To grill or not to grill?

[Mtn. Steel]

I am sure it is different for different speakers, but are grills soly for clean looks and keeping small inquisitive fingers out? I like the look of drivers and would never put the grills on if it affected the sound in any negative way. Are there any sound benefits to putting grills on?

 

[lsiberian]

I am sure it is different for different speakers, but are grills soly for clean looks and keeping small inquisitive fingers out? I like the look of drivers and would never put the grills on if it affected the sound in any negative way. Are there any sound benefits to putting grills on?

Grills make people happy because there is nothing like meat cooked on the grill. My speakers don't have grills because I can't cook with speakers can I?



There really is no difference. But little kids are troublesome.

 

[sawzalot]

After just cooking a bunch on the grill it was my thoughts exactly, food.

I go grill less also,just like to see the drivers.Especially on my subs.

 

[croseiv]

I prefer my speakers to be exposed....

 

[gholt]

I prefer the exposed look, but I have young kids. So young that they pushed in the midbases on my old Boston Acoustics VR 12. I couldn't get the cone to come back out, but they still sound the same. Go figure. Buit, I will keep them covered until the kids get older.

 

[jamie2112]

I like to grill instead of bake ............or wait a minute...I like to grill AND bake..

 

[captiankirk28]

Yes i like to listen with the gills off also, i think the sound is better on most speakers and i like the looks alot better too.

 

[j_garcia]

It is definitely different for different speakers, but the main thing you will notice with most is the highs. Some speakers will sound a little more harsh or bright with the grille off. I like the sound of mine with them off, but they sound perfectly fine with them on. They are all intended to be listened to with them on as that is the configuration they expect most to listen to them in, so it really comes down to personal preference.

 

[braminator]

Listen to them with the grills on and then off and make your ears decide.

 

[Boerd]

I am sure it is different for different speakers, but are grills soly for clean looks and keeping small inquisitive fingers out? I like the look of drivers and would never put the grills on if it affected the sound in any negative way. Are there any sound benefits to putting grills on?

If you can blindly make the difference choose what sounds better. If you can't then choose whatever looks better to you...

 

[Boerd]

I prefer my speakers to be exposed....

We all like that don't we ????
Oh, wait, you're talking about speakers...

 

[JJMP50]

I love the look of my JBL Studio L series in Cherry sans grills. Unfortunately I have to put them back on before my wife gets home....

 

[rded]

Its brand specific...in my case, Dynaudio speakers are meant to be heard with the grills off

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[bborzell]

If you think this question is esoteric, you ought to check in on discussions on whether to leave in or take out the screens on resonator guitars.

http://www.resohangout.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7644

 

[jostenmeat]

If you think this question is esoteric, you ought to check in on discussions on whether to leave in or take out the screens on resonator guitars.

http://www.resohangout.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7644

Bob Brozman is the guy to ask. He wrote the book, literally.

http://www.bobbrozman.com/books.html

 

[callas01]

I like the grills off, but because of kids I leave mine on, I don't want busy hands touching them. Personally I have never noticed a sound difference either way... but a lot of reviewers seem to like them off.... I don't know, perhaps there is a difference or they just want too look at them too...

 

[3db]

From a sound persepctive, it makes no diffrence wether my PSBs are wearing their skivies or not. From a looks perspective, its just soo much cooler with the skivies off.

 

[Winkleswizard]

I had often wondered about this question too. Most advertising would make you think there is no difference, but after technical reading about speaker diffraction issues, this seemed counter-intuitive.

As I have been researching speaker design for a while now and finally decided to invest in some measurement capability, I have been testing my speakers as a background task whenever I set up the equipment.

I finally got around to compiling and taking the time to post my measurements. Based on these measurements, I would always remove the grills for critical listening. However, as you might surmise, the degree of difference does depend on the design.

I tested 3 commercial designs and 2 DIY kits. Take a look for yourself and see what you think! The measurements can be found at http://reasonable.tech/speaker-grill-effects.html

Happy Listening!

Ww

 

[shadyJ]

On every speaker I have ever measured, grilles have always made the response worse, from baffle diffraction. How audible this impairment was is another question, usually its not terrible, but grilles have never helped. Grilles are there to protect the drivers only. Sometimes they are also there to protect your eyes from the speaker baffle if the speaker is particularly ugly.

 

[KenM10759]

The grilles on my speakers are usually on, 95% of the time. That's because we have cats and they're home alone with the speakers many hours of the day. When it IS time for me to listen to music or (rarely) play a movie, I can walk over and pull them off in a flash because the grilles are magnetically attached.

My speakers literally change personality with the grilles on or off. On, the speakers are very conservative tall rectangular finely finished wooden boxes with black cloth over the top 3/4's of the front. With the grilles off they're just beautiful LOUDSPEAKERS with silvery Uni-Q drivers in the center and dramatic flat black woofers ringed by a silver trim. And they sound just a little bit nicer with them off.