When you bring new speakers to your house, you are making a lot of people happy. First and foremost, you are happy because all of your research has brought you to this point of audio nirvana with Klipsch. Your friends and family, while possible skeptical at first, will also reap the benefits. If you have a cat, they are going to be stoked as well.

After all, you just bought them a pair of cat scratch posts.

Growing up, my parents had a cat named Kinsey (named after the famed Dr. Alfred Kinsey and a character in the popular Sue Grafton mystery books).

While she was insanely cute and wouldn’t hurt a fly, she liked to test the laws of gravity and physics by scratching and jumping on things. Specifically, our couch, our turntable, and my Dad’s expensive speakers.

Now, you’re on your own with your couch (Google has endless results for this problem), but I am here to provide you with some first-hand tips on how to deal with your cat scratching your speakers.

Of course, it must be noted that this is not an official guide. Klipsch does not hold any responsibility for your cat and your cat-proofing methods ruining your speakers.

ADD MORE SCRATCHING POSTS

The easiest way to stop a cat from scratching furniture is to simply give them more appetizing things to scratch, or some other toys to play with. Place them along the path of where your cat most frequently scampers around.

If you believe you have enough cat scratch posts, try rearranging them. Do not discard old scratching posts immediately. Place them next to the new scratching posts, so the cat can slowly adjust to the new one.

INVEST IN A CAT CONDO

Cat furniture provides a common area for multiple cats to scratch, sleep, and stretch from their claws. With a cat "condo" or "tree", you can associate scratching with a certain material, such as sisal rope or natural wood. Once you've found a place for the new furniture, rub it down with catnip to entice your feline friend, and then use a toy to encourage the cat to scratch the condo. Over time, this positive association will hopefully keep the kitty from tearing up your loudspeakers (but no promises).

TAKE THE GRILLES OFF YOUR SPEAKERS

I am obviously extremely biased, but I’d say it’s a shame to cover up the copper cones (or the glorious woofers from our non-Reference series speakers). Freeing your speakers from their grilles may indeed remove your feline friend’s temptation of a tall, scratchable surface. Of course, we also must note that your child, niece, partner, etc may decide that the woofers look quite pokable, damaging your speaker(s) worse than a few scratches on the grilles.

STARTLE OR SPRAY YOUR CAT

I’m not advocating that you take out deep-rooted anger on your cat companion or anything crazy like that. That being said, when your cat starts scratching, let out a yelp or scold them quickly and your cat will scurry away, hopefully never returning to scratch your speakers again.

Better yet, you could fill up a water bottle and give your kitty a quick spray when they commit the crime. It won’t take much, so don’t fill up a Supersoaker.

CLIP YOUR CAT'S CLAWS

It's important to clip your cat's nails before they get too long, both for your speakers' sake and to protect your cat from tearing out their nail by accident. If the scratching is getting really out of hand, you can also attach special adhesive caps to your cat's claws. These temporary plastic caps stay on for around a month, and they won't hurt your kitty.

However, no matter how annoying the scratching gets, you should never, ever, ever declaw your cat. That's just cruel.

SPRAY YOUR SPEAKERS WITH AN ANTI-SCRATCHING SPRAY

You can find anti cat scratch spray in the aisles of your local pet store. I have only tried out Nature’s Miracle Scratching Deterrent Spray, and its effectiveness is hit or miss.

Please be careful when using the cat scratch spray, because some speakers have very sensitive surfaces that shouldn't be sprayed with any sort of liquid.

ADD CAT SCRATCH GUARDS TO YOUR SPEAKER

This is the most extreme technique and also the most complicated. Call me lazy, but I cannot attest to whether it’ll be successful or not. Essentially, you need to turn your speakers into modified scratching posts. Put the fabric over the top of the speakers and your feline will have a go on the covers instead of your favorite speakers. Do not attach the cat scratch guard to the speaker itself, since you would be damaging your speaker that way and making the whole process pointless anyway.

ADD AN UNPLEASANT SURFACE TO YOUR SPEAKER

If encouraging your cat to scratch around your speakers feels a little counterintuitive, you can just go the opposite direction and cover the speaker with an anti-cat scratch material. This can include double-sided tape, tin foil, the spiky bottom side of a vinyl carpet runner, and other unpleasant surfaces for cats. However, if you go this route, you still need to provide an appealing surface for your cat to scratch, because they're gonna scratch something. It's just in their nature. Cardboard cat scratchers are a great low-cost option, as are carpeted wedges and the aforementioned kitty condos. Otherwise, your cat's just gonna head straight for the drapes.

PUT SOMETHING ON TOP OF THE SPEAKERS

My folks' cat (and presumably yours too if you are still reading) loved to get up to high places. While it’s adorable and all, her little claws would dig into the speaker as she tried to secure a grip.

Now, if the previously listed fixes don’t deter your cat from your speakers altogether, there is a simple fix that will work most of the time. Put something on top of your speaker. In lieu of a tasteful plant or meaningful decorative object, you could place a pair of Reference Premiere RP-140SA elevation speakers, cat-proofing the top of my speakers AND gift yourself Dolby Atmos technology. Double win.

STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT

Seriously. Almost all of us tend to fret over the appearances of our speakers to an insane degree, but it really is so much better at the end of the day to just relax about those little nicks and scratches. Call them marks of character. After all, no one will really notice besides you, and the speakers will sound exactly as awesome as they did before your kitten decided to test out their claws.

Do you have any other tips on how to keep your speakers cat-scratch free?