Leave grills on or off?

[tseryan]

I've noticed that many people remove the grills on their floor standing speakers. Is this a photography thing, or do they sound better without the grills? They do look better without them though. :D

[Dennis Gardner]

Its like raising the hood at the drive-in, its a guy thing.;)We want to see how things are built.

In theory, the grills should be thin enough to be acoustically transparent, but that is difficult to meet both acoustic and durability needs with something so thin, so sometimes a compromise is made which tones down highs a little.

Grills are 2 fold for me......they smooth out the look, and keep grandkids 2 year old fingers away from dustcaps. You know that poked in look....:D

[cfrizz]

Leave them on. It looks neater & it keeps the dust out.

[candyliquor35m]

I leave mine on.

[Lasareath]

mine are off all the time. I like looking at all the drivers and tweeters

[NJPOLKER]

On all the time

[Ron Temple]

Maybe it's subliminal, but when I take the grills of the sound feels more "right there". I only do this when I'm alone and doing serious listening.

[shadowofnight]

Basically like speaker condoms....If I dont need the protection ( Kids...dogs....vacuum cleaner wand waving wife ..etc ) , they come off for listening.

[broncsrule21@]

The cat trashed my old Infinitys. So, I have never put the grills on my Polks. The cat stays away. I like the way they look without the grilles but would have them on if the cat wasn't a problem.

[bigaudiofanatic]

Leave mine on unless I have a song turned up rely loud and want to see what the woofers are doing.

[Terrax]

basically like speaker condoms....if i dont need the protection ( kids...dogs....vacuum cleaner wand waving wife ..etc ) , they come off for listening.

+1 :d

[Cochise]

I leave them on because during movies light will reflect off the silver woofers, very annoying.

[MillerLiteScott]

I leave mine on most of the time because they become invisible to the kids. If they are off little fingers start touching the cones and dust caps. One time I had to pry a Polly Pocket out of a front port.

I have noticed a slight reduction in upper end with the original SDA grill cloth.

Scott

[BlueFox]

I was looking at the Tyler Acoustics site last week, and noticed they charge extra for the grills. The implication being the grills degrade the sound. After all, if you are spendings thousands for one speaker, why not include the $50 dollar grill.

Anyway, I pulled the grills off my front LSi15s, and left them on for the rear LSi15s. It is hard to tell if it makes any differance or not, but it does look better.

[F1nut]

Leave them on. Don't you think the manufactures design their speakers with the knowledge that they will have grills on the them and therefore make allowances for that? You bet your a$$ they do.

[TouchOfEvil]

I'd leave mine off but the cat"no calws" likes to paw at em while they are moving. So i leave em on even though he doesn't have any claws. Not worth the risk.

[zingo]

I go back and forth; it depends what mood I'm in.

[mmadden28]

I like the look of exposed drivers. However I run with my grills on. Personally I find the exposed drivers distracting-I can't help but look at them. With the grills on they are nore liely to disappear, which is what I want them to do when I am watching a movie, etc.

Now if they had magnetic catches, I might remove them more often, but they really are a pain in the arse to get on and off on the RTi12s.
I usually only run them with the 'hood up' when I am watching for excursion when I am really playing them hard. My 5 and 3 year olds think its the coolest thing. especially on the sub.

Leave them on. Don't you think the manufactures design their speakers with the knowledge that they will have grills on the them and therefore make allowances for that? You bet your a$$ they do.

I would agree with this from a acoustic sound design perspective, but the manufacturers also keep in mind that some want to keep the hood up. Why else would Polk have redesigned the RTi series which has wood veneers all around except on the fronts (silver), to the the next generation RTiA series with veneer now also on the fronts? Must have been for aesthetics when running grill-less, since they would otherwise be covered by the grills.
I can understand veneers on the backs, but one thing I don't get though--on both RTi's and RTiA's (and many other reall wood veneer speakers for that matter), why the heck is the veneer on the bottom?

If the manufacture sells the grills as acoustically inert-then to me, that means that the sound should not be affected or changed whether they are on or off.

[joe.inom]

Well it does look better , but you see the creaters were more intelligent than us as in deign ingeneering and they did some of a good mechanical work than designing when they installed grills in the floor speakers.
When it is for high bass , teh speakers are in great motion an due to teh motion they tend to move tah box itself but due to the rubber grills , the box stays in place and thus we enjoy peace music rather than listening the music form a sound box that runs away fro us at every bass !!!!

[treitz3]

Preference.

[obieone]

I was looking at the Tyler Acoustics site last week, and noticed they charge extra for the grills. The implication being the grills degrade the sound.

That's funny, because Paradigm is just the opposite
They make a BIG deal about leaving the grills on, because they're incorporated into the SQ. I've heard a difference, not better/ worse, just different

[tugboat]

What I don't really understand is my SDA manual says to keep them at least 2" ahead of cabinets, yet the grill covers are made of 7/8" wood. Doesn't the thickness of the wood for the grills interfere with sound dispersion? Wouldn't having them flush with a cabinet have the same affect on them as the grills do?

Thanks!

[mmadden28]

Well it does look better , but you see the creaters were more intelligent than us as in deign ingeneering and they did some of a good mechanical work than designing when they installed grills in the floor speakers.
When it is for high bass , teh speakers are in great motion an due to teh motion they tend to move tah box itself but due to the rubber grills , the box stays in place and thus we enjoy peace music rather than listening the music form a sound box that runs away fro us at every bass !!!!

Ahem. - Anybody need any Life Insurance?

[zingo]

Smooth move joe.inom...