Storing PA speakers

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The wife is giving me a bit of grief over various PA speakers lying around the house. I can stick them in my mums garage (fairly dry) for storage whilst not in use, but wondered whats the best option for keeping them rodent / moisture free. I was thinking of some big polythene bags with a few silica gel sacks inside and then sealed up. Will that be good enough?
 
Rodents can chew through plastic and like nice hidden wind free corners to make nests for babies in. I put plastic over a piano at my summer camp to keep bird **** off from the bird that walks through the crack under the glass wall, and a mouse made a nest of carpet fibers in there on top of the key cover. Mice have also climbed in the steel tab box of my organ and chewed the wires out of the way to make a nest. Had to close the cable entries with tin can parts & tape. Found a snake skin in there too from the mouse exterminator.
A chipmunk climbs under the bird **** plastic over the couch and cracks acorns on the comfy warm cushions.
A metal box welded shut is best. Below that maybe nothing. A loose burlap bag to keep some dust off but let wind in? A tight fitting wood cover over the driver cones, tied tight with string?
The wedge monitor by the door @ the summer camp that faces up @ 45 deg angle, that I keep a couple of pairs of grass stained dickies pants hung over for field work, has suffered no damage. 15" Peavey woofer and a 12"x5" horn; would really annoy me to find holes chewed in the woofer cone or acorn shells down the horn throat. The hammond organ speakers have been okay with a grill cloth tightly over the vertical cones.
Hammond organ speakers do okay in leaky churches until the cotton insulation to the power switch rots & sets them on fire. So I don't suppose moisture attacks rubberized speaker cones particularly. Lots of 80 year old hammond (rola) speakers still playing.
My Dad gave my LWE III speakers in his garage away while I was in the Army for 3 months, so don't expect much respect from your Mother for your precious surplus. Good luck.
 
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If there is any potential for rodents just don't, those little bastards will destroy it no matter what precautions you take short of enclosing them in a concrete or steel bunker.
Metal mesh is the only material which lets stuff breath but resists rodent incisives which are DESIGNED for gnawing.
In fact, opposite our poorly designed teeth, they grow all the time and NEED to be worn against "something", no matter what.

Only metal stands them.

Or glass, porcelain, etc., but it´s hard to find ceramic mesh.
 
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For 70 years our PA has been stored in the dinning hall during the off season which about 8 months. No special precautions and they survive well. Lighting instruments used to get a light coat of WD40 that had to be burned off in the spring, but even that is not now needed, as aluminum is the predominant metal.

FWIW, I am currently in the process of packing up and don't feel the need for anything special. They'll be in a dark, mostly dry room all winter.
 
I had rodent problems with my PA gear stored out in the shop UNTIL I started seeing sheds from a fairly large snake on a regular basis. No more rats getting in the reflex ports and having babies.

They seem to leave the horn loaders alone for some reason, even before the rat snake moved in. No signs of them getting in the fold in 2 decades (no poop inside when pulling out drivers). Maybe they just look too loud.
 
To give another UK perspective, I too have successfully stored speakers long term simply by sealing them in plastic bin bags - and that was in a brick garage which let damp air in during the winter. I didn't have a problem with rodents gaining access to my garage though. Rodents usually come seeking food so make sure the garage is not attractive to them in that respect.
 
Not exactly PA gear, but I stored raw peanuts in a plastic tote with a lid on it and a rodent made a great effort to gnaw the lid open :D That'is ok, the peanuts were for the squirrels anyway. In the same garage (Florida) I once stored some audio stuff, including a pair of cheap walkman type headphones. Bugs ate the fabric off the earphones, but otherwise they worked ok. So take away here? Don't store your expensive speakers with raw nuts inside them :)
 
Moth balls annoy just about every animal and insect. The only issue is if they will damage a foam surround.

Some animals will actually remove them if possible.

I would bag the loudspeakers and place them in a box with moth balls.

There also is sticky gummy stuff that comes in a caulking gun tube used to prevent birds and rodents from sitting or crossing it. I use it on my mail box where a squirrel used to like to hang out and poop.

BTY I don't mean the very small moth balls you clip off of male moths.
 
If there is any potential for rodents just don't, those little bastards will destroy it no matter what precautions you take short of enclosing them in a concrete or steel bunker.

There is certainly the odd mouse although Im not sure there have been any lately.

I could lay one sub on its back and the other on top of that face down so port to port effectively creating a seal. both in plastic bags. Guess Ive got to try and just keep an eye on it. There is enough other stuff in the garage to hopefully be easier work for any mice.

is the silica bag overkill?
 
I think I've decided to keep the subs in the house for now. This morning the wife said "can you do something with those effin speakers this weekend".
me: "effin speakers? they are lovely pieces of beauty ffs and there are 2 more coming soon"
If you are worried, use plastic bags and place them one on top of the other on a duck board. In between the slats of the duck board place a couple of bags of rat poison. They will go for that if you ever have any "friends" visiting.
 
I think I've decided to keep the subs in the house for now. This morning the wife said "can you do something with those effin speakers this weekend".
me: "effin speakers? they are lovely pieces of beauty ffs and there are 2 more coming soon"


The correct Reply most probably would have been: »Can you do something wit those effin shoes this weekend?«
Best regards!
 
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