Command strips from B&Q are non marking
Dynaudio recommends leaving the speaker grills off of the Confidence C2 I have, for serious listening, stating they will sound better without. I mostly leave them off.
Funnily enough, they’re exactly what I purchased from B&Q when I went out for lunch today!
Luckily “curious fingers” aren’t really an issue with Brahms and Frisco…
There was that moment when Brahms barked at Bill Frisell, and I thought he might lunge at the speaker to take him out. The grills would be irrelevant in that scenario.
I use NBLs, which feature very fine mesh grille cloth, rather like black stockings(!). They’re difficult to remove and even more challenging to get back on with the weave perfectly aligned and with the rubber ‘O’ rings properly concealed. Hence, they stay on at all times. I only took them off once and that was to replace perished ‘O’ rings.
Oops I think I’ve strayed on to the wrong site
Just about any dealer or show demo has the grills removed so thats how they should sound, probably.
Good point about dust and children. Take them off for serious listening perhaps?
Good point.
As much as SQ I’d put that down to speakers looking nicer without the grill, wares fully on display.
I’m pretty sure my SCM40s included a note in the user guide that said grills on or off made no difference, and I prefer the look with them in place anyway, as well as providing a degree of protection.
in conversations with my dealer Kudos speakers are voiced with thier grill being on
I did a fair bit of blind testing a few months ago, having kept grilles on all my speakers for years. I wore a blindfold whilst my son spent an hour playing tracks from various genres whilst randomly removing the grilles and replacing them. I was unable to discern any difference whatsoever. He then took my place behind the blindfold with exactly the same result! Each to their own, perhaps my hearing is simply not acute enough (although my son is 37 years younger, so what’s his excuse?).
…reading up on Harbeth speakers on their user group, the designer states the speakers are designed to sound their best with the grills on but some folks still prefer to keep them off. Could be they sound better or the preference of the look with the grills off.
I often wonder if the overlook of the system influences our listening.
Dead easy with Neat MF9s, since they don’t have grilles, merely a stretchy mesh stocking thingy, which, once removed, would require the deftness of an octopus to get 'em back on … and life’s too short.
Same for the SL2s. Ugly looking things without the grills.
Grandchildren 2&5 grills on
Well, it could also be useful for the commercial interests of manufacturers and dealers to show the maximum possible interstitials, the drivers in this case, right?
In the old days the finish of most speakers behind the grills was so awful that no one was willing to expose the eye sore.
For the last 20 years the grills are off my ProAc speakers. Visiting the NAIM dealer during the same time period, the only speakers I have seen there demoed with the grills on were the QUAD electrostatics.
I have never noticed a significant difference in SQ with or without grill, and I have even enjoyed speakers without grill (Totem). What is true is that, aesthetically, some are more favored with the grill while others look better without them. But the issue of the eyes on the children’s fingers and the dust thing are both there.
I’ve just put the socks on my Linn Keilidhs and played the same piece and cannot tell the difference at all. They are just socks though, ie they don’t have a framework and just use a huge rubber band round the speaker periphery.