why dont studio monitors ever have speaker covers/grills?

[MERRICK]

I personally hear less transparency. I always remove grill cloth and replace with steel mesh. Also: my monitors are on stands with spiked feet at a height parallel to my ears and directly behind me. I have to turn 180 degrees to face them but there's no console etc. between myself and the monitors. Best placement I ever had.

 

[JR#97]

I worked in a mastering studio that had JBL's that had the cloth grills. I really didn't hear too much of a difference. The other guy said he did, so when ever he was working, he tweaked the HF pot on the monitors a bit. I was always tempted to check it against a freq. analyzer. I'm sure it wasn't any more than a 1/2 to 1 db difference.... but he was the head engineer for a reason.

 

[Dr_Sbaitso]

For placement, I like to put them on there sides, with the tweeter facing out. this'll widen your sound stage a little.
If your using stands, then use wooden stands. metal stands can cause a little bit of resonance. if you are using a metal stand, fill the cavity with sand and you'll clear up the resonance issue. then attach the speaker to the stand with some double sided tape. that should stop them getting knocked over.

-Dr_Sbaitso

 

[Downside Studio]

then attach the speaker to the stand with some double sided tape. that should stop them getting knocked over.

My Tannoys are over 25 kilo each. That better be some mighty strong tape.

The Tannoys I have covered with the front grill. I'd prefer not to, but I do because of previous told reasons.
KRK V8 I have came without front cover. I'd never put one in front them because they look like real killers with their fine yellow speakers.
Spirit absolute two I also removed the front cover, since they look like a bunch of $10 dollar hifi speakers with the grill in front. Without they look like a bunch of $30 dollar studio speakers.

The diffence between hifi and studio speakers is that hifi speakers are normally not so damn fine looking without the front grill. You see glue parts, and other stuff. Studio speakers are normally much more detailed for fine looks.

 

[Dr_Sbaitso]

B&W speakers look fantastic without the grill on. dimpled, with bright yellow woven kevlar drivers, with solid plastic bullet shaped dustcaps, and metallic domed tweeters

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Hey Downside -- how are you liking your V8s? I absolutely LOVE mine!


Bruce

 

[Downside Studio]

There perfect, only lacking in the real lows. Unavoidable for 8" though. That's why I have the tannoy's 12"

 

[Cratinus]

Blue, is the V8 your choice for most "accurate" studio monitor,..or the one that most
"suits YOUR ears"???
Downside, what bass are you MISSING that an 8" nearfield woofer can't provide?? i'm certainly NOT being critical,..i'm just a bit curious.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Define "accurate"!

I'm not a speaker designer, so I really comment on how accurate they are.... there is really no such thing as an accurate monitor except maybe in an anechonic chamber.... if you look at specs, every speaker you ever hear should sound pretty much the same - even the Wal-Mart "specials"!

The V8s definitely suit MY ears and I've done comparison mixes with them and my previous primaries and noticed a HUGE difference in accuracy and definition in the calibre of my mixes.... it's far easier to notice areas that need work, whereas other monitors I've used tend to "gloss-over" certain things.


Downside... I've got Tannoy 12's too, but wired into my secondaries, not my V8's...................

Bruce

 

[Cratinus]

fair enough, my blue compadre.

 

[Downside Studio]

Downside... I've got Tannoy 12's too, but wired into my secondaries, not my V8's...................

Bruce, what do you mean with that remark, that your large monitors are not tannoy, but only have the speakers from tannoy?

Downside, what bass are you MISSING that an 8" nearfield woofer can't provide?? i'm certainly NOT being critical,..i'm just a bit curious.

When mixing bassdrum and bass. If they sound real tight and powerfull on the KRK's, I have no way to control what they are sounding like in the real-low spectrum. tyhese puppies cannot give these frequencies accurate. I found out that some mixes that just sounded awesome on the studiosystem actually had lots and lots of uncontrolled sub when listening on a 18" theater setup. Only then I heard. You could work this problem with an analyser, seeing what you are actually mixing. I decided to go for the biggies, so I could hear what I'm actually mixing.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

DS... I meant I have a Tannoy 12" sub paired with my Yorkville YSM-1s as a secondary monitoring system - which I use to cross-check mixes with.

My primary monitors (the ones I do most of the work with) are the KRK V8s - no sub...


Bruce

 

[Dannyboy]

actually I can think of three reasons to remove the grill, but then again Im a noob yes on a miniscule scale more sound will travel without a grille present, also some engineers like to be able to watch the cones move during mixing, and finally some engineers like to put there hands as close to the driver to feel the cone move air. some people have weird ways of doing things but if it works for them meh.

 

[Massive Master]

Did we have to wake up a six year old thread for this?

I know an acousticly transparent grill doesn't hurt the sound quality...

There are those who would argue that point with great voracity.

B&W speakers look fantastic without the grill on. dimpled, with bright yellow woven kevlar drivers, with solid plastic bullet shaped dustcaps, and metallic domed tweeters

Word.

 

[mshilarious]

Did we have to wake up a six year old thread for this?

Yes.

There are those who would argue that point with great voracity.

Only the Bear could argue voraciously . . . and he's still in hibernation





PS I have grill cloth in front of my monitors, it looks very nice. Not the pantyhose stuff, I used amp fabric, mounted in a frame. I use aluminum dome tweeters . . . who's to say that with grill cloth in front of it is better or worse than cloth (or ribbon)? Sure, it's different . . . still sounds sparkly to me though.


But when I took the picture for my website, I left the grill off