Speaker Grills

[monteverdi]

Speaker grills have an effect mostly on mid/high. If the speaker is designed right, i.e neutral, grills have a negative effect. But if the design is hifi i.e. some peaks at higher frequencies the grill could be beneficial. So I obtained from voting!

[SteveS1]

It's likely that any speaker designed to work with cover over the drive units will not include a frame or baffle as part of them. They tend to either have fine acoustically transparent cloth fixed over the whole enclosure, like Linn Kans for example. Or they use some fraim-less transparent material like Naim used to with SBLs, SL2s DBLs etc.

 

Of course in some circumstances non-fixed covers may help tame a bright environment but the speakers are usually designed with them as protection/WAF when not in use, mine lose a significant amount at the top end when in place.

[SteveS1]

Speaker grills have an effect mostly on mid/high. If the speaker is designed right, i.e neutral, grills have a negative effect. But if the design is hifi i.e. some peaks at higher frequencies the grill could be beneficial. So I obtained from voting!

 

Quite right. You often see upper mid/top lifted by as much as 5dB on axis for modern speakers, quite scary really.

[Jsmith]

This is a quote from Alan Shaw, head of Harbeth:

 

Harbeth speakers are designed to be used with the grilles fitted (on); thanks to the unique Harbeth SuperGrille, the frequency response is measurably flatter with the grilles fitted. This is the exact opposite with all other types of speakers. The tweeter performance is set to be just right when the grilles are fitted..

 

So as others have stated, some manufactures account for grill and bake it in.

 

The funny part is, often when I see pictures of Harbeth speakers, the grills are off.

[Audio_ELF]

The funny part is, often when I see pictures of Harbeth speakers, the grills are off.

Even on Harbeth's own website... Harbeth UK

[Jsmith]

Even on Harbeth's own website... Harbeth UK

 

That is what happens when marketing takes over from engineering.

[mwheelerk]

Even on Harbeth's own website... Harbeth UK

 

That is what happens when marketing takes over from engineering.

 

And those images may be nothing more than showing the driver layout of each model and not a recommendation to use them without grills.

[Blake]

One alternative is to split the difference between on/off:

 

 

[m&m's]

hear no difference w/wo grills with my reference 3a mm de cappo i's but there is a difference with my outlaw bls. better sound without .maybe due to that they are metal.great though when grandkids come to visit.more protection from pushed in tweeters and woofers

[Weerstandje]

With the grills off you can see the units, so you know where the sound comes from and your mind is psychologically focused on that. With the grills on the invisability of the units make it is easier to imagine the soundstage. On the other hand, that only lasts while its new to you.

Maybe it is psychoaccoustics or maybe it is just me :-)