Babies and Speakers


For those out there with newborns or babies on the way, I ran across a friend who's a fellow audiophile who advised me that after my newborn son arrives in 3 months time that if I plan on getting serious speakers with a decent sub I should consider that I won't be able to run my system volume at pre-baby levels without waking up the child.

Short of buying a nice over the ear headset, which would upset me since I won't be able to run my floorstanding speakers, how big of an issue is this for all of you and what other ways have you worked around it?

Many thanks everyone for making these forums so helpful for an anxious Dad to be.
maxim531
My wife always used a noise machine to play some sort of static or sound to block out the world so the baby would sleep. These are great (waves, birds, static, wind...).
Want one really cheap, we are done with ours?
it was so long ago my recollection is weak (my kids are now 25 and 23), but listening volume was never a problem for me when my kids were infants. In fact, my oldest son would fall asleep whenever we turned on the vacuum cleaner!

The bigger issue for me was I little to had no time to listen. I ended up putting my energy/money into the best car stereo I could manage since I have a 50 minute commute, this was my listening time.
Both of my boys were born at home to the strains of Pachelbel's Canon in D. The music never stopped and now they both play instruments themselves.
It's the toddler stage you want to worry about. They climb. They knock things over. They smear food and other things. They put little things into little places. They are curious and their investigations can have disastrous results. You won't really care though. They're only little once.
I had a lot of soft new age music playing when my son was born (Enya, etc.). So far, he is a very peace loving and inquisitive soul.

Music is good for kids as long as its not jarring or upsetting. I think it has been scientifically supported that music helps the brain develop. Kids are not good for stereo systems though. Keep toddlers fingers away from soft dome tweeters, for example.
Id be more concerned with making sure your speakers of anchored to avoid tipping. Safety is much more impt. then worrying about disturbing the baby. I have twins and sometimes they even liked the stereo. All depends on the kid, the time of day, the amount of bass etc.