Speaker Grills On or Off (1 Viewer)

[douglas-b]

I removed the speaker grills on my front speakers yesterday and I love how it looks...how many of you guys run your setups without grills? I'm just curious...

 

[Reginald Trent]

Removing grills may also result in increased clarity/detail.

 

[Phuong]

I prefer keeping the grills on my NHT SuperOnes even though they were designed to provide the flattest frequency response with the grills removed. The sight of too many relatives with dented tweeters and woofers from prying fingers has compelled me to put the safety of the speaker ahead of absolute performance. Oh well. Speakers are designed to perform better with grills on or off. But not both ways. Check with the manufacturer about particular models.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Grilles can have a minor effect on the sound. Some speakers are designed grille-on, some are designed grille-off. Regardless of which may be the case with your particular speakers, you should listen both ways and determine 1) whether you hear any difference at all and then 2) which you prefer.

Obviously if you have children/pets/curious guests etc it can be a good idea to leave the grilles on to protect the speakers (some grilles are better at this than others).

Personally, I listen in the dark, so I don't care what my speakers look like, though they do look pretty snazzy with the grilles off(dynaudio drivers are pretty intersting to look at). I leave them off because I prefer the sound that way.

 

[Greg-ST]

All three speakers up front in my setup have the grills off. I keep the grills on the two rear speakers.

 

[AndrewLevine]

I have Athena's all the way around and found much more detail in the sound with the grills off.

 

[John Garcia]

For critical music listening, I take them off. The rest of the time they are on.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I should add that I've had paradigms in the past where for critical listening I left the grilles on because I preferred them that way. It just so happens that dynaudio designs grille-off (I listen grille off) and Paradigm designs grille-on ( I listened grille-on), but one should make their own decisions not based on how the speakers were designed.

 

[John Garcia]

The Studios are a bit too bright with the grilles off, IMO, but with the Monitor line, I found them to sound better with them off.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Interesting. I preferred them(monitors) grille on, though I was listening in a relatively untreated room, so that may have had an impact as well. Anyway, that's my point exactly, one should do their own listening and make individual decisions about if they hear any difference and if so which way they prefer!

 

[John Garcia]

IMO, the Monitors are a bit too bright for my taste too (which is one reason I sold them), but I still thought they sounded better with the grilles off. I kept mine off much of the time when I was listening, but yes, it is a personal opinion sort of thing - one person's bright is another person's detailed.