Grills on or off?

[Affejunge]

I can tell the difference in the highs, and that should be obvious since the highs are what are going to be affected most by the grilles.

Yeah, removing the grills on my M22s shows the weakness in my system in regards to highs!

So..I leave them on..it better NOT to hear my system's shortcoming!

 

[markw]

"be a man"??

Be a man and take the grills off. Speakers just look better that way and that's it.

You're kidding, rignt?

 

[yepimonfire]

i think that most sound better with them off, but only in the highs section, some very bright speakers sound better with them on since they attentuate the highs somewhat.

 

[Stripes]

Holy Crap!!!

Be a man and take the grills off.

You're right, I took my grills off and my left n@t finally dropped

 

[hifitommy]

i usually take 'em off

the sound just opens up spatially and the highs, while they are SLIGHTLY brighter, thats not the dominant sonic effect. sounds just get more spacious and free.

i even did this to my old dynaco a25s and it helped. the problem is that the high freqs tend to bounce off the grill cloth because of its proximity to the tweeter and mid. i queried richard vandersteen about this and wheter he thought it affected his speakers such as the 2CEs etc. he responded that because the drivers in his speakers were distant from the cloth, that there was no such reflections. his speakers tend to sound quite open so it is consistent.

some of the speakers can be plug-ugly without grills but for me, the beauty is in the sound. when there is a sig-other its prudent to put the grills on when not listening or especially if company for her is coming over.

my kids could never get past the razor wire i put up around the stereo to do any damage.

 

[lsiberian]

What are Grills? My speakers came with no such item. Maybe someday I'll get metal grills for a great speaker, but not till I have children around.

 

[ichigo]

I've got a pair of Paradigm Signature S2v2s and I don't like the way they sound with the grills on. Most reviewers have noted this as well, and Stereophile has measured that the grill adds some unwanted resonances in the upper bass. All the v2 reviews have been done with the grills off as the measurements were too peaky and inconsistent with the grills on.

Curving a grill on a flat baffle seems to me a bad design choice when they simply could have curved the baffle. Sure, it costs a little more, but for $2600 it's not too much to ask. "Solving" diffraction with a curved grill ends up costing them acoustically in other areas.

Displaying them with the grills off in trade shows makes it even more confusing.

 

[KEW]

I've got a pair of Paradigm Signature S2v2s and I don't like the way they sound with the grills on. Most reviewers have noted this as well, and Stereophile has measured that the grill adds some unwanted resonances in the upper bass. All the v2 reviews have been done with the grills off as the measurements were too peaky and inconsistent with the grills on.

Curving a grill on a flat baffle seems to me a bad design choice when they simply could have curved the baffle. Sure, it costs a little more, but for $2600 it's not too much to ask. "Solving" diffraction with a curved grill ends up costing them acoustically in other areas.

Displaying them with the grills off in trade shows makes it even more confusing.

The signature drivers just look too nice (in an industrial-strength kind of way) to cover up anyway!

 

[timmay8612]

I don't really like the way my old school Paradigm Monitor 7's look without the grills. They've got that silver paint job against the black ash grain on the sides and a big port in the front. Not exactly what I want to look at in my living room.

I can't imagine leaving grills off of many of the B&Ws i've seen too. I'm thinking of those bumblebee black and yellow models, yuck! Give me straight black any day over bumble bee colors...

As for sound, still to busy hating the slap echo in my room until I save up some cash for treatments so I can't really speak about the acoustic subtleties of grills on vs off.

 

[corey]

For me, it just depends on the situation. On my boat, the grill is usually off while we're sailing, but almost always on if we're anchored for the evening. At home, it mostly depends on the availability of charcoal and marinade.

 

[Shock]

I keep the grills on all the time. I find that the speakers are too visually distracting when the grills are off, pulling focus away from the movie. Of course, when I listen to music, my eyes are usually closed, so that's moot.

cheers,
supervij

This, except the closing eyes part when listening to music, I'm usually singing along.

 

[j_garcia]

I can't imagine leaving grills off of many of the B&Ws i've seen too. I'm thinking of those bumblebee black and yellow models, yuck! Give me straight black any day over bumble bee colors...

Those are woven kevlar and I think they look a lot cooler with the grilles off

 

[Juan_R]

On until I am going to listen to music, I have kids so they must stay on all other times.

 

[dkane360]

Those are woven kevlar and I think they look a lot cooler with the grilles off

Agreed, I think they look really nice. I especially like the B&W CM1's.

 

[3db]

To my ears, the grills are acoustically transparent. I leave the grill son to protect them from the zoo that we collected over the years.

 

[leousm]

I used to take the grills off all the time when I first got my NHT SuperTwo's and SuperOne years ago. Then I started to realize that 1. I couldn't really tell the difference and 2. the grills off were more liable to get damaged. So, I just left them on all the time and I've had happy speakers since.

 

[gqmagic]

My Von Schweikerts like to wear their grills