is funny to me (now) that I taught firearms safety at a very early age, and they all got that, while the stereo was in a gray area. Many a knight or robot spent some time on top of a speaker or tape deck. I got so tired of one son in particular who would not refrain from 'adjusting' the Television that I built a wooden bib around its base to block access. There was a window cut in the wood for the remote to communicate with the machine.
A friend handmade the wooden 'rack' my system rests in, and over the years crayon and other materials have been added to the surface of the wood.
All in all, not too bad. Anyone else have or had small children exploring hi fidelity?
That reminds me; a friend of mine, a psychologist, burned several CD's for me of a avante guard (sic?) singer songwriter popular in Europe. He banged on several instruments, had strange tonal staircases in his music, did some whining and in general wrote about what clods these mortals be. I didn't like him. But my oldest at 5 thought he was great, and would play this guy all the time. I think outside of some very exclusive apartments in New York City, amongst the elite, the only other place you could hear this music in the US was probably in my basement.
One of the best things is watching several little kids dance to the music, without any selfconsciousness, completely natural and happy.
I remember the tone arm of the Linn Axis was found laying on the surface of the machine, off the platter, resting on the stylus. Ouch. I duct taped the lid to the record player closed. That worked as long as I didn't play too many records and wore the tape out.
Then there was the packrat stage, where many of the knobs on the carver reciever were pulled off and carried away to God only knows where. Often the bass would be turned waaay up, or the volume. That makes for an exciting moment when a several toddlers hit the roof when the speakers scream to life.
They never poured any juice in, and the attacks on the system were kept rare thanks to vigilance and lots of talk about what is off limits and what is not. It is funny to me (now) that I taught firearms safety at a very early age, and they all got that, while the stereo was in a gray area. Many a knight or robot spent some time on top of a speaker or tape deck. I got so tired of one son in particular who would not refrain from 'adjusting' the Television that I built a wooden bib around its base to block access. There was a window cut in the wood for the remote to communicate with the machine.
A friend handmade the wooden 'rack' my system rests in, and over the years crayon and other materials have been added to the surface of the wood.
All in all, not too bad. Anyone else have or had small children exploring hi fidelity?
That reminds me; a friend of mine, a psychologist, burned several CD's for me of a avante guard (sic?) singer songwriter popular in Europe. He banged on several instruments, had strange tonal staircases in his music, did some whining and in general wrote about what clods these mortals be. I didn't like him. But my oldest at 5 thought he was great, and would play this guy all the time. I think outside of some very exclusive apartments in New York City, amongst the elite, the only other place you could hear this music in the US was probably in my basement.
One of the best things is watching several little kids dance to the music, without any selfconsciousness, completely natural and happy.