Loudspeaker grills on or off - what's your preference ?

Grilles on for my Titan T88s, to keep t'other half happy (or more accurately less unhappy) with the appearance/ increased size of them vs SL2s...

Neil

Always keep the grills off with my Spendor A6 (plus position them from the back wall in that configuration). Tried with them on several times but kept feeling I was losing something - it wasn't a large difference but over time it just sounded "right".

GraemeH posted:

winkyincanada posted:

S600s. Grills on to protect against happy-whippet tails.

By design - Bass damping is integral to the Ovator grilles l think.

G

Yeah, pretty sure they were designed for grills-on listening. I do like to see the drivers, but that's secondary to the protection and sound quality.

OFF, speaker grills are boring to look at.

Iconoclast posted:

OFF, speaker grills are boring to look at.

Odd, I don't normally look at the speakers! They just sit there, and do their job. I look out of the window (lucky to have a pleasant aspect with window right in front of main listening position), or close my eyes when listening, or look at people of I have company, or drop the screen and watch a film, read a book, use the computer etc etc

Well I don't spend my time looking at them. Actually I rarely, if ever, listen to music sitting in the sweet spot - much too hyperactive for that.

It's just that I find black crimplene visually less interesting than tweeters and woofers set in a cherry baffle.

Sorry to go slightly off thread,but as I am the original poster thought I share my experiances with the Focals at the weekend.I went to see a HiFI mate of mine and he gave me 8 triangular resin pyramids to try out under the focal bases.My floor is concrete and there is a carpet on top.The bases have totally elimanted any rocking from the cabinets.I also changed the LP12 oil and put a new Linn mat on the LP12.Wow what an improvement.I am well happy with the way its all sounding now

Iconoclast posted:

Well I don't spend my time looking at them. Actually I rarely, if ever, listen to music sitting in the sweet spot - much too hyperactive for that.

It's just that I find black crimplene visually less interesting than tweeters and woofers set in a cherry baffle.

Strange, isnt it (or not) how there seems to be a preponderence of respondees' preference for exposure of what often are circular objects with concentric areas of slightly different colouring or patterning, whereas many of our better halves prefer them to be clothed. Does the preference extend equally to female hifi afficionados, or is there something Freudian in the preference?

My wife actually does prefer the speakers to be sans cover

On B&W 802 diamonds - bass grills on to protect from visitors of the smaller kind.  Mid range grills off because they are too high for small visitors to reach. Diamond tweeters definately on... to protect from me (these cost more than SWMBOs diamond cluster engagement ring )

On the Getz IIs: fixed metal grilles to protect the drivers made of brittle eggshell (ceramic).

cheers

EJ

Innocent Bystander posted:

Iconoclast posted:

Well I don't spend my time looking at them. Actually I rarely, if ever, listen to music sitting in the sweet spot - much too hyperactive for that.

It's just that I find black crimplene visually less interesting than tweeters and woofers set in a cherry baffle.

Strange, isnt it (or not) how there seems to be a preponderence of respondees' preference for exposure of what often are circular objects with concentric areas of slightly different colouring or patterning, whereas many of our better halves prefer them to be clothed. Does the preference extend equally to female hifi afficionados, or is there something Freudian in the preference?

Female hifi afficionados? Is that the female equivalent of men who are into knitting and quilting?

 

these cost more than SWMBOs diamond cluster engagement ring

Shame on you.

Chag -

Grill on for a good beef.

Grilles off for good sound (PMC 20-23s)

The credo's just raw on or off

On.

I find the 3 different drivers on my 20.26s rather industrial looking.  Rather like finding music much more enjoyable in a tidy room, I find it more enjoyable with those drivers covered up.

Clearly this is appealling to the OCD side of me, so make of that what you will, but generally speaking I don't think there's enough attention paid to mental / emotional state in relation to perceived sound quality.

And what sayeth the jury on the subject of Ovators?

Loki posted:

And what sayeth the jury on the subject of Ovators?

Hi - As posted earlier Loki - Designed to be on.

G

Loki posted:

And what sayeth the jury on the subject of Ovators?

On

One of the nice things about the SL2s is that there is no debate about the grilles. They are designed to be kept on, and they look stupid if they are removed. One day of course they will crumble into dust, but until then it's simply not an issue. 

When I had PMCs previously, they sounded a lot better with the grilles off, yet looked a lot worse. My view on speaker drivers is that they should be heard but not seen. Yet unfortunately the current trend seems to be the blingier the better, silver, gold, grass, diamond, it won't be long before a manufacturer includes flashing lights. 

Since I have (if I may quote, for the second time in a few years, Adam Meredith) an irrational aversion to choices, I don't even try to remove the grilles (let alone doing on/off comparisons). I always leave them on. I don't even know if my last three pairs of N-Sats actually had drivers.

     C.

Hungryhalibut posted:

One of the nice things about the SL2s is that there is no debate about the grilles. They are designed to be kept on, and they look stupid if they are removed. One day of course they will crumble into dust, but until then it's simply not an issue. 

When I had PMCs previously, they sounded a lot better with the grilles off, yet looked a lot worse. My view on speaker drivers is that they should be heard but not seen. Yet unfortunately the current trend seems to be the blingier the better, silver, gold, grass, diamond, it won't be long before a manufacturer includes flashing lights. 

KEF 'Blade' drivers?

G

Aren't there some Focal speakers made from grass or recycled underpants or something? 

Hungryhalibut posted:

Aren't there some Focal speakers made from grass or recycled underpants or something? 

Yes, mine have still got the washing instructions on them