Should I listen To My Speakers With The Grills Off?

[Jerryb]

Is there a difference between speakers with cloth grills and metal grills as far as how they will sound if the grills are kept on? Or just take them off?

[Gary]

There was a difference on some of my speakers.... but not all.

Try it and see. Sometimes the sound is clearer... other times, you need the baffling! :eek:

[phish]

i took them off of my axiom audios as there was a difference.

[motorcitydave]

Yeah, it depends on the speaker. Like Gary said, try both ways. You have nothing to lose.

[wgriel]

There are some speakers that are meant to be played with the grills on (eg Paradigm) but in most cases it's purely a preference. I take the grills off my main speakers, but I do that just because I happen to think they look better that way ;)

[Jerryb]

How can a grill have a positive effect on the sound?

[bru87tr]

who knows ? but paradigm (as said) recommends them on and they are right. my Monitor 7's are better with the grills on.

[wgriel]

How can a grill have a positive effect on the sound?

I believe with Paradigm, the grills are designed in such a way that they assist with dispersion. Don't quote me on that, but I do know they recommend playing with grills on.

Bill

[Metralla]

My speakers don't have grills - so no decision for me.

[rhkwon]

It really depends on the speaker. Sometimes when you can visually see that the grill is off, you will think that it sounds clearer. Do a blind test and see.

[Brother_Rael]

I usually leave then on mine - Mission 733i floorstanders - they sound slightly better off, depending on the material being played. They stay on for two reasons though; one - they're ugly as hell without (large polypropelene bass driver, not pretty) and, two - the cat plays with the removed grill! No guys, the cat's not going......

[Steve Hoffman]

How can a grill have a positive effect on the sound?

If the speaker was voiced with the grill in place, well, it would have a positive effect to keep it there.

[JLGB]

It depends on the spkr. & grill. How to determine whether a spkr. was voiced w/ or w/o a grill is beyond me. It usually states it in the manual. My experience anyway.

[drbryant]

I have always assumed that the grills protects the tweeter from getting contaminated with all the particles of dust, oil and other crap floating around in the air. Maybe I'm wrong. . . .

[Metralla]

I don't think that grills won't stop particles of the size you are talking about. They are mainly there for looks.

[harmonica98]

As others have said, try it and see. Mine sound different with the grills off, but different not better, so I keep them on - for the looks!

Tom

[ratskrad]

I know my son has a set of grills he puts on his teeth when he is on stage with his rap/hip hop group. Back to topic I guess I am going to have to put the grills back on my Paradigm Monitor 9v4's and give them a listen to. These are two years old now and have never had the grills on them. Pulled them off and stuck them in the closet the day I unpacked these speakers

[full moon]

leave it on..

[jt1stcav]

Of course there are those you cannot remove the grills from. I've never seen any Magnepans with their grills removed. Also Definitive Technologies and older DCM TimeWindows, to name a few, which I assume use a sock-like grill cloth that covers the entire enclosure.

I removed the grills from my Triangle Zephyrs, Loth-X Amaze, and Klipsch RB-75s...seemed a bit more open without them. On the other hand I retained the huge grills to my Klipsch Cornwalls since their horns can be rather bright and shrilly with some recordings and the grills seemed to tame the shrill a bit. Plus the motorboard the drivers are mounted on is just plain ugly and needed to be covered up!

[Gary]

How can a grill have a positive effect on the sound?

On some, they diffuse the brightness of the speaker.

Some speaker designers do their final tests and adjustments with the grills on.

Try it both ways.... you've nothing to loose.

[ChristinasDream]

The grills for mine don't even stay on. I'm afraid they'd launch off when I'm blasting my electronica albums. :p

[Dave W S]

Nice thread, I've wondered this too. I know I worry about occasionally hyper kids enough to want to leave them on.

[DaveN]

I have B&W CDM-7nt mains and there is a definite difference in the sound with the grills off. A positive difference. The soundstage gets a bit deeper and the high transients are clearer.

OTOH, I have a 2.5 yr-old boy. The grills hide those really cool yellow circular things that look like wheels and might be irresistible once discovered. Imagine the sound quality difference if a midrange driver is punctured....

When listening late at night, I take the grills off. But they go right back on when the session is over. The boy has no idea that there is anything behind the cloth.

[Dave W S]

I have B&W CDM-7nt mains and there is a definite difference in the sound with the grills off. A positive difference. The soundstage gets a bit deeper and the high transients are clearer.

OTOH, I have a 2.5 yr-old boy. The grills hide those really cool yellow circular things that look like wheels and might be irresistible once discovered. Imagine the sound quality difference if a midrange driver is punctured....

When listening late at night, I take the grills off. But they go right back on when the session is over. The boy has no idea that there is anything behind the cloth.

There you go! :righton:

[phish]

I have B&W CDM-7nt mains and there is a definite difference in the sound with the grills off. A positive difference. The soundstage gets a bit deeper and the high transients are clearer.

OTOH, I have a 2.5 yr-old boy. The grills hide those really cool yellow circular things that look like wheels and might be irresistible once discovered. Imagine the sound quality difference if a midrange driver is punctured....

When listening late at night, I take the grills off. But they go right back on when the session is over. The boy has no idea that there is anything behind the cloth.


i have one about that age. i'm shocked daily about things i think he DOESN'T know about when actually he does. i plugged in an ionic-breeze-ish device in my bedroom a couple nights ago (he was sleeping in there) and he woke me up in the middle of the night and said, "daddy, you hear dat?"

seems kids notice everything.....