Speaker grills

You guys leave your speaker grills off or on? Can you really hear any difference in sound? I can't. The guy at the store said he can.

well ive found that, if you take the grill off of a large speaker you can hear a difference. but if it is just a small bookshelf theres no difference at all. taking the grill off of a front fireing subwoofer makes it sound twice as good IMO.

ive got a questiong to. i have the grills taken off of my speakers, does dust wreck the tweeter or woofer at all? i think the woofer would be fine. but the tweeter im a little worried about becuase you cant clean them.

Speaker grills are *NOT* acoustically transparent. Some grills are designed to tame certain speakers down a bit.

I have two way monitors, and the grill *MOST* affects the upper treble. It is immediately obvious that a grill blocks a portion of the upper treble. Without the grills on (regardless of type of speaker) there is more treble detail and energy.

I leave my grills off.

Depends on the speaker. Some account for the effect the grille will have others don't. My speakers for example are meant to be played with the grills off. In fact the new line of Audio Notes no longer come with grills because the owner saw too many dealer's leaving the grills on I suspect...plus the added cost of the grills is a waste that should go into the speaker.

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Originally Posted by Thefrugalear

You guys leave your speaker grills off or on? Can you really hear any difference in sound? I can't. The guy at the store said he can.

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If I leave my speaker grill off I won't be able to hear anything from the speaker anymore coz my 3 yr old daughter will damage the speaker right away... :)

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Originally Posted by F1

If I leave my speaker grill off I won't be able to hear anything from the speaker anymore coz my 3 yr old daughter will damage the speaker right away... :)

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I'll second that Tarheel! Imagine TWO boys age 4 and 2. Not very conducive to having nice things, eh?

B&W actually recommends that you leave the grills on most of the time because the bullet covers for the voice coils aren't dust covers at all and in fact the voice coil is somewhat exposed. If you look closely at them, you can see that there is a gap between the cone and bullet cap. Dust or other contaminants can get into there and eventually affect performance. The tweeter is of course sitting out in the open but I've found you can use either a camera lens blow brush or compressed air to dust it off if necessary.

For the record, when the kids are away I'll take the grills off for critical listening but put them back on for anything else. And yes, I can definitely hear the difference.

Speakers can and do measure differently with the grilles on, and subjectively the grilles do change the sound somewhat. Very often, the designers account for the grille when voicing the speakers, so in general you should leave them on. Personally, I would leave them on just as an extra layer of protection for the drivers. All it takes is one inadvertent finger poke to take out a dome tweeter, so why leave 'em exposed if you don't have to.

I've notice grills make a difference for everything BUT sub-woofers. But the difference is quite subtle usually, I'd be disappointed in the manufacturer if it wasn't.
I take the grills off my Studio 40's for music playback, for movies I can't really tell much of a difference except maybe the center channel.
Personally I haven't noticed any relation between speaker size and grill effects.
I find speakers look a bit goofy without grills, too "in your face" so to speak. They're more agreeable in most environments with the grills on as furniture pieces, but then again, I don't buy them to look at.

I haven't heard a difference when i have the "sock" on my speakers and when i have it off. Articles I have read on the subject typically find that the top end has more energy with the grill off though.

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Originally Posted by Thefrugalear

You guys leave your speaker grills off or on? Can you really hear any difference in sound? I can't. The guy at the store said he can.

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It really does depend on the speaker. I would say most speakers sound better with the grilles off. Audio magazine used to measure speakers with the grilles on and off and the biggest effects are usually in the upper midrange and treble region. Stereophile often reports on this, too.

However, a number of manufacturers have taken advantage of the grille structure to reduce diffraction effects from the speaker cabinet. My ancient Kef 104aB speakers definitely sounded better and more focused with the foam grilles on. For some time, Paradigm Reference speakers have been designed to measure and sound better with the grilles on, and this now seems to be true for the Monitor series as well. I presume the new Signatures work better with the grilles on, too, but I have seen no measurements as yet. PSB also makes use of the grilles to good effect, and the PSB Stratus Minis measure and sound better with the grilles on--you can check this on line in the review done by Stereophile. I think the same is true of a number of other manufacturers as well. It does seem to me that since most people use the grilles that it is a good idea to design them so as to interfere the least possible with the sound or even to improve the performance.

Well is that true what I heard from JBL that they said that the studio series and north series have transparent grilles?? But do you guys still think I should remove my grilles off the S26?

But I can say that 4sure you will need the grilles on the HLS Series since they have the horn and the grilles help the highs go more percise and life like sounds.

some speaker grills are acoustically transparent but other like said before are designed to change the tone of the speaker. it normally only effects the high mid and highs. lows normally don't get effected too much. the only way to really tell is just take the grill off and if you like the tone then keep it off, if you don't notice a difference just use them however you think it looks better.

by the way Darcher84 JBL does rock. I work in a shop where we are a JBL service center. I own a pair of 4301's and finishing up a pair of 4430's for my install. I have never been too much of a fan of their low end home stuff though. I do love the S9800's though but they are like $13,000 each.

Do you really know the pro line??? If you do whats the difference on sound compairing the S26 and Control 5 and the JBL 4206 monitors? and does the JBL S26 sound like the LSR series??

I use to have the Control 1 and they sounded like the HLS410. I have only heard the speakers play on the JBL LSR25P but not like the LSR32 or 28P.

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Originally Posted by pelly3s

by the way Darcher84 JBL does rock. I work in a shop where we are a JBL service center. I own a pair of 4301's and finishing up a pair of 4430's for my install. I have never been too much of a fan of their low end home stuff though. I do love the S9800's though but they are like $13,000 each.

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Btw when you said that one speaker costs $13,000 that reminds me of the K2 Series for consumers but I wish I could hear those since I woudner how life like sounds its like and stuff.

I think I would be stuned on how the K2 series would sound like and shocked.

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Originally Posted by Thefrugalear

The guy at the store said he can.

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Next time, test him :)

Blindfold him and play with the grill, without noise :) See how many times he guesses correctly.

well personally my sub sounds better with it off by far. but i think its becuase the grill is a peice of crap. it doesnt let any air through it hardly. if i have the grill on and i turn the volume up more then 3/4 the grill pops off and lays on the floor. so i guess it is its way of telling me it doesnt want it on?

LOL..what kinda subwoofer is that!?

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Originally Posted by mtrycraft

Next time, test him :)

Blindfold him and play with the grill, without noise :) See how many times he guesses correctly.

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Good idea! Wish I thought of it at that time. Next time I see him at the store.....

Darcher, the LSR's are in a league of their own when it comes to newer JBL's. I don't honestly think they have anything that sounds like them. I never cared for the sound of any of the Control Series stuff. I'm one to go more for the sound of a studio monitor so I prefer the sound of the 4206's.

Oh one thing, the K2's and S9800's are the same thing. the double 15", 3" horn and 1" horn. I have heard them and the old K2S9500's which were out in the 80's. Both are overly impressive speakers and I believe well worth the money

http://www.audioheritage.org/intro.htm check that site out if you wanna know about older JBL and Altec Lansing stuff.

its a quest. quest is made up here in canada. its the Qs10II

150 watt 10 inch sub. its not the best sub out there.... but its just for my room. my room is like 14 foot by 13 foot

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Originally Posted by pelly3s

Darcher, the LSR's are in a league of their own when it comes to newer JBL's. I don't honestly think they have anything that sounds like them. I never cared for the sound of any of the Control Series stuff. I'm one to go more for the sound of a studio monitor so I prefer the sound of the 4206's.

Oh one thing, the K2's and S9800's are the same thing. the double 15", 3" horn and 1" horn. I have heard them and the old K2S9500's which were out in the 80's. Both are overly impressive speakers and I believe well worth the money

http://www.audioheritage.org/intro.htm check that site out if you wanna know about older JBL and Altec Lansing stuff.

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Well compairing the Studio Series how much better is the K2 Series like is there more highs or bass or what?? more punchy bass?