Speakers & Critters

K

king2b

Audioholic Intern
My wife heard a buzzing sound coming from one of the Paradigm speakers in her surround system. I narrowed it down to something loose inside the left speaker. Well it turned out that not only that speaker but the other front,center channel and subwoofer were filled and I mean filled with dog food. Taking them all apart and replacing the batting inside and using a vacuum cleaner everything is back to normal. Those ports on the back made a great tunnel for these mice to store the food in and I am grateful that they didn't eat any wires. I don't know where they got in from but I sure hope they haven't discovered my Phase Technology 9.1 floor standers. I'll be checking them out
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
Until you can solve the source of the problem (the rodents), fill the ports with coarse stainless steel "steel wool." It can be had for cheap in the housewares section of your local supermarket. Mice can and do eat ot tunnel through regular steel wool, but can't deal with the stainless steel version. I learned this from fellow motorcyclists who found this means of keeping rodents out of the exhaust, intake and wiring systems during winter storage.
 
agarwalro

agarwalro

Audioholic Ninja
ROFL!

I moved my SVS PB-12 Ultra to a friend's place after it was sitting idle next to the entertainment stand for a good six months at my ex's place. There was a crazy buzz when the first test track hit its bass heavy section.

So, my friend and I remove the driver and there's a handful of sunflower seeds in there! When it sat idle, this sub was pushed into a corner with the lower two ports plugged. The ex never had a rodent problem in that house and I can guarantee it was never moved.

I'm still stumped as to how those seeds walked themselves from the bird feeder, into the port 20" of the floor, through the port tube and onto the back of the aluminum cone of the driver.
 
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M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
If the port isn't visible, you might get some wire mesh that has about 1/4" between the wires. ...might be worth a trip to lowes.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
ROFL!

I moved my SVS PB-12 Ultra to a friend's place after it was sitting idle next to the entertainment stand for a good six months at my ex's place. There was a crazy buzz when the first test track hit its bass heavy section.

So, my friend and I remove the driver and there's a handful of sunflower seeds in there! When it sat idle, this sub was pushed into a corner with the lower two ports plugged. The ex never had a rodent problem in that house and I can guarantee it was never moved.

I'm still stumped as to how those seeds walked themselves from the bird feeder, into the port 20" of the floor, through the port tube and onto the back of the aluminum cone of the driver.
It is possible the seeds were in the cabinet at the factory, and just missed cleaning during assembly. When you moved the Ultra, you dislodged/moved the seeds.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Until you can solve the source of the problem (the rodents), fill the ports with coarse stainless steel "steel wool." It can be had for cheap in the housewares section of your local supermarket. Mice can and do eat ot tunnel through regular steel wool, but can't deal with the stainless steel version. I learned this from fellow motorcyclists who found this means of keeping rodents out of the exhaust, intake and wiring systems during winter storage.
I opened up one of my speakers after it had been sitting idle for some time as well and found the rock wool all torn up on the bottom like a "nest" and some food had been stored in it as well. This speaker was on a stand and at least 3 ft off the ground. They can climb and jump.

Steel wool works to keep them out - I went all over the house and found points of entry and stuffed it with steel wool and did not have any more rodent issues afterward.
 
killdozzer

killdozzer

Audioholic Samurai
:D
You've gotta commend their choice in audio. Real connoisseurs.
- "To hell with the seeds if you can't get a decent sound to nibble them with!!"
- "You said that right! And I remember there being a lot more of Celine Dion, a lot more..."
- "Yeah, now it's all; John Legend this and John Legend that..."

killdozzer
 
K

king2b

Audioholic Intern
I guess we are lucky to have sophisticated mice that only store food in quality speakers! They can't get into my AR Connoisseur 19,s or Orbs because they are sealed (except for the subwoofer) but all of my Paradigm's and Phase Techs are an open invitation..but not much longer!
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
Many years ago, a friend brought his new dog to our house. The fargin' dog proceeded to give his opinion of my JBL Lancer 55's by lifting his leg and letting go. Thank God for speaker grilles.
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
Many years ago, a friend brought his new dog to our house. The fargin' dog proceeded to give his opinion of my JBL Lancer 55's by lifting his leg and letting go. Thank God for speaker grilles.
:eek: OMG. My cats could do some damage if they had a mind to but so far have ignored the speakers except for one who liked jumping up the 40" to sit on top. Not a scratch, fortunately. And thankfully, seems to have lost interest in doing it.

Is this guy still a friend? I hope he offered to clean up the mess or pay for it!
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
Imagine GoldenEar Triton 1 with those big socks...
Now imagine having two cats with front claws......

I bought 4 scratching posts, covered my speakers for the first month in bed sheets when I wasn't using them. Thank god my cats never showed an interest and my now 40lb English Bulldog Puppy can't knock them over ;)
 
agarwalro

agarwalro

Audioholic Ninja
It is possible the seeds were in the cabinet at the factory, and just missed cleaning during assembly. When you moved the Ultra, you dislodged/moved the seeds.
This Ultra started as a Rosenut finish box and I moved the driver and amp to a piano finish box. Then it moved across the country with me. Finally, it was part of the HT for a year, before it eventually sat idle for six months.

There's no way the seeds were in there as a freebie from SVS :D.
 
J

JRT3

Junior Audioholic
Six inside-only cats = no rodents. All have their claws, yet they leave the speaker grilles alone. The HT has six Infinity P363's, whose front port is covered by the grille (As does my big Klipsch RB-81ii's.). Double-sided tape stops them from scratching door posts, etc. The worst aspect of inside cats is being barefoot and finding a hairball in the dark.
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
LOL...so true. We have three cats (2 own my wife, 1 owns me) and all have their weaponry installed. Haven't ever seen any sign of rodents in this house. The only thing they seem to scratch up is my leather sofa, fortunately I only paid $400 for it and when it goes I expect the cats will be gone too before I buy another. They don't use it as a scratching post per se, just "collateral damage" so far. They actually use the scratch "pad" my wife got for them.

Speakers have all been safe, especially the sealed subwoofer with the perforated steel grill. ;)
 
lsiberian

lsiberian

Audioholic Overlord
I have a cat and she is a killer so the mice are smart enough to avoid my room. My father-in-law has had mice chew through is car wiring.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
My father-in-law has had mice chew through is car wiring.
Not sure which is worse. That, or the one that crawled up into our car ventilation and died. Stank. Had to replace whole system. Sadly, a black snake did the same thing. Replaced again. Must be some kind of opening in the system of a 2004 Maxima.
 

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