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

Posted by: Tabby cat on 29 August 2016

I am running two systems in different rooms.One contains Quad 2805 electrostatics and the other one is my vintage kit which I alternate between Rogers LS 3 5 A s and Focal Profil  77 floorstanders.The other day I removed the grills on the Focals after a couple of years with them on.Did some toe in and put some bungs in the bass ports which I haven't really experimented with.

Was pleasantly supprised how much better they sounded with their grills off.Just more transparent.I can't do this with the Quads or the Rogers.Will be keeping them bare.

For the technically minded on the forum do grills marginally detract from sound quality ?

Also do you have a preference........on or off ?

Any comments most welcome 

Posted on: 11 September 2016 by TOBYJUG

Bare grills look better if your hungry and lost in the wilderness.

Posted on: 11 September 2016 by wenger2015
dayjay posted:
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

Yes, mine have got a ' marks and Spencer' label at the back..

Posted on: 11 September 2016 by Mike-B
Hungryhalibut posted:

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

FLAX   ...................  

     

Posted on: 11 September 2016 by TOBYJUG
Iconoclast posted:

OFF, speaker grills are boring to look at.

I thought most are too busy watching the fireplace between the speakers.

Posted on: 11 September 2016 by Oscar_F

For me it was off until I stopped my daughter's 8 year old friend 1 second before she put a finger through a tweeter... Now it is definitely on

Posted on: 13 September 2016 by Moussa

Grills are always off my Neats. I found that clarity takes a hit with the grills on.

Posted on: 13 September 2016 by Erich

Time ago I had to install a kit for a party in the office and when I was loading in the car a pair of speakers I had stored for a while I realized they were broken.

Beeing in a hurry to solve the problem I bought a pair of q300 Kef's after a very short audition of thr demo pair in the store.

In the office I asked someone to install the speakers to the amp and launch a playlist. The speakers sounded  very dull ... but the party was very nice.

After the party when I was putting the speakers back in the boxes I looked at the back of the speakers and read "Made in China",  ahah, that was it! I thought, but in the store they didn't sound so bad, ahah, burn in! I did that at home but almost no improvement. Back in the boxes. A  year later I had another need for speakers and there where the KEFs. When I was installing them I put off one of the grilles and to my surprise a piece of a sort of foam was in between the grill and the woofer/twitter to protect them. @#$%   No comments please just insults.

Posted on: 13 September 2016 by Erich

Grilles could be on or off depending on the speakers and taste of the listener, but please, protection material, being it foam, non woven fabric or the like, OFF!

Posted on: 29 September 2016 by Paul Davies

On please. But with most modern speakers, you don't even get to choose.