To grill or not to grill?

[Winkleswizard]

Have you measured the Paradigm Signature series?
I ask because they claim that their speakers (in this series, at least) are designed to be listened to with the grills on. They do have some extra shaped surfaces in the grill.
I never could hear a decisive difference (although I can imagine stuff all day).
In the end, they just look too sick to cover up:

The paradigms appear to be well-built. But would be interesting to measure as they clearly tried more than just felt or foam to compensate...

Every speaker is a complex set of tradeoffs. Grills not only are a source of diffraction, but can add significant resonances too. From what i have read, our hearing is filtered by our experiences. I have strained to hear what seemingly should be audible too. I think Floyd Toole pointed out that we liked the distortions from vinyl records. From that perspective, speakers are far more like a phono cartridge than our other components. This would imply that there is some wiggle room for "if it sounds pleasing to you (then it is good)".

Ww

 

[-Jim-]

View attachment 21366

Phew. That's the most money I've spent at once in a very long time. You only live once! Am I reading that right? It'll be here in two days? That's pretty fast!

I used to spend a lot more than this on dirt toys. Now there's an expensive Hobby.

Pogre - cool buy. I'll be interested to see what you think of it once installed. Please start a separate Thread and PM me on it.

Folks,

In the olden days almost all OEMs used to permanently attach the speakers grills to keep prying fingers from damaging the Cones. And all OEMs intended their speakers to be listened to with them on.

Sometime ago marketing discovered its easier to sell these boxes with the grills off, and they started spending some of their budget marking them look cool, therefore increasing sales even more. Of course they are still engineered to be listened to with the grills in place.

The money they spend to make the raw drivers and speaker baffle look cool either increases the retail cost of the speaker, or the decreases the profit the speaker OEM makes. (I vote they push the prices up.) Of course this effort doesn't make the speakers sound better one bit and therefore it's totally a cosmetic upgrade. Some OEMs even say they have "acoustically transparent" grills just to try to get folks to put the grills back on...

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Wow. Wrong thread. LOL!

Well, amps are a 1,000 times more interesting than speaker grilles for sure.

 

[Winkleswizard]

To be fair, the amp equivalent to a speaker grill is the front bezel! I may concede the bezel is more interesting than a speaker grill, but speakers are at least 1000 times more interesting than amps.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

...speakers are at least 1000 times more interesting than amps.

I wouldn't go that far.

It depends on how new the purchase is.

If you've owned your speakers for a long time and you've just ordered your new amp, the new amp may seem more interesting, at least until you've owned your amp for a long time.

 

[Winkleswizard]

I wouldn't go that far.

It depends on how new the purchase is.

If you've owned your speakers for a long time and you've just ordered your new amp, the new amp may seem more interesting, at least until you've owned your amp for a long time.

Yes, agree shiny new toys are nice! Did you build your Orion speakers and are you planning to upgrade or replace them?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yes, agree shiny new toys are nice! Did you build your Orion speakers and are you planning to upgrade or replace them?

No, I did not build them. They were built by Linkwitz.

I do not plan to upgrade them. I have been listing them on eBay & Craigslist for over a year now at $5,000.

If I ever sell them, I would replace them with the RBH flagship towers.

 

[Winkleswizard]

No, I did not build them. They were built by Linkwitz.

I do not plan to upgrade them. I have been listing them on eBay & Craigslist for over a year now at $5,000.

If I ever sell them, I would replace them with the RBH flagship towers.

Very nice with a great pedigree too. Just need to find the right buyer. Shipping big speakers is part of why I build my own now Years ago, I almost sold my Vandersteens until I found out what they cost to ship!

Like your taste in speakers! The Philharmonic 3 is another one I almost bought. Am going to check the RBHs just to if the have any ideas worth borrowing. Have you heard Nao Notes?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Have you heard Nao Notes?

No I have not.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

If the area the speakers are used is prone to being dusty the grills help keep it off the innards. I haven't heard any discernible difference either way, but then I suffer from tinnitus so how can I know. Some speakers look really cool with no grills, my DefTech Studio monitor 65's are ugly with the top grill off.