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[Jack Hammer]

• As far as preference to fully clothed or naked it really depends on the speaker itself and which I find to look "better." I find my current (M&K) speakers to look better (IMO) than many other speakers without the grills. I this the box shape of them is improved by seeing the speakers themselves vs being hidden by the covers, especially from a directly in front angle.
• I use them with the grills off. AFAICT there is absolutely no sonic difference,
• I just prefer the way it looks. The boxey shape of my speakers I find improved by being able to see the tweeters and woofers, it's looks cooler and more like a speaker with the grills off.
• Switching would depend on the overall aesthetics of the speaker itself. For example, I've always prefered the Klipsch and Martin Logan speakers to look "better" with the grills on. I think the Klipsch look too much like a box without covers and the ML's w/o the grills detracts from the cool look of the tweeters which extend above the speaker box itself.
• Basically, I find it to be an overall artistic design and balance of shapes and speaker box colors which determine the best appearance between grills on or off.

 

[adwilk]

I like em with the grilles on, my speakers are high contrast and I don't like looking at the cones. If i had some speakers with really low contrast, i'd consider taking the grills off...

 

[Chopper Greg]

Contest Questions:
Do you like your speakers fully clothed or naked?
Do you use your home theater speakers with the grills on or off?
Why?
What would make you switch to the opposite?

Clothed.

Grill on.

I like the much more simple look.

Don't know. I prefer simple functionality over impressive looks - perhaps there is some underlying belief that something that looks impressive, had more money and effort spent on making it look better than it actually is, and I don't see the need to spend money to impress others - probably the same reason why I don't own a vehicle less than 10 yrs old and actually prefer my '83 pickup ( despite all of it's rust and lack of "new" features or radio ), to the wifes '99 car /w A/C.

 

[MidnightSensi]

Do you like your speakers fully clothed or naked?

I keep them fully clothed. They get self-conscious.

Do you use your home theater speakers with the grills on or off? Why?

To be serious, I keep them on mostly because they look incomplete without, due the rubber grommet mounting plugs in my M&Ks. It also offers some form of protection, since people can walk up to them. If I had an acoustically transparent screen I'd probably take them off and then backlight behind the screen so I could flip a light on and show them off.

My studio monitors I keep the grills on even, but they are super-thin and you can see the drivers through the cloth. My speakers at work don't have grills or mounting bungs for them.


What would make you switch to the opposite?

I think speakers can look very cool without grills if they are designed to be run that way, hiding how they mount. On front dual slot ported speakers this could be done with recessed clips on either side. Otherwise a magnetic mounting setup could be used, with small magnets mounted on the inside face of the speaker, and then the opposite polarity piece mounted on the grill. That way they would just 'clamp' on but you wouldn't see the mounting method if you used them without. I also think this would be cheaper for manufacturers than having to cut the four holes and buy rubber grommets.

 

[XEagleDriver]

Contest Questions:
Do you like your speakers fully clothed or naked? Do you use your home theater speakers with the grills on or off? Why? What would make you switch to the opposite?

Prefer them clothed to protect them from inadvertent damage, avoid seeing any distracting cone movement, and is asthetically more pleasing. Would switch if the sound quality would be substantially improved.

XEagleDriver

 

[gholt]

Contest Questions:
Do you like your speakers fully clothed or naked? Do you use your home theater speakers with the grills on or off? Why? What would make you switch to the opposite?

I would like to listen to them naked, but alas, I have a 9, 8, & 6 year old, so until my kids are responsible enough I will probably have them clothed.

If manufactures would warranty against kids, then I would switch to naked.

 

[alphaiii]

"Do you like your speakers fully clothed or naked? Do you use your home theater speakers with the grills on or off? Why? What would make you switch to the opposite?"

I like my speakers "naked", with the grills off. I like to see the speaker and drivers, and usually feel the grills make the speaker less visible in the room.

I do use my center channel with the grill on because my significant other hates the look of the brushed aluminum mounts and silver drivers on it. Another reason that would make me switch to clothed/grill on - pets, kids, or visitors I don't trust around my speakers... gotta protect those drivers!

 

[jhanley]

"Do you like your speakers fully clothed or naked? Do you use your home theater speakers with the grills on or off? Why? What would make you switch to the opposite?"

I prefer grills on to provide a barrier between woofer and
Grand-Daughter.

If the woofer's and tweeter's became impervious to little
inquisitive hands...I would reconsider.

 

[br0]

nakkid grills

I like my two-channel studio speakers clothed because they sound too bright in the 12x12 room. Surround speakers in the living room are nakkid though since the space is larger and the sound mixes well. Switch occasionally with grills on/off depending on what I'm listening too. Some records/CDs have sucky mastering and need to take the grills off to hear the higher range.

 

[ErinH]

Contest Questions:
Do you like your speakers fully clothed or naked? Do you use your home theater speakers with the grills on or off? Why? What would make you switch to the opposite?

Clothed.
On.
Simply to hide the speakers so that they blend in with the room better. Unless the drivers themselves are plain-jane (ie: not yellow) I prefer not to see them as they simply don’t mesh with the room.
I’d switch over to an un-clothed set of speakers if the drivers are plain, as mentioned above.

 

[Bryce_H]

Contest Questions:

Do you like your speakers fully clothed or naked? Clothed

Do you use your home theater speakers with the grills on or off? On

Why? In my opinion makes no difference. My theater is completely light controled so you can't see anything on teh speakers anyway. Given it is a dedicated room, lights are almost always dimmed down, so no point is taking them off

What would make you switch to the opposite? nothing really - maybe if there was hard proof of a significant sound advantage.

 

[endbegin]

I like my speakers clothed.

Use speakers with grills on, so as to protect the tweeter for dust.

If there was a huge difference in sound quality with grills off, then I'd consider switching.

 

[cravenkay]

if it looks good don't hide it i say. but to protect whats mine i will keep it shielded from the kids and adults who like to touch things.

 

[brucewoodington]

Because of kids, the family room speakers are "fully clothed" (and I'm still trying to come up with a shield to keep my 4 year old out of the controls on my Axiom sub. Every once in awhile he re-discovers the knobs, and LF effects take on a whole new meaning.)

Basement system is naked.

 

[BobBart]

I use mine with the grills on because I have children. If I could find a grill that could protect the speaker but be unobtrusive that would be great.

 

[jwenthold99]

I prefer grills off, but the two year old makes grills on a necessity! Once kinds are gone they will be naked again.

 

[sholling]

fully clothed - I'm way past needing to see the drivers.

 

[tbergman]

Naked for my Infinitys, Clothed for my Onkyos in the kitchen, purely because the Infinitys look good, and the cheap onkyos don't. You guys talk about kids and wives, I'm 23 and single, I do what I want... Oh, and the dog is well trained to stay well away from the speakers...

 

[engtaz]

I love to keep them naked but dog hair makes me keep grills on. Wifes dogs, enough said.

 

[Anagoge]

I keep the grills on for all of my speakers. The main reasons are that I find flashy speakers distracting (I prefer a clean look), and our son has already ruined one tweeter, and that was with the grill on. I can't imagine changing my mind unless I eventually come across speakers that sound much better than mine, but only with the grills off.