I recently purchased a new pair of speakers, and have found myself asking a question that never seemed applicable before: Should I leave the speakers on display in my room with the grill covers on or off? What do you do?
Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of photos of home theater rooms where the owners removed the speaker grill covers to show off the tweeters and woofers. I never did this myself because… well… none of the speakers I ever owned previously looked very attractive with the covers off. But now I’ve bought a pair of nice towers, and I’m a little torn.
On the one hand, I kind of like the looks of these towers when I can see all the horns. On the other hand, do I really want the speakers to draw attention to themselves, or is it better to let them disappear into the room as much as possible so that a viewer’s eyes are drawn to the movie screen?
For what it’s worth, my wife says she likes them with the covers left on, but she doesn’t much care either way.
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T.J. Kats
Voted no but for practical reasons. I have three kids (8,6,3) and although they are good about not touching stuff they shouldn’t the risk of accident is always there.
I like the look of speakers without the grills so if I didn’t have the kids I would probably go that way.
William Henley
I don’t have kids, but this was going to be my reasoning to Josh. You have twin boys, who are about to start running around the house. Even if they are supervised in the media room, I wouldn’t take the chance. Leave the grill covers on!
Josh Zyber
AuthorThe kids are not allowed in the basement. I will put a lock on the door when they’re old enough to figure out how to use doorknobs.
Csm101
I just now pictured two velociraptors poking and prodding at your door.
T.J. Kats
Can’t tell from the pic. What speakers are those? They look great.
Josh Zyber
AuthorThey’re Cambridge Soundworks T205 towers. No longer in production. (The company doesn’t even make home theater speakers anymore.) I’ll have more to say about them on Friday.
T.J. Kats
Ok. I knew you had wanted to stay with the Cambridge but didn’t know if hat was then or if you switched it up.
timcharger
“my wife says she likes them with the covers left on”
Why isn’t that a choice?
Plus if I take the covers off, I need to store even more stuff. I have enough junk everywhere. Leaving the covers on saves space.
Csm101
I leave my grills on if just for a little protection from dust and minor bumps. I think they look a little more elegant with the grills on.
Cliff Greenough
I voted for “Yes, I like to see the tweeters and woofers” because I really do! I don’t have any kids or pets so that’s a non-issue. In the living room (my two channel system), I have Cello Amati’s and there’s nothing fancy looking about the drivers but there a lot of them (4 woofers, 16 midranges and 16 tweeters total between all four cabinets) so it would be cool to see that many drivers staring at you but I leave them on because they do look classier that way in their honey oak cabinets. Besides, where would I put 12 speaker grills? (Each cabinet has three facets of drivers)
In my theater, I switch between grills off and grills on. I have the B&W THX surround package (3 FCM8’s, 2 SCM8’s and 2 PCS8’s) and with the grills on, they looks very classy in the black and grey room. But with the grills off, the yellow Kevlar midbass drivers look really cool and stand out, making quite the statement. But I run into the same issue, where do I put 9 speaker grills? Due to this fact, I leave them on more than I take them off. If I had space to put them somewhere, I would leave them all the time cuz it just looks so bitchin’.
I feel ya timcharger!
Shannon Nutt
Where’s the poll option for those of us whose speakers didn’t come with grills on them? My Samsung speakers are sans grills.
Geordie2004
Voted yes because it makes (or seems to make) my speakers sound better! This might just be a placebo effect, though.
Julian
What would happen if you listen to some Placebo music through your speakers, and you experience said placebo effect? Meta-placebo? Placeboception?
Chris
For stereo/ music listening, take those suckers off and marvel at the beauty of your loudspeakers and drivers!
For movies, put the covers on or better yet hide them behind an AT screen. In HT mode, you only want to see the movie, with the sound magically happening.
Cheers
Justin
They look great both with grills off and on. I really like the mahogany and they appear to be in good condition! Very nice!
I voted no because I also have a little one and cats who would love an opportunity to destroy something I love.
David Voss
Cover them up when your kids are around, Josh. My toddler punched holes in my 15″ woofer foam years ago. Otherwise, I prefer the uncovered look.
justin park
i have Definitive Technology BP8060 towers, CS8060 center, Studiomonitor 350 bookshelves, SR8040 surrounds and all have the DT corporate socks so I can’t remove the grills.
Otherwise, with my previous B&W speakers, I kept the grills off. Not only to show off those awesome gold Kevlar drivers but also the sound quality is better with grills off.
C.C. 95
Completey subjective thing. I have completely different setups in different rooms. Music studio- grills off, Movie room- hidden speakers, Library- grills on.
If you DO keep grills on- the one adjustment I DO make is taking off the brand Placard (leaving it an unadorned grill).
William Henley
I got some oxygen free speaker wire that I’ll sell you for $1200 a foot! I’ll even roll it up on an old RCA speaker wire spool for you!
William Henley
Whoops, that was supposed to be a reply to Geordie
Will Schuster
Off. Always off.
Jon
4 year old wrecking ball of a son=grilles stay on.
Mark Rohaley
I would say they are to keep dust out & that is why I wear mine on (lol)…but dust is real & probably not good on my Emit’s …Infinity Qa’s which I love…man want Qb’s though…to try a 3 way but Infinity is quite a grand speaker…40 years for me & still love em! With my Sansui 5000 too–excellent! Have 2 Sansui 5000A’s also in mint condition all 3 mint…I do not see how any receiver could sound better and doin 75 watts into 4 ohms…nice I also have a few other Sansui’s..