Why remove grills from speakers?

[Diesel57]

With the grill off of the speakers, what purpose does it serve, I run a 2.1 setup, 99.9% for music, not a movie buff or big on being entertained by tv but having 31yrs of being married of course a movie weather home or going out for one has helped to solidify 31yrs of ...

 

[Swerd]

In some speakers, it can make a small difference in the treble range. In other speakers, not so much.
It allows you to look at your drivers and admire them.
It reminds you (and others) how serious a listener you are.

And (best reason of all), it allows us to post speaker porn photos.

 

[shm123]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Diesel57]

Curious, I know speakers can be out of phase with the sub, on a 2.1 setup, can 1 speaker be out of phase?

 

[Swerd]

Curious, I know speakers can be out of phase with the sub, on a 2.1 setup, can 1 speaker be out of phase?

When "we say out of phase", we mean out of phase with something else. Two speakers can be out of phase with each other when they are wired with opposite polarity (red-to-black & black-to-red in one speaker and red-to-red & black-to-black on the other).

 

[j_garcia]

Yep. Looks cooler.

All of mine have magnetic grilles too. No holes in the cabinets.

 

[Diesel57]

Thanks Swerd, with that being said, meanings, terminology along with knowledge=Understanding which is one of the many reasons why I appreciate and enjoy the company and support...

 

[Pogre]

speaker porn. mmmmm....

 

[shadyJ]

A speaker can be out of phase with a subwoofer, but the evidence of that would only be seen around the crossover point between the two. It might appear as a dip in a frequency response sweep.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

I suppose the manufacturer includes grilles for a reason. Without grilles animals & kids might damage speakers easier. My 2 cents.

 

[lovinthehd]

Then again some speakers shouldn't be nekkid

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I myself prefer grilles on to cover elements from dust.

 

[3db]

Like Swerd said, the treble of most speakers won't change if the grills are on or off but there a few that it makes a small difference. Why these manufacturers allow this to happen baffles me though. I keep my grills on most of teh time but sometimes I will remove them to look at the shiny drivers. I like shiny!!

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Like Swerd said, the treble of most speakers won't change if the grills are on or off but there a few that it makes a small difference. Why these manufacturers allow this to happen baffles me though. I keep my grills on most of teh time but sometimes I will remove them to look at the shiny drivers. I like shiny!!

I also take the grills of time to time for showing elements to my friends who come to listen. The elements look really nice I have to admit but I don't dare to risk the elements by going no grills all the time, would make me sad if something happened to the elements.

 

[Pogre]

I went without covers on my old b&w's after they basically started falling apart. one speaker was close to a sliding glass door and got more sunlight. the woofer cone on that one was faded compared to the other. this is after 18 years in my house, mind you, and even though they still worked fine I wish I woulda re-clothed the grilles and kept them on.

most reputable companies try to come up with sound transparent grilles. the main reason for them is aesthetics and protecting the drivers.

 

[Rickster71]

The paradigm S8's owners manual recommends leaving them on. Says they're designed to eliminate edge diffraction.
Below is a link to a guy that measured room EQ to see if it made a difference:
http://archimago.blogspot.com/2015/06/measurements-effect-of-speaker-grills.html

 

[slipperybidness]

Then again some speakers shouldn't be nekkid
View attachment 19073

some speakers just shouldn't be......

 

[herbu]

I know speakers can be out of phase with the sub

This is one of the things Audyssey corrects.
It is not unusual to read posts where people ask why Audyssey sets the distance incorrectly from the sub to their listening position. It is for phase matching.

Audyssey generates a signal, then measures how long it takes for that signal to reach the microphone. This time, along with the signal wavelength, can be used to determine phase.

If the phase is at or near 180deg out, it will tell you a speaker is miswired. If a speaker or sub is just a few degrees off, it can fix it for you. By delaying the signal to the speaker/sub, it can effectively change the apparent distance between the speaker/sub and you, thus changing the phase.

So if you use Audyssey correctly, and don't manually change the speaker/sub distances it sets, you don't have to worry about "out of phase" with your speakers or sub.

 

[slipperybidness]

This is one of the things Audyssey corrects.
It is not unusual to read posts where people ask why Audyssey sets the distance incorrectly from the sub to their listening position. It is for phase matching.

Audyssey generates a signal, then measures how long it takes for that signal to reach the microphone. This time, along with the signal wavelength, can be used to determine phase.

If the phase is at or near 180deg out, it will tell you a speaker is miswired. If a speaker or sub is just a few degrees off, it can fix it for you. By delaying the signal to the speaker/sub, it can effectively change the apparent distance between the speaker/sub and you, thus changing the phase.

So if you use Audyssey correctly, and don't manually change the speaker/sub distances it sets, you don't have to worry about "out of phase" with your speakers or sub.

My older Pio Elite specifically has a Phase function, it can be activated independently of the entire MCACC suite.

 

[lovinthehd]

My JBLs have no choice but to go topless, though