Advice needed re the effects of grille cloth

[Brisso57]

At around what frequency do the effects of having a grille cloth in front of the speaker start to degrade performance.

(This is a WAF-inspired question!)

I'm thinking light grille cloth will have little or no effect on low bass frequencies, but will severely attenuate treble. Where does the trouble begin to manifest?

Opinions?

Thanks


Doug

 

[chris661]

The ones I've tried barely attenuate the treble. If it's a design with a dedicated tweeter, you could play with the value of the resistor in series...

 

[Pano]

As long as you use cloth from those billowy curtains in Swamp Castle, you'll be OK.

(No, not the curtains, lad.)

 

[SGregory]

Make the grills removable. I have found that a grill only effects the very HF, but when I am in serious listening mode the covers come off.

 

[Brisso57]

Make the grills removable. I have found that a grill only effects the very HF, but when I am in serious listening mode the covers come off.

Well, yes. I'm thinking (for a 2-way) fix the grille over the woofer and make the grille over the FR removeable.

or ... use a "pretty" FR, like a Mark Audio? (They're reputed to like shiny things, right?)

cheers

Doug

 

[speakerdoctor]

At around what frequency do the effects of having a grille cloth in front of the speaker start to degrade performance.

(This is a WAF-inspired question!)

I'm thinking light grille cloth will have little or no effect on low bass frequencies, but will severely attenuate treble. Where does the trouble begin to manifest?

Opinions?

Thanks


Doug

The answer to your question is: It depends on the grille cloth. Any resonably good grille cloth will not affect the base response. It's the upper mid to treble spectrum that is affected. % open area and generall fabric fuzziness (burlap is a no-no) are the key factors that affect acoustic transmission thru grille fabrics.

Check out the link below. There are a number of tweeter response tests done with different fabrics shown there.
New Advent Grille cloth test results - The Classic Speaker Pages Discussion Forums

 

[doug20]

I have read that its not the on-axis response that is effected as much as the off axis response.

I have been trying to find a link but I can not find it now

 

[speakerdoctor]

I have read that its not the on-axis response that is effected as much as the off axis response.

I have been trying to find a link but I can not find it now

Whether on or off axis, it's still the fabric's structure that will dictate performance. Off axis effects may become more pronounced, but then, it's all relative anyway.

As you can see from my tests, there can be plenty of variance with just doing an on-axis test.

 

[pkitt]

Any reasonably acoustically-transparent cloth will have a minor attenuation effect on high frequencies. The real culprit is the grille frame on which the cloth is attached, which has diffraction effects just like the edges of the baffle.
Paul

 

[speakerdoctor]

Any reasonably acoustically-transparent cloth will have a minor attenuation effect on high frequencies. The real culprit is the grille frame on which the cloth is attached, which has diffraction effects just like the edges of the baffle.
Paul

Yes, this is a good cautionary note for the OP, if he is going to build new grille frames. However, his question seemed focused on the cloth and my simple test methodology removes the frame from the equation and only considers the cloth itself.