Are Metal Speaker Grilles an Issue?


I'm asking this almost rhetorically since I see these on high end speakers like Martin Logans, but I'm designing a home theater setup from scratch, and I'm going to custom CNC some aluminum speaker grilles for this setup. 

 

As such, before I go through the process I just figured I'd ask my fellow audiophiles their feelings on metal speaker grilles.  These won't be sitting directly atop the speaker, more like a few inches away from the speaker and are more of an aesthetic piece (and to some degree, a quasi security feature against children!).  

 

But I've got a CNC machine so I can make them to any spec.  Anything I should be mindful of when milling them so that I'm not absolutely destroying the sound quality of the speakers behind them?  I'm willing to deal with a little bit of loss but don't want to overlook something really obvious that I coudl have designed around.

 

And before anyone asks, no, I'm not thinking about using a different material.  The material is metal, the question is how best to use it.

128x128wilschroter

I've tried with every speaker I've had recently to hear a difference tween grills on or off, fabric grillls on Von Schweikert VR4jr and Paradigm Studio 60's. No difference to my ears (and I can hear differences between interconnects and power cables).

Currently have Magico A3's with metal grills, same thing, sounds the same grills on or off.Low volume or high.

Just my .02

 

Not an issue.

for example : ATC is another very high-end UK speaker manufacturer who has metal grills

 

 

I think some speakers use the grills for tuning, such as the metal grills on the Paradigm Persona lineup.

My Yamaha NS5000 have metal grills, and they only serve as protection. 

I guess it depends on the speaker.