Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Lester Seidenberg]

I've been thinking about removing the grill (metal mesh) from the front of our permanently installed speakers.  Anyone else done this?  What are the pros and cons?  Our house speakers are inside a fabric covered gondola/proscenium so there would be no visible difference.

As I see it...

Pros:
Eliminate any audio effect of having the grill in place.  Theoretically, the sound will be a bit smoother, but is that enough to even worry about?

Cons:
Could make it easier for bugs to get into the cabinets, the HF horns, or onto the LF drivers.  With fiberglass/paper LF cones, and crickets in this area, the little buggers could eat the LF cones.

Any other reasons that I would or would not want to do this?

The metal mesh is to protect against bigger things than insects.  Things like baseballs, golf balls, fists,  beer bottles, heads and the like.  I'd leave them on unless they start rattling on the low frequencies, otherwise why waste the time and energy.
Lester

[Jeff Foster]

The metal mesh is to protect against bigger things than insects.  Things like baseballs, golf balls, fists,  beer bottles, heads and the like.  I'd leave them on unless they start rattling on the low frequencies, otherwise why waste the time and energy.
Lester

As I mentioned earlier, we already completed the needed maintenance on the speakers and won't be accessing them again anytime soon, so this question is moot now.

However just to clarify, we don't have very many 'baseballs, golf balls, fists,  beer bottles, heads and the like' flying around our main worship center.  If we do, they rarely get 20 ft up off the ground, and even then we've never had one puncture the fabric covering on the proscenium.  I'd be more concerned with the stained glass behind the baptistery if we had that kind of stuff flying around.

[Ivan Beaver]

I'd be more concerned with the stained glass behind the baptistery if we had that kind of stuff flying around.

If glass is "flying around" I think there are bigger problems to worry about than the loudspeakers.

But then again-I don't know what kind of church it is or "style of worship".

[Tim McCulloch]

If glass is "flying around" I think there are bigger problems to worry about than the loudspeakers.

But then again-I don't know what kind of church it is or "style of worship".

Tornadic.  It's popular out here on the Plains... /satire

[eric lenasbunt]

What are these bugs that can't penetrate a grill with holes? I live in "the swamp" and have had no issues with bugs messing up my gear, and trust me, we have PLENTY of bugs in our shop.

IOW, I don't think grills are protecting you from bugs.

I have tried grills off on several speakers and there is a tiny amount more clarity in my experience, but not worth the trouble honestly.

[Jeff Bankston]

sugar coated speakers = bugs !

[Jeff Foster]

What are these bugs that can't penetrate a grill with holes?

Black field crickets.  They're mostly harmless, just a nuisance.  The speaker grills on ours are lined with foam on the backside so even if the crickets could squeeze through the holes, there is foam in their way.

[ProSoundWeb Community]