Speaker grilles & cleaning

[rotel&energy]

This is kind of a dumb question, but it popped into my head last night as I was taking the grilles off my speakers to admire them. Is there any problem w/ leaving the speaker grilles off all the time? I can't imagine that there is, except maybe more dust settling on them. I guess they may be a little less protected w/o the grilles, but I can't think of any think of any other problem. Any other ideas/opinions?

What do you guys like better - grilles on or off?

Speaking of dust - any suggestions on cleaning/dusting speakers?

[David Meek]

No, there's no other reason to keep grills on. Personally, for "serious" listsening, I take the grills off in order to get the least colored or impeded sound possible. I do put them back on as protection for the cones otherwise.

I use a static dust mop for cleaning. It's a large collection of strands that pull dust off the speakers/components via a tiny (read harmless) static charge around the strands.

[aarsoe]

In my view, not in general - but watch out for the sun. That can kill any speaker unit in a very short amount of time..

[John Holmes]

Well, the L/C/R speakers in my system have metal grills. And are designed to be left on. Cleaning them is as simple as dusting. My surrounds aren't M&K's. They have standard cloth grills. But I never remove them except to dust the speakers.

[aud19]

I have the grills off my L/C/R but on my rears. I dust them the same way porcupines mate

Jason

[Bam!]

I have the grills off my L/C/R but on my rears. I dust them the same way porcupines mate

Jason

And which way is that Jason!!!! :lol:

Ohohhwhoooooo! I love that one!

I am all over that one! Like......you guessed it! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[aud19]

Thank you, thank you :thanku: :lol:

rotel&energy, just remember you should recalibrate your speaker settings if you take the grills off as chances are they about will go up a couple dB's

Jason

[rotel&energy]

Thank you, thank you :thanku: :lol:

rotel&energy, just remember you should recalibrate your speaker settings if you take the grills off as chances are they about will go up a couple dB's

Jason

This question will show how much I know... do you mean going into my Rotel's menu and changing the speakers settings from large to small or vice versa?

Thanks,

chris

[Bing Fung]

This question will show how much I know... do you mean going into my Rotel's menu and changing the speakers settings from large to small or vice versa?

Thanks,

chris

I think Aud19 is jokeing... :W At least I hope he is :E

[aud19]

Actually I'm serious. You will have to re-calibrate your speaker levels (+/- dB) using an SPL meter as removing the grills tends to allow higher dB and your system will be out of balance as compared to the speakers with grills on. Especially if, like me, you only remove some of the grills.

Jason

[Kevin P]

I think Jason was joking. Unless you have sound blocking grilles, removing them won't change the SPL level by more than a fraction of a dB.

Rotel&energy, when he said recalibrate, he meant adjusting the speaker (channel) levels, not changing from small to large... though I'd like to see a speaker that could change from small to large by simply removing the grilles... though subwoofer manufacturers would probably hate that. :lol:

As for grilles on or off, that depends on several factors. The purposes of the grille are appearance and protection of the speaker elements, not from dust but from accidents and curious hands, paws, etc. If you have a SAF (spouse approval factor), young children, pets that regard speaker cones as objects of lust, the speakers see direct sunlight or drunken friends/neighbors, or you find they look ugly with the grilles off, then leave them on, or only take them off when listening. If your speakers aren't at risk of getting attacked, then you can leave them off. Dust won't hurt the speakers, and you can dust them off with a soft brush or feather duster.

[Bam!]

Duders!

You know what I love ?

The fact that you guys "THINK" Jason is jokin' !!! :lol:

It is that 1 % uncertainty that makes this hilarious!

I am getting one of those laughing rushes again.... :rofl: ops:

Whoooa Go Jason Go!

[aud19]

lol well at least we made Bam laugh! :B And I am still serious...

When I removed my front grills it made a small but noticeable volume increase. After checking with my SPL meter I noticed that, I think one of the 3 L/C/R channels needed to be bumped down 1 in my 1066 (if I remember correctly two stayed the same) and the rears needed to be adjusted in relation to the mains as well. Obviously your particular speaker and it's particular grill will vary results. Sure there might not be any difference or a very small difference but does it hurt to check?

Jason

[Kevin P]

Jason, out of curiosity... what kind of grilles do your speakers have (cloth, mesh, metal, etc.) and if you pop them back on, do you find you have to kick your front(s) back up 1 db?

I've noticed with some speakers that they sound brighter with the grilles off, since they likely block high frequencies more so than the lows. But I doubt it would make enough of a SPL difference to require recalibration (unless your pre-pro offers 1/4 or 0.1 dB increments).

[aud19]

Cloth and plastic frames. Also is it not possible that the 1/2 dB change could just push the levels over the edge? For example perhaps a speakers was playing at 75.3 dB and hence read as 75dB, removing the grill however bumped it to 75.8 say which then read as 76 dB... I'm not saying it will be night and day, that you'll have to adjust your pre/pro down like 5 dB or anything but it can make a small difference and like I said before it hurts nothing to check.

Jason

[rotel&energy]

Ahh, I'm seeing the light now... ops:

You know, we have a really nice SLM w/ an octave band analyzer here at my office. we use if for OSHA noise investigations. maybe i'll borrow it and do a little home "noise" investigation w/ the grills on and off.

[Bing Fung]

Son of a gun, he was serious :E

I don't notice a sonic difference with my grills on or off. So for me to measure it on my Radio Shack SPL, would be futile I think. I'm not sure it can resolve the .5dB change. If it could the actual measurement would be loss in the swinging range (variance) of the SPL meter. Still what does it hurt? I may have to test this out....

I leave my Covers on most times, but they are off right now.. . Sometimes I like to see the Kevlar :B

I suspect the biggest risk of damge would be the UV exposure, however that could take years and your windows would have to be open all the time.

[Scarp]

It all depends on the speaker or brand.

Some manufacturers take into account that the grill is on there permanently and should not be removed actually. Example: the tweeters from B&W Nautilus series have been designed to sound better with grill than without. The grills are there for two reasons: protected from damage and dust.

However some grills are there primarily for keeping dust away. A thing cloth won't protect against damage at all, so its purpose is keeping dust away. Keeping dust away from the woofers is good, so you do not have to clean them often and therefore no need to touch them (which in turn protects them from damage). Most speakers do sound better without the grills.

Then there are grills which serve only esthetic purposes. Example: sonus faber uses some sort of rubber bands vertically. I dont see how these protect against dust or damage. Seems to be there for looks.

So, just read the manual of your speaker, but if a grill is easily removed, then just experiment with or without. Personally I keep 'm on most of the time and remove them only for serious listening sessions.