Quote Originally Posted by Auricauricle
I think that listening to music is about psychology as it is about physiology. Saying that, I have no doubt that certain "expectancy" effects, much like placebos, crop up now and then, when we expect a certain sonic characteristic to be produced in a given situation. For example, I sometimes think that I perceive locations of instruments, vocalists, etc., with the grills removed. At the same time, I realise that I am more congnizant of the speaker's location and their directionality, for they have been made visible. So, is there a difference, or am I just psyching myself up to perceive it? I agree with the comment that grills ought to be sonically transparent, but this may be naiive, as I am sure that some manufacturers design their speakers with the grill as in important and integral part of the architecture....

Food for thought.

Some of this reply I agree with, however my Sonus Fabers have a beautiful leather cover surrounding the bass and tweeters, so why cover that up with the grill?
Also if the manufacture intends the grills to be an integral part of the speaker, why make them so easy to detach, why not fix them with screws from the inside for instance. I refer for instance to the B and W who's speakers have magnetically detachable grills to make them easy to detach quote.