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Hello there , this is Norway calling 😁...Grills on always. But I had to take them off for a period of time. In fact, I had to move the speakers out of the living room. The reason was that I got two kittens. And they were very curious as most kittens are. They were inside my house all the time until they were 11 months old. Of course they were out, but then with a chain on. The cats are now in and out just as it pleases them, and now the speakers are finally back in place in the living room with the grills on. They look much better with the grills on. Btw it's B&W 684. Keep the nice videos coming 👍👍👍All the best from a very cold Kristiansand. We have 9 below zero 🎸🎸🎸(celsius) that's 15.8 fahrenheit 😁🇧🇻🇺🇸

Very logical

First off, everybody I'd heard reviewing these things almost always had the grills off, which is what I've been doing. Now, you made a very good point about grills preventing dust from infiltrating the bass port, so yea, I'd love to see if I can handle the sound with them on (I have a treble knob I can crank up to compensate if the grill dumbs that down to much)........except......I have cats that use EVERYTHING as a scratching post, and I fear that they would reach up to my covered ELAC B 5.2s and start SHREDDING! Can't watch them every hour of the day so I don't think they would last long. So far they don't think my woofer cones are all that interesting........

When it comes to 'room treatment, ' everyone knows a little about the benefits of curtains, cushions, carpets, rugs etc to damp down hard sound bouncing all over the place, but no one talks about how speaker grilles can actually improve the sound in some situations, reducing echo, especially iin a cold room.

It depends on personal preference. All coverings were designed to look nice and protect the drivers from dust build up. I don't hear any difference on or off.

It's been known for decades that many speaker makers figure the finished sound going through their grills. Without the grills, they can often sound too bright. I'm neutral on this topic (surprising, right?!). When I ran the Double Advent System decades ago, I left them off. It wasn't so much for the sound as Koss' goofy attachment hardware that came unstapled. Then I discovered hot glue guns. Interesting that Paul's speaker designers for the FR30 dispensed with the notion of grills altogether AND the 'box' concept. Remarkable design, and a remarkable speaker.

It usually depend on your spouse's (if you have one) aesthetic opinion in most cases. They always sound better without the grills unless the grills are part of a sound attenuation effect designed into the system by the speaker maker.

My speaker system consist of a Klipsch 7.1 Surround Sound system, which I purchased many years ago, but they are still going strong and sounding as good as the day of purchase.....knock on wood! I use my speaker system for listening to music (vinyl & CDs), watching movies, and I have my PC desktop connected to my 55 inch TV and the audio connected to my Yamaha 7.2 A/V receiver. I can watch KZfaq through my 55 inch TV and hear the sound through my speaker system. I live alone and I have no pets. I used to leave my speaker grills off. But I've started leaving the grills on because the sound seems to be better with a slightly richer sound if that makes sense. And I got slightly different readings when using the YPAO system on my 7.2 A/V Yamaha receiver.

Grills on my Arendal 1723 towers. The grills are the best protection I’ve ever seen. metal and protect from any touching or projectiles which is important around the kids. I also don’t have to worry about taking them on and off and then remember to put them back on in case a little someone gets to them before I do.

I think if you're the type of audiophile who has bridges to keep your speaker cables off the floor and tiny magnets situated all around the room and a direct power line from the power plant to your system you will probably hear a difference between grill or no grill. I thought I heard a difference once. I was wrong. I think grills look better on with vintage and vintage looking speakers. On my Aerial Acoustics (7Bs and 6Ts) I like the grills off. I want them to look like speakers rather than air purifiers.

I have Vandersteen speakers. I asked the store's personnel if I should take the grilles off. They told me that the speakers were designed to be used with the grilles on. They have various Vandersteen models, as well as other brands, and they keep the grilles on for all of their speakers. I do not think it is to keep customer's fingers out. But just a guess. They want to make sales, and they will set things up for the best sound quality. And they do not guess. All of their set-ups sound very good. They know what they are doing. I am very pleased with how my speakers sound, so I never listened without the grilles. Now I am tempted. If the grilles make no difference, then I will keep them on, to keep the dust off of the drivers. I never want to try and dust off the drivers. It is probably safe to wipe them. But I am not going to find out. If I scratch them, or put a dot on them, or blemish them in any way, I will lose my mind. ;-)

Great topic! You, probably, heard me). It's funny, i started experimenting again, a few days ago, i've done that before, and have a similar impression today, - i kinda like it, to me, the sound becomes cohesive and more focused, very different bass, and i hear the bass lines more clearly, maybe a little less detail, but, some kind of magic is happening.

Hi! I had KLH Model 5's until I sold them earlier this year, and for a long time I kept the grilles on, and then took them off and used them like that for a few more months. I couldn't tell any sound difference; to me, it's just about aesthetics, and I prefer speakers in general with the grilles off, especially ones with cones made of white material like the Martens I have now.

This is an interesting subject. Until a couple years ago I didn't know taking the grills off was a thing at all. Then I purchased my Zu Audio DWs which do not have grills. Instead they have plastic covers that go over the full range drivers to protect them when you aren't listening. They have to be removed when you are playing music. I like the aesthetics of these speakers with exposed drivers because they are made this way. Otherwise if they had grills I would probably leave them on. I think it's more of a personal choice than how much it affects the sound. I'm sure it has some effect on sound, just not sure how much.

i have never heard a speaker grill that I like on the speaker. when removing the grill, you remove sources of sound difraction which then allows your speakers to sound more airy and open. this is also affected by the grill cloth itself which only slightly attenuates the sound but the real effect is the micro echoes between the tweeter and cloth. this effect is absent with a speaker like the Vandersteen 2s because the cloth and tweeter are greatly separated which eliminates the effect. there is virtually no effect on the woofer in terms of gained or lost clarity, that's mostly with the midorange and tweeter. even when I had a set of Celetion County bookshelf speakers, I removed the grills even though the were FUGLY without them. when the stereo went off, the grills would go on. ...hifitommy

I take my grills off and think the difference is like a placebo effect on the ears. But I prefer to remove the grills so that any FOMO regarding the best possible sound is removed. Luckily my Dali speakers don't require toeing in so that's a bonus!

Having two 7 month old kittens means for the time being, grilles most definitely on!! I only have a small listening room so there is really no difference to having them on or off in that respect, but imo mine look better with them off. Removing them can wait though 😉

My speaker's -- PearlAcoustics Sibelius SG -- do not have grilles. There is the optional protective cover for when speaker is not in use, but no grille at all. I was a bit perplexed that you said you liked tubes for their retro look, but do not like the look of the speaker cones?!? Seems contradictory to me. I agree with you that it is a personal preference. I am possibly a bit more on the analytical preference side (though having some tubes in my system), so even with previous speakers, grilles were off. Re speakers designed with grilles as part of the equipment, there is such a thing as bad equipment design. Not all speakers are good. So the question arises whether statements of "designed with grilles" is tantamount to "poorly designed". I know, a bit extreme, but as a PC1-axis maybe not entirely wrong. my 2c.

off topic but great to see Damned Damned Damned on display.

I'm like you Rick. I prefer to have the speaker grills on. I may be way off on this, but I think it helps keep them cleaner too by reducing the amount of dust and dirt that can accumulate on the speaker cones. I have a question for you. Do you play your records with the dust cover open or closed, and why?

My Wharfdale's tell you to keep the grills on for best sound, but everyones room and ears are different

My Wharfadele Linton are designed to play with grills on. My Spendor SA1 are definitely grills off. It really depends on the design. Anyway, for me is just about the quality of reproduction.

On most speakers I've owned after the 1980's I prefer the sound with the grilles off. A lot of the 80's speakers I owned had too much sizzle on top and sounded better with grilles on. My present speakers, Tekton Moabs, were designed without grilles, but grilles are an option when you have them built. I have grilles for mine - I prefer the sound without the grilles but I find the speakers visually distracting without the grilles. So I'm usually grilles off except for movie night.

In all seriousness when the grills are on I so desire the beauty of the grills being off. When the grills are off I desire the beauty of them being on lol. So literally I find myself putting them on/off about every 2 weeks or so lol.

On allways

I'm ok with the look of the grilles on or off. But I tried them with the grilles off and decided I liked the sound with them off. Once a week I use a feather 🪶 duster to keep them clean. Rick do you play the Gibson and Strat?

Aesthetically, I prefer them off. Drivers and cones are so cool. Acoustically, I prefer them on. I am like you that the upper registers can get a bit jarring. What to do? I keep them on as the sound of the speakers definitely outweighs the look of the speakers.

I have a pair of older 3 way floor speakers. Love the look of them off but tend not to because my room is so small and I am afraid of damaging them more than they already are. Which brings me to a question. How much of a sound difference am I experiencing when both tweeter and midrange domes are dented in at the center? guessing at least some loss of quality. Love this video! Always wondered about this subject! thanks!

I love my ESS AMT 1a's but looking at those drivers just isn't gratifying, unless I want to impress someone with the AMT technology. It's fun to see their fascination with something they've never seen before. Frankly, I don't hear enough difference in the sound to make it worth my discomfort staring at those drivers. Hey, I already know what they look like. You know??

OK I am 67 and for sure my hearing starts rolling off above 8k. But then again, I am a little OCD, if I had speakers that were designed to have the grills on, I would leave them one, would I hear the difference, me probably not. But as far as looks go, I like the look of no grills better. I just love looking at the speakers.

I leave the hood over the engine on my car too. It just looks better.😀

I wonder who said that the grill better disperses the sound? Were they serious? Were they lying? Early reflections of any kind, confuse the ear/brain system. If the grill is improving the dispersion, then it must be doing so by reflecting. Now if something reflects off a round shape, where it's impossible to have parallel sides; that might be different. Revel once came out with speakers with grills that instead of being shaped straight up and down, they jutted out in the middle. The grills looked like they had a beer belly. But a more conventional look sells, and that's why we have rectangular shaped speakers instead of round or cylindrical shaped speakers, which have no parallel sides for ungodly standing waves to develop, and all things being equal would sound better. Sales are generally more important to companies than sound quality. There have been some speakers that have a round or cylindrical shape in common. Good sound is another thing they all had in common. The ones I can think of. Does anyone remember high end speakers from a company called Daniel Queen? My view is that a grill over something is definitely not going to do it any good for it's ability to reveal subtleties and nuances. "Maybe" ones made of the right material in the right way, won't harm louder level details, but going grill-less "Definitely" won't interfere with your hearing low level details. That's what I'd go with. If you need a reduction in the treble there are lots of better ways of doing that, than by masking it with fabric. Speakers that have cabinets with sides and tops that protrude over the driver like part of a roof always sound small in my experience. Or at least smaller than they otherwise would have.

It depends on the mood. But generally speaking, I prefer to leave them on. Except for those times I want to see my woofers exercise when barking. But if you care about aesthetics you can take off one grille and experience both of worlds.

I have Magnepans, no grills. They have socks and a gizillion staples to remove it, so they stay on.

no grill.

To answer the title question: "Yes". Personal choice.

lets talk cats...nuff said...grills on

I tend to buy based on a combination of design and performance. I don’t care how good a bad looking speaker sounds or how bad sounding a good looking speaker sounds as ultimately either will result in an unpleasant and less then enjoyable experience. I tend to live by the rule that a product is usually designed to perform at its optimal performence as is and won’t modify things that aren’t expressly designed to be changed out or eliminated. Kind of like changing wheels and tires on a high-end sports car or adding ketchup to an expensive steak. If I’m feeling topless then I’ll look for that in a speaker feature and if I’m feeling its sweater time then I stick with those options. The good thing is that there are no bounds to the available variables to choose from…

Of course you should take the grilles off - because it makes you look like a * real * audiophile 🙂

GM☕️ ..if engineered correctly ..they should be as “neutral” as possible..and let’s face it no one like to look at ugly speakers …

Hi Rick Grills off with my Neat lota alphas , because they don’t come with grills .🫨