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Do grills on speakers affect performance? (1 Viewer)

Gary Joe

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 6, 2001
Messages
74
I'm getting ready to build a speakerpage kit and was going over their instrucions when I noticed that their assembly intructions have you stretching a tube of cloth around the entire speaker covering the recessed drivers with an end cap on top to hide where you tie off the tube. If I were to veneer the speaker and make a grill out of 1/2" MDF with black grille cloth stretched over it, would this hamper the off axis performance any since part of reason for recessed tweets is imaging. I wasn't sure if SCH didn't include plans for a grill because of the performance factor or simplicity of design factor? Would it make an audible diference either way? I'm new to all of this so I'm not sure how critical stuff like this is to speaker building.
 

JerryD

Grip
Joined
May 15, 2000
Messages
24
I am not the expert on this, but I am told that grill frames can cause an audible difference, especially if they have edges that are 90 degrees from the front surface. I seem to recall the work "diffraction" in the explaination. Most of them have the edges chamfered at 45 degrees or use a large radius roundover to minimize this effect.

If you are particular, many people can hear diminished high frequency detail caused by just the grill cloth and so use their speakers without any grill, at least during critical listening. The important thing is whether YOU can hear the difference. The only way to know for sure on things like this is to try it both ways and listen carefully. The real test is if you have your eyes shut and have someone else make the changes without you knowing which you are listening to.

The biggest reasons for grills are kids and SAF.
 

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