New Magneplanars 2.5/R. Cats and Planar Speakers.

[sphinxsix]

Never thought about the fact that may be obvious to some. Cats must love planar speakers. An excerpt from Stereophile's review of the new Maggies 2.5/R. And the advice from J. Gordon Holt.

 

 

"Domestic cats love to climb up fabric stretched tightly over wood (as at the bases of these) and, given the opportunity, will have these speakers in shreds in no time. Magnepan recommends spray-on cat repellent; I have to tell them that some cats don't seem to mind its odor as much as most people do (footnote 1)."

 

"Footnote 1: A good solution is to push carpet tacks (not thumb tacks, they aren't sharp enough) through a large sheet of cardboard at 1" intervals, covering the cardboard's entire surface. Place the sheet directly in front of the cat's favored scratching place and leave it there for a week. Then you can remove it. If there are more than one such place, use as many sheets as needed. Don't think of this as cruelty to the animal; it's a learning experience, like a kitten's first encounter with a wasp. And it's a lot kinder (and cheaper) than declawing. Don't throw the training mat(s) away when you've made your point, though. Some cats have poor memories, and may need an occasional reinforcement.—J. Gordon Holt"

 

I like the last sentence.

 

Declawing..? No..don't do that! It's cruel!

 

 

The review : Magnepan MG2.5/R loudspeaker | Stereophile.com

[dtb300]

Agree, never declaw a cat. Once of the worst cruelties you can inflict. Next time someone is thinking about it, take your own hand and have your fingers cut off at the first knuckle after your nail.

 

Have owned stats for YEARS through 5 cats and no one has bothered with any of my speakers. It is a matter of training too - there are things to spray near the speakers, you can have a squirt gun near by, but the best thing I ever did was: take an empty soda can wash it out (you may need many) and put a penny in it, then seal it up. Now have these cans near ever chair in the roon where the speakers are. Once the cat(s) get near a speaker (and not watching you), you toss one of these cans in the air near the cat/speakers. Cat has not clue where it came from, they hate the noise, and then they start to associated that bad sound when around the speakers and they stay away. Simple easy and not cruel at all.

 

Some folks just like to shake the cans to make noise, but if a cat sees you with the noise, then the speaker/noise association takes longer.

[Axiom05]

Never thought about the fact that may be obvious to some. Cats must love planar speakers. An excerpt from Stereophile's review of the new Maggies 2.5/R. And the advice from J. Gordon Holt.

 

The review : Magnepan MG2.5/R loudspeaker | Stereophile.com

 

New Maggies? The review is from 1988!

[sphinxsix]

New Maggies? The review is from 1988!

You are correct : Posted: Dec 07, 2016 • Published: Jun 01, 1988

 

I noticed just the first date. Was quickly browsing.

My mistake. Sorry.

[Axiom05]

You are correct : Posted: Dec 07, 2016 • Published: Jun 01, 1988

 

I noticed just the first date. Was quickly browsing.

My mistake. Sorry.

 

No big deal, just amusing. I guess you are not very familiar with JGH. He was a very important figure in the history of high end audio journalism and a superb writer. I encourage you to learn a bit about him & check out some of his articles that are published on the Stereophile web site. His story is really quite amazing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

[The Computer Audiophile]

Great post. Thanks.

 

We recently rescued a second cat from the streets of Minneapolis. A wonderful cat that lets our 4 year daughter pick it up and pet it any time. But, it likes to give its claws a workout on the couch. I will be testing the penny in a can method shortly.

 

 

Sent from my telephone

[sphinxsix]

No big deal, just amusing. I guess you are not very familiar with JGH. He was a very important figure in the history of high end audio journalism and a superb writer. I encourage you to learn a bit about him & check out some of his articles that are published on the Stereophile web site. His story is really quite amazing.

 

 

I'm quite familiar with JGH, mate. I used to read 'Stereophile' since the early 90s for many years. I'm less familiar with the names of the older Magneplanar models and I just glanced the 'Stereophile' review, not even looking at the publishing date. Since I liked the part about cats I quickly decided to post it here. That's the whole story Actually quite funny for me too..

[sphinxsix]

Great post. Thanks.

 

We recently rescued a second cat from the streets of Minneapolis. A wonderful cat that lets our 4 year daughter pick it up and pet it any time. But, it likes to give its claws a workout on the couch. I will be testing the penny in a can method shortly.

 

 

Sent from my telephone

Mine was a street cat too. I treated her quite like a dog and she behaved a bit like a dog. Knew about 12 commands (for example - don't do it, come here, are you going out, petting time and the most interesting IMO - make up your mind - for example in or out, etc). In fact when I moved to a new apartment 3 years ago she gave me the biggest suprise ever. I made a scratching post for her using one of the pillars in the hall of my apartment. I showed her what it's meant to be used for using the word 'scratching post' (for the first time) at the same time 3 or 4 times. But I thought that a 12 years old cat is too old to learn a meaning of a new word. I was wrong! She learned it immediately and it was enough to use the word 'scratching post' to remind her where she is supposed to scratch. After 3 years the post was simply devastated, practically no other damage took place in the apartment.

 

As for strong 'don't do it!' I used a loud 'kshhhh!' sound. Worked really fine!

 

 

Good luck with your new resident's education process, Chris!

 

Artur.

[dtb300]

We recently rescued a second cat from the streets of Minneapolis.

Excellent news....you win the prize from me....

 

A wonderful cat that lets our 4 year daughter pick it up and pet it any time. But, it likes to give its claws a workout on the couch. I will be testing the penny in a can method shortly.

Yes an animal glad to have attention and love.

 

Have many cans sitting around for what ever the circumstance. It you see the cat starting to go scratch, get a can and toss it up in the air near the cat (try not to hit the cat). Or you can first try to just shake the can to make lots of noise. The cat will stop instantly wondering what the noise is.

 

In the past my wife would take the cat trying to scratch the couch over to our cat scratching post, take her front paws and scratch the post - simulation for the cat. Some cats do not like you touching their legs/feet, but over time can be trained to allow it.

[sphinxsix]

In the past my wife would take the cat trying to scratch the couch over to our cat scratching post, take her front paws and scratch the post - simulation for the cat.

Yep. This according to my experience can work too. And this is exactly what I meant when I wrote about showing your pet what the post is meant to be used for. The approving voice tone while doing it is very recommended!

[Ralf11]

wire a proximity sensor in so whenever the cat approaches the speaker, it blasts out "Cat Scratch Fever" at high volume

[sphinxsix]

Seems that J. Gordon Holt is being discussed on 2 (his goose bumps test - on Do you experience skin orgasms?) of top 4 threads on CA right now. A legacy..

 

Once again, sorry for my mistake. I thought JGH's footnote text was taken by Stereophile from their archives and that they reviewed new Maggies.