Grills, on or off?

Randy Myers

Randy Myers

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Just a curiosity, do you leave your speaker grills on or take them off?

I understand certain speakers such as Vanderstein the grills are part of the acoustic design of the speakers. However I also believe that for many companies it is simply for cosmetics or to protect the drivers from small fingers.

Do you believe your speakers sound better with the grills off, or does it not really seem to make a difference?
 
The MC speakers look pretty sharp with the grills off, the Kevlar drivers and grand piano finish even on the front of the cabinets looks very cool. However I do think they look "classier" with the grills on.
 
I run the Nola KO's the same way Carl shows them with the grills off. Never really tried it the other way as they are in a dedicated room with no small fingers in sight. In the Family Room system the grills are integrated into the Spatial design and are not removable. Randy is right about Vandersteens, the grills/socks are part of the design and are meant to stay in place.
 
:disbelief: I am thinking probably going to leave them on for now. Wife has grand kids over way too often. Even though they are not allowed to go up in the loft library, well you know how kids listen...... :baby:
 
Well none of those in sight anytime soon as all three of our kids are into "career" first mode or acting like kids themselves. The oldest just got married at 36 and the youngest at 26 is too busy being a chef and "having fun." The middle one is too busy trying to see how much money he can make and retire early.

Whatever they want to do is fine with me as babysitting is not on my to do list.
 
Randy Myers said:
:disbelief: I am thinking probably going to leave them on for now. Wife has grand kids over way too often. Even though they are not allowed to go up in the loft library, well you know how kids listen...... :baby:
Click to expand...

Hahahaha
 
Off seems obvious to me!Although if I had pets or kids in the house they would be on. Stump
 
I don't design my speakers with grills, except for a couple of runs long ago. Here's what I tell my clients. Anything between you and the speakers is something between you and the music. Many moons ago when I first starting tuning up some of the reviewers the first thing I would do was remove the grills. Back then there was a weird reaction. The same reaction as when I would move the speakers out into the room. As I and other designers started doing this at the shows it took about two years before the show rooms were setup differently.

It's been fun watching the hobby go from living rooms to listening rooms. Boy I'm getting old lol

Michael
 
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