Do you use your speakers with the front grills on or off.

[brian2957]

As above , I'd like to know your opinions on whether speakers sound better with the front grills on or off . I've always used my speakers with the front grills off when in use . Tonight I had a little experiment and had a good listen with the grills on my MA R852s in place and they're sounding excellent . Am I hearing things :scratch:

[walpurgis]

Am I hearing things :scratch:

YES! :D


Seriously. Some speakers sound best with grilles on and are tuned/voiced that way and will sound a bit forward and maybe harsh without grilles. Others will sound better with the grilles removed (or come without any). I definitely prefer every Tannoy (which is what I generally use) I've owned without grilles.

I like the R852, but think they sound better with grilles off. The imaging is better that way.

[struth]

Most modern grill cloth it totally transparent so it really shouldn't matter. I think if its in good condition and not blocked up then it wont, but older cloth can get blocked up a bit with crap over the years and obviously is going to make , at least some difference ....:) maybe;)

[brian2957]

Thanks gents , I'm going to ma cot to think about it . I'll have another serious listen tomorrow.

[trio leo]

Tried mine with and without, absolutely no difference, Roy Allison did say the grills were transparent, he was right, though I can understand some foam speaker grills do have an effect.

enjoy your music :)

cheers Al

[Andrei]

I used to have Paradigm speakers where the manufacturers recommendation was to have them on. Couldn't hear the difference myself.

[Gordon Steadman]

I reckon they sound the same but they look much more exciting with the gubbins revealed. Those big black round things seem to move in time to the music, all adds to the experience:cool:

[Audio Al]

Off as I like 2 see the speakers not grills :D

[LouisB]

Off!
When I first got my current speakers I experimented and really felt the grills on just took a tiny bit off of the clarity / top end.
Ever since I've had grills off. I've not re-evaluated it since, but anyway they look nicer with grills off. Well, most speakers do I feel, not all do though as some as ugly as sin under the covers hehe. If your drivers are flush and you're not worried about fingers/damage, why I guess it shouldn't matter too much. Still I swear I heard a difference, I suppose there's _always_ the chance it was imagination as always...

[Firebottle]

B&W floormounts - grills off. Treble is definitely clearer.

At the bottom spikes on granite boards. Bass is definitely cleaner.

:carrot:

[Box13]

In the study I have the grills off my Sony S3's as I bought them second hand and they have no grills.
Downstairs I will have to use the grills as I have three cats and two dogs and I fear for the drivers.

[Ammonite Audio]

It all depends on how they are designed. Neil Patel designed and voiced my Avalons to be used with grilles in place, and they do indeed sound 'wrong' without grilles. Many speakers are not 'designed' in this way and the grille is just a cosmetic afterthought, and that's why many sound better without.

[vinyl dragon]

On. I like British 70's speakers and they tend to be voiced for the grilles on.
Also frankly they tend to be as ugly as all hell without them :eek:
Graham

[orbscure]

I swap between grills on and off with my JBL4311's... but seeing that they look sooooo damn fine without them, they do come off when I have hi-fi related visitors... [show off mode on] :)

[jollyfix]

Off, the speakers i am using at the moment ( Duevel planets) don't have grills.

[Jimbo]

Always listen to mine with grills off. Treble definitely better.

[Joe]

Grilles on, mainly because I'm to lazy to take them off. The few times I've bothered, I've not noticed any different. The 'upstairs' speakers are designed to be used with the grilles in place.

[hifi_dave]

It's GRILLE not grill. A grill with no 'e' is something you cook food on.

Some speakers, such as Harbeth, have been designed to be used with grilles on. Many are designed for grilles off but in the end, it's like a tiny tone control for the user to do what ever he prefers.

[Reffc]

Grilles with frames (rather than foam grilles) will change the sound irrespective of whether grille material is acoustically transparent or not, to a greater or lesser extent. This may make precious little difference for cabinet baffles which are recessed or which have a lip around them anyway. Grilles on (or cabinet with protruding edges) means you are introducing a diffractive edge which can introduce destructive interference patterns (comb filtering). Some (few!) designers get around this by introducing absorptive wool felt to the inside edges of their grille frames. Ideally, baffle design/driver layout should be designed for no grille during use. Grilles ought ideally to be solely to act as dust protection for drivers when not in use.

[brian2957]

Thanks for the correction Dave , I should have checked first :doh:

Thanks for all the input guys , I'll have a good long listen today and post my impressions later .

[Gazjam]

No grilles for me.

When speccing up my speeks (so to speak) I had the option to have magnetically attached grilles fitted during the build.
Not for me.
Aside from any perceived effect on the sound...even in my head...you can't beat sitting down to listen facing the business end of 8 big woofers daring you to crank the volume up.

Previous speakers, grilles always off as the treble was affected and sounded, literally, like there was something smothering the sound.
Benefit of removal can vary depending on the design I suppose.

[brian2957]

I just thought you were too tight to stump up for a pair mate :ner:

Have to get you over for a session soon .

[Audio Al]

I have a pair of classic Goodmans Mezzo 3's and the grills are fixed on , no choice with these so it ON

[Desmo]

Off, except for the wire mesh over the tweeters which I used to leave off, but now I have to deal with little fingers.... I have already had to replace a couple of drivers/cones.:doh:

[AlanS]

Leave them on. May make a difference but likely so small not worth the trouble.

[Yomanze]

I leave them on as per Royd recommendations. They are part of the frequency response and no dust covers are on the drivers.

[Arkless Electronics]

Just a side note that I find it incredible that some can't tell the difference between grilles on or off (it's very obvious to most) but yet others claim to hear differences from foo accessories which can't possibly make a difference :scratch:
Take this as rhetorical... please... life's too short.

[brian2957]

Well I've been listening for the last few hours at a decent volume ( it was too late last night ) and I can hear a difference . It isn't night and day so for now it will be down to my personal preference . I think I need to do some more listening . Thanks for the opinions and guidance guys.

[Roy S]

I only put the covers on when young visitors are expected (but generally if they're friend's or family's sprogs they're fairly well behaved but best not to take chances)

[hifinutt]

I have mine off when I have removable grills but logans do not so its not a problem

[brian2957]

I've decided that the MA R852s sound better with the grills off . Thanks for the input guys . :)

[walpurgis]

I've decided that the MA R852s sound better with the grills off . Thanks for the input guys . :)

I thought you might say that! :)

[brian2957]

Cheers Geoff . You said it in post no. 2 :) Just had to find out for meself . :D

[griff74]

Unfortunately my OH insists that we keep the grills on with our Dali Zensor 1 5.1 system, apparently the lovely dark red woofers and aluminium tweets surrounds are distracting when watching TV, I would obviously prefer them off as they are great looking speakers (I even get complaints that the sub didn't come with a grill even though it is sat next to the sofa, who wouldn't want to look at an aluminium sub driver?!?!). My Kef C60's that I have just acquired, which will be used in a different room are going to be permanently grills off, I personally can hear the difference between grills on or off.

[Beobloke]

Frankly, I've only ever encountered a handful of loudspeakers where the difference between grilles on and off was really noticeable. Mine have their grilles on all the time, though, not only because Mrs. B prefers them that way, but I find the sight of drivers moving when I'm trying to concentrate on listening incredibly distracting!

[LouisB]

just to add that while it may be called 'transparent' I'm pretty sure all grill material is not actually completely transparent. It might be nearly transparent but from any time I've ever tried it, there is a difference to be heard when grills are fitted. Hence no grills for me.

[archiesdad]

Grills off for me but the last speakers had yellow units so looked better on show, now they're off the proacs due to habit.

[YNWaN]

The last two pairs of speakers I have used (so that covers about 25 years) don't have the option of grills. However, whilst conventional grill fabric may well have relatively little impact the frame it is attached to certainly does and diffraction artefacts from such frames are easily heard and measured

[brian2957]

Agreed Mark , I don't think the fabric is the problem , I think it's the frames .

[Anthony K]

I have used 3 sets of Tannoys and they all sounded better without grilles . If I remember correctly Tannoy literature also advised this.

[petrat]

Off on the Tannoys ... there is a really noticeable muffling effect, and imaging losing precision. I think the manual refers to them as 'covers'.
On on the Harbeths .... designed that way.