Anyone Using Harbeths with Grilles off?

I'd also try to go with what the designer recommends. The Harbeth grilles were factored into every stage of the design process.

He even went to all the trouble of making them difficult to remove!

So unless there is some HF hearing loss...

In any case I've never preferred to use any loudspeaker without grilles. They always sound worse to me and that way seems to be asking for trouble. My days of forever craving more treble are over, I prefer a balanced sound.

Despite all of the endless ribbing of Alan's comments regarding amps, let's not forget that no one was able to accept his challenge of attempting to identify between 2 different amps unsighted.

He was even offering a free pair of the top of the range Harbeth M40s, but still there were no takers.

Somehow it appears we audiophiles strangely seem to lose all of our confidence in the powers of our golden eared superhuman hearing just as soon as someone puts the lights off.

Either that or the blindfold must be loaded with kryptonite.

@CD318, regarding the issue of HF hearing loss, keep in mind that condition equally affects both live and reproduced music. I'm in my late 60s an have some HF loss due to age, but I never find live music sounding dull or have any urge to "turn up the treble" at a live presentation of unamplified voice or acoustic instruments. (Sound at a live amplified event is a whole 'nother issue and is often quite poor.)

My goal for my home system is to have it sound as tonally close to what I would hear if the same music were being played live. The human brain actually does a pretty good job of adjusting for hearing loss, so if the speaker is designed to be correct with the grill on, there should be no big acoustic reason to take it off. (That said, appearances play a big role in stereo equipment and some just like the looks of exposed drivers.)

Audiophiles are often going for "as much detail transparency as I can get." And so they often take grills off. What often happens, especially in speakers designed with grills, is a slight change in tonal balance where the upper frequencies get a bit more prominence and hence "listen to that added air and detail!"

As others have mentioned, Harbeths are designed to have the grills on.They will have the intended frequency balance. I always preferred grills on sonically.

And aesthetically.

The Harbeths represent such wonderful, understated British design. Beautiful furniture in their own way. With the grills off it ruins this neat aesthetic. They look unfinished, more industrial, more "made in a shop."
But....audiophiles LOVE to see every inch of technology. "I paid for those drivers, I damned well wanna look at them!" ;-)

old school looks and workmanship

lovely sound, updated drivers to be even more clear and rhythmic

not headbangers but for acoustic vocals orchestral jazz among the finest

grilles on or off - make yourself happy!!!

The reality is that we use things like grilles and cables and different tubes as tone controls to tailor the sound to our individual liking. No more, no less.