ugh! Two Cats, FREE!

saabracer23

Well, I just got these speakers and my cats already destroyed one. I figured I could leave the grills off to save them from the cats not thinking the would go after the passive radiator! Very frustrating, I just got over them shredding my album collection. Plus they're always chewing through my cables. They must really hate audio.

Is there any way I can repair this, buy some foam and reface it? I have done many re-surrounds (all of which the coil stayed aligned in the gap). If not does anybody have a lead on one that I could buy?

Thanks
Dan

Oh and for the animal lovers, I'm not really getting rid of my cats.

F1nut

Ouch!

The pucks are glued on...no idea how to get them off and no idea what you could use to replace them. I do know they are a specific weight and vary from model to model.

saabracer23

I figured, shoot. I hope I can find one!

Thanks,
Dan

danger boy

i have two cats too.. and here is what I do.

i turn my SDA's around to face right up against the wall when I'm not using them.. which is about 95% of the time.. that way no cat claws get damage the drivers or grille clothe.

Toolfan66

There is a Recipe for this problem.

You will need 1 guinie sack,
add cat/s,
wire tie the top,
toss in river till they are well done.

















I am just kidding our cat is awesome but I don't have a problem like this with our cat.

Toolfan66

danger boy wrote: »

i have two cats too.. and here is what I do.

i turn my SDA's around to face right up against the wall when I'm not using them.. which is about 95% of the time.. that way no cat claws get damage the drivers or grille clothe.

I am guessing your SDA's are not spiked. if I had to spin my spiked 1.2's to keep the cat away the cat would just have to find a new home.

gdb

Buy an electric fence charger,temporarily set it up to charge some foil strips dangling from your grilles..........wait for the show to start! That'll fix the little effers desire to go near your Polks, forever!!!:D

Schurkey

Spray bottle of water. Spray 'em with it when you see them getting ready to claw the speakers. Downside is that you have to be in the room and paying attention when they do it.

They've visually disfigured the passive, but I wouldn't expect that to be an audible problem unless it continues. Put the grilles on, you'll never know they've been clawed.

Might want to get 'em a proper scratching post and spend some time training.

Ern Dog

Schurkey wrote: »

Spray bottle of water. Spray 'em with it when you see them getting ready to claw the speakers. Downside is that you have to be in the room and paying attention when they do it.

They've visually disfigured the passive, but I wouldn't expect that to be an audible problem unless it continues. Put the grilles on, you'll never know they've been clawed.

Might want to get 'em a proper scratching post and spend some time training.

Agreed. My cats use their scratch post daily and are responsive to the water spray bottle. When my cats get too close to my speakers, I say "NO" in a disapproving tone and they get it.

restanim

Dude that sucks....

I have a couple of pasive radiators that look like the one in your picture that I am willing to sell. They are the 12" version model SW120.

Let me know,
Mike

nooshinjohn

I prefer the open-door drop kick like a football technique

saabracer23

Ahh the water bottle. I use the spray bottle, but it is very hard to be consistent with it. It's like they don't care any more. I have a 6 foot scratching post for them that they can climb. They just choose my stuff, it's funny they haven't ruined one thing of my wife's. Hmmm. Is the SW120 what they used in the SDA 2?

Thanks
Dan

rallyshark

Damn! I love animals, but yeah, I think there would be some flying kitties after I saw that. The "electric fence" idea sounds fun as well:D Or maybe some sort of electric pad around the base of the speakers. Ooo I know, a taser! Yeah! Seriously though, you just gotta teach the cats to stay away somehow...there are may suggestions in pet forums and the such on how to keep cats away from stuff.

thsmith

WHile I do not like cats or dogs and wife has one of each I would never hurt one. I suggest going to petsmart and see what they offer or do a search on the web. SPray bottle and scratching post sounds reasonable.

Your speakers may have been marked by another animal before you owning them.

restanim

Well, the SDA-2 did use the SW120
See for yourself.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=35349&d=1220811206

snow

Well it looks like you have two options to me either get rid of the cats, not by killing them but giving them to someone else. I personally wouldndt have a cat as a pet but thats like most things in life a personal preference, or move your audio gear to a room that has a door that stays closed unless your in there. Getting a new pair of passives isnt the answer until you address the real issue the cats propensity to destroy your gear.



REGARDS SNOW

nooshinjohn

supercricri wrote: »

Eh SAABRACER23, go to Lowes or H.Depot and buy little pot of acrylic putty for dry wall, it's VERY LIGHT and white, somme sand paper 600,800 grit and mask-tape . It,s look like styrofoam your woofer, begin to sand with 600 the woofer, after your woofer is soft,flat, and all exedent of styrofoam removed, blast the dust with air in the little scarf and begin to fill the scarf with the very light putty WITH A RAZOR BLADE, let dry 1 day. the day after begin to sand with a small sanding block with 800 grit. your styrofoam woofer must to be flat and soft. Begin to mask 2 of your surround buttil woofer and buy a Tamiya acrylic primer and nato black and spray them. remove your tape. The total weight of this surgical do not exess around 4 -5 gram and it's nothing for a light passive radiator and if you take your time and sand very carefully
they go to look better than before. good luck! note: OTHER spraycan can attack your styrofoam.

Very bad Idea!

cfrizz

I had 2 cats as well, since they can't help but follow their instincts & I wanted to keep both them & the speakers I had both of them declawed (just the front paws)

Needless to say they were indoor cats as all of them should be. They sharpened their nonexisting claws on the RTA's (only when I wasn't there to yell at them.) No damage to the speakers or them.

Tami lived to the ripe old age of 20 & Oscar made it to 13. The RTA's are going to be 20 in Feb.

saabracer23

Yeah that is the route I am thinking, my cats are indoor as well. It's an expensive procedure, luckily my step mom is a vet!

Dan

nguyendot

Go get one of those lysol automatic air fresheners....the one with the motion sensor.
Set it up so when they walk up to or come close to the speaker it sprays them in the face with concentrated air freshener. They won't come near them again after a day or so. My cat only took one spray to never walk back into the corner she was peeing in.

Huh What?

This worked for me.

rallyshark

Huh What? wrote: »

This worked for me.

That's freaking hilarious! I'm still laughing:D

TouchOfEvil

i'm glad our cats are declawed.

skrol

I have heard a few folks talk about cat deterrents in the past. The water bottle has been good but it links the punishment with you. If you are not there then they are free to do what they want. Ideally you need to have a way to make it unpleasant for them when you aren't around. One that I heard works well, but haven't tried, is to put a sheet of tin foil where you don't want the cats (ie in front of the speakers). Apparently, they hate to walk on the stuff.

Fortunately, after 3 years, our cats have not used my speakers as scratch posts. I did spray around them with some stuff I got at the pet store. Maybe that worked.

Stan

OldmanSRS

Same advice as Stan. If you were lucky enough to have obtained he cats when they were young your job will be easier. A spritze with the spray bottle and a loud NO several times will make them avoid the speakers. I have 2 inside cats with claws and both were trained not to scratch or jump on the SRS's. As stated you can buy some chemical spray and another neat trick is to place aluminm foild around the base of the speakers while you are training them. Cats won't step on foil.

Placing a cat scratching post near the speakers will give them place to fulfill the need to scratch other than your speakers.

Greg

fluffy

great suggestions in this thread..

this was advertised on a show once that i watched on animal planet.

the show was called "its me or the dog" and this pootch was always getting into flowers or something... it would work on kittahs as well since they hate startling, scary, swooshing noises..

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3325890&utm_source=googleproduct&utm_campaign=5138144&utm_medium=cse&mr:trackingCode=86046664-C881-DE11-B712-001422107090&mr:referralID=NA

Polkersince85

For repair, a hobby shop that sells RC airplanes should have bottles of lightweight polymer filler powder that is used to fill styrofoam voids. Mix with Elmers glue and fill the holes. Don't use paint with solvents as this will destroy the styrofoam.

Large storage capacitors provide quite a shock to the little bastages.
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mrbofus

I use a spray called "comfort Zone" with feliway. mostly during the winter when my cat doesnt spend much time outside. You can get it at the vet or pet store. It works pretty well. Maybe worth a try. I never thought I would have cat in the house but I have been adopted twice by strays the wife let it in the house and its all over from there.
....I must say, for cats (2) they are pretty cool and well mannered.