Better sound with speaker covers off !!!

[admin_exported]

I know this is going to sound strange, but has any one noticed that your speakers sound better, clearer with the speaker covers off.

I tried this the other night buy accident, and found the speakers sound better with them off than on!!

 

[Alec]

Indeed. It has always surprised me that many dont know it or agree.

 

[JoelSim]

I prefer my Dalis with them on, and my ProAcs with them off.

ÿ

 

[Lost Angeles]

The sewage man:

I know this is going to sound strange, but has any one noticed that your speakers sound better, clearer with the speaker covers off.

I tried this the other night buy accident, and found the speakers sound better with them off than on!!

So has this solved your Kandy being too bright problem

 

[idc]

Tried it with the B&W DM302, but it made no difference and they look better with the grills on.

 

[Anonymous]

I wish

 

[chebby]

Removing speaker grilles commonly makes a difference to the sound. Usually it (slightly) improves imaging and makes the treble a little brighter.

In the bad old days, speaker grille frames were really 'chunky' affairs with chipboard frames up to half an inch thick with the cutout (hole) coming quite close to the edge of the drivers. This did not help dispersion at all. It is better nowadays with most companies using very 'skeletal', thin plastic speaker grille frames with the edges set further away from the drivers.

In the really bad old days the cloth on most speakers was really thick tweedy stuff on grille frames that were glued in place with no option to remove them. (Or took a lot of effort to prise off, risking the veneer!)

I leave mine on though.

 

[a.g.]

I leave mine on because I don't think my speakers would appreciate my cigarette smoke.

 

[Anonymous]

I have always have them off... sounds much better this way (in the treble). The only times I put them on is when my cleaning lady is coming!

 

[margetti]

I feel mine sound ever so slightly clearer with the covers off - especially the centre speaker with dialogue. But not to the extent that I feel I'm missing out on anything when the covers are on (ie when kids are around!).

I always have thought the whole mechanism of the drivers shifting air to make a sound would be affected in some way by putting a "veil" in front of them, but don't for one minute profess to understand the whole physics of that side of things. ÿ

 

[jase fox]

chebby: makes the treble a little brighter.This is exactly what i thought when i once tried this experiment & its what i didnt want to happen so for this reason i prefer them on.

Personally i dont think theres a major difference between having them on or off, thing is with leaving them off your leaving the dust gates wide open & i dont want any dust getting in my lovely drivers & clogging them up, ha

 

[aliEnRIK]

Speakers are designed to be used without them. My MAs certainly sound better with them off

 

[Anonymous]

I took the grills off my BR2s recently and prefer them off. I think they look and sound better and my little boy now tells people who come around not to touch the speakers, which is sweet

 

[Anonymous]

This is generally the case. My B&W 601S3's sound consideraly more focused with better clarity in the treble without the grills on...and they look good too 😉

 

[jase fox]

zzgavin:
I took the grills off my BR2s recently and prefer them off. I think they look and sound better and my little boy now tells people who come around not to touch the speakers, which is sweet
Aww bless him, unfortunately zzgavin my little 3yr old boy is the opposite, ha My B&W yellow drivers are like moths to a flame to him, sadly.

 

[idc]

My mini me has always been very good at not messing with the hifi and is like zzgavin's boy. I have heard him warn visitors who take an interest in the hifi that it is daddy's and not to touch. Still, when I had speakers the grills stayed on, especialy after he took to giving them a hug.

 

[Anonymous]

I did get the atacama stands and fill them with atabites so that they'd be stable too.

@jase fox I can imagine the yellow drivers might be attractive

@idc I actually took the grills off as he was enjoying stroking the fabric, so I thought I'd show him what was underneath and that it was fragile, seemed to work.

Though now he tells me to turn the music down when we are playing =)

I'm saving that one until he is a teenager...

 

[idc]

zzgavin:

Though now he tells me to turn the music down when we are playing =)

I'm saving that one until he is a teenager...

Ah, but when he asks you to turn down the music do you go in a huff, shut yourself in your bedroom, announce that no one cares and then reappear when hungry wondering whats for dinner?

 

[jase fox]

My little lad always tells me to turn it down i say "oh kane"! And its not just with music its also with movies, ill put his disney stuff on & i try & get away with adding abit more of a comfortable volume but he doesnt have any of it.

If any of the WHSAV team are reading this , when you review speakers, do you review them with the covers on or off?

 

[Anonymous]

idc:Ah, but when he asks you to turn down the music do you go in a huff, shut yourself in your bedroom, announce that no one cares and then reappear when hungry wondering whats for dinner?

only on days when I'm dressed all in black and listening to sisters of mercy

ie about 20 years ago

 

[Anonymous]

Off for me, but on if there is any chance my nephew is coming round!

 

[Anonymous]

On. Looks better, apparently.

 

[floyd droid]

It can depend on if the manufacturer has used an acoustically transparent cloth on the grill. If so,then the difference will be negligable. As far as i know,it all comes down to surface wave form ( read as 'geeky stuff ' ) and the dissruption of said waves !!!. However, i leave mine off.

 

[Anonymous]

I think they sound better off, clearer. Particularly with my Mission 775's the difference was quite stark, before hand was like the music was coming through a sock.

My RS8's look the biz with them off. Always go back on when finished though.

The tweeters on my Mission M7's got the doorbell treatment

. Fixed them with the vacuum cleaner.ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

adamshaw:
The tweeters on my Mission M7's got the doorbell treatment

. Fixed them with the vacuum cleaner.ÿ

Wish I'd read that before painstakingly picking out the mesh covers on my SFs with a pin. Brilliant idea!