Something from the grille...

Just wondered what peoples' views of using their speakers with or without their grilles are.

The information provided with my Ruarks suggests that the grilles are a part of the dispersal design of the speakers and should be left on. I've also noticed however that my AV speakers (Kef Q series) sound a lot more open and a little clearer with all the grilles removed.

Looking at 5 or 6 exposed drivers is distracting though. What do you guys tend to do?

 

I take the grills off because it looks cool.....!!

sound wise i notice no difference, my grilles are made of exceptionally light weight material and are really really thin, so i assume the grill to be all but transparent.

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That's the interesting part, surely *something* directly in front of the drivers (no matter how thin or light) must, to some degree, affect the sound?

Some speakers, like the Kef Q95c also have a lot more going on behind the grille that you might first imagine... in that case, a load of plastic covering everything other than the driver. Common sense tells me that it must be there for directionality purposes but surely you want the centre to blend with the front left & right?

 

From what I understand, real audiophiles will have the grilles off to absolutely squeeze every single last ounce of 'clean' quality out of the system.

I am sure that grilles do produce some form of 'resistance' to the sound but whether it is audible depends upon what material the grilles are made from.

Take em off, put em back on. Go with what you think sounds better.

 

I tend to leave the grills on, one reason............dust, can´t be arsed to keep dusting the drivers/tweeters!

 

My Mission M73's "release" a bit more top-end with the grills removed. Whether these speakers need any more help with their enthusiastic treble is another point entirely...

 

Some speakers are actually designed to work WITH the grill, removing it causes problems. It is very much down to individual speaker designs, personally I can't be bothered with all that dusting.

 

I tend to leave the grills on, one reason........... toddlers.