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Speaker Grills??

I put on my speaker grills on my Hales T5's to see how it would look and sound and it looked OK and sounded OK but the difference in sound with the grills off is actually significantly better than with them on. With the grills on the sound was restricted and kind of muffled. With the grills off the music opened up and had much more life to it. Is this normal? The difference with the grill on or off is not subtle. I cannot listen to my Hales with the grill on as the difference in sound is so different for the better with the grills off.Is this normal?
128x128mitchb
drrdiamond
671 posts
 
FYI:

The Theil 5's were definitely designed to be listened to with the grills ON. The grills actually complete the design of the exterior of the cabinets.

Richard
newbee
4,768 posts
 
Sean, I believe you are right - but it wasn't the Theil I had in mind, but then on the other hand........
sean
6,231 posts
 
I mentioned no names, so anyone jumping to conclusions / naming names did that on their own. I simply made a comment and you guys let your "theater of the mind" run away with ideas... : ) Sean
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warrenh's avatar
warrenh
2,299 posts
 
serious listening = grills off. always!!
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Depends on the grill material. Also, it depends on the speaker configuration. My planar speakers, MG1.6, have woven grill cloth that is very transparent, but besides that the planar diaphram movement is so small and the audio pressures so small that I don't think the grill cloth has any effect. With cone speakers, it is usual to see the grill cloth vibrating in front of the woofer, and that vibration cannot happen without soaking some energy out of the audio.
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