diff --git a/scripts/ZoneMinder/lib/ZoneMinder/Control/IPSpeaker.pm b/scripts/ZoneMinder/lib/ZoneMinder/Control/IPSpeaker.pm
index e4c173ff5..069db7ebb 100644
--- a/scripts/ZoneMinder/lib/ZoneMinder/Control/IPSpeaker.pm
+++ b/scripts/ZoneMinder/lib/ZoneMinder/Control/IPSpeaker.pm
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ use constant VOLUME_MIN  => 0;
 use constant VOLUME_MAX  => 100;
 use constant VOLUME_STEP => 5;
 
+# Seconds. The speaker answers in milliseconds when it is there at all, so this
+# only ever bounds the case where it is not.
+use constant HTTP_TIMEOUT => 10;
+
 # config=audio.set replaces the whole audio section: any field left out of the
 # POST reverts to a firmware default, silently taking the microphone, codec
 # list and echo-cancellation settings with it.  Every write therefore reads the
@@ -121,7 +125,11 @@ sub open {
   my $self = shift;
   $self->loadMonitor();
 
-  $self->{ua} = LWP::UserAgent->new;
+  # Actions are fire-and-forget from the monitor's point of view, but they are
+  # serialised through this one control daemon, so a speaker that has dropped
+  # off the network must not hold it. LWP's default is 180s, long enough for a
+  # single unreachable speaker to stall every later command behind it.
+  $self->{ua} = LWP::UserAgent->new(timeout => HTTP_TIMEOUT);
   $self->{ua}->agent('ZoneMinder Control Agent/'.ZoneMinder::Base::ZM_VERSION());
 
   if (!$self->guess_credentials()) {
diff --git a/scripts/ZoneMinder/t/ip_speaker.t b/scripts/ZoneMinder/t/ip_speaker.t
index 47aabcc83..16115b07a 100644
--- a/scripts/ZoneMinder/t/ip_speaker.t
+++ b/scripts/ZoneMinder/t/ip_speaker.t
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 use strict;
 use warnings;
-use Test::More tests => 32;
+use Test::More tests => 35;
 
 require_ok('ZoneMinder::Control::IPSpeaker');
 
@@ -77,3 +77,14 @@ my $sparse_form = $P->can('audio_set_form')->(\%sparse, outvolume => 0);
 is_deeply([sort keys %$sparse_form], [qw(micvolume outvolume)],
   'fields absent from the device response are not invented');
 is($sparse_form->{outvolume}, 0, 'a zero override is applied, not treated as absent');
+
+# --- the http timeout -------------------------------------------------------
+# A speaker that drops off the network must not stall the control daemon. LWP
+# defaults to 180s, and every action for this monitor queues behind the one in
+# flight, so an absent speaker would hold up everything that followed it.
+
+is(ZoneMinder::Control::IPSpeaker::HTTP_TIMEOUT(), 10, 'the http timeout is set, not left to LWP');
+cmp_ok(ZoneMinder::Control::IPSpeaker::HTTP_TIMEOUT(), '<', 180,
+  'and is well under the LWP default that caused the stall');
+cmp_ok(ZoneMinder::Control::IPSpeaker::HTTP_TIMEOUT(), '>', 0,
+  'and is a real timeout rather than "no wait"');