Just in case anyone's interested, Parts Express just started carrying heavy duty metal grills - see them here:
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&CATID=46&ObjectGroup_ID=141&manufacturer=302
They are indicated for pro applications, but I suppose they could be used for home designs too - some people (like me) like to have screens on their speakers to give them a finished look, but also want to have those screens be acoustically transparent.
Perforated metal screens seem like they would be better at this than cloth, and you can still see the drivers inside - best of both worlds! (Think of the old a/d/s/ speakers.) The limit here is size - you would probably have to re-cut, re-bend, and re-finish these to fit a home speaker - so this would take some work and appropriate tools. Raw screen is also available from various vendors, and you can choose various designs and hole sizes.
I'm going to be experimenting with a couple of alternatives - one is screen door mesh (ala Home Depot) - this is fiberglass and I'll be using the heavy duty type that is available in black. I will orient it 45 degrees off level so it will appear diamond-shaped. It should very transparent - visually and acoustically.
The other material is, believe it or not, automotive aftermarket grille material - the metal mesh kind that you see on the fronts of a lot of sports cars. It can be had for cheap in bulk off of eBay, and the hole shapes are pretty cool. Due to the large hole size the visibility of the drivers on loudspeakers should be perfect. I will paint them black so I expect them to be almost invisible.
I will post my results if I think I've come up with anything that might be of interest, but in the meantime all feedback is welcome, and if you've done anything similar to this already I would certainly like to see it.
Thanks all.
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&CATID=46&ObjectGroup_ID=141&manufacturer=302
They are indicated for pro applications, but I suppose they could be used for home designs too - some people (like me) like to have screens on their speakers to give them a finished look, but also want to have those screens be acoustically transparent.
Perforated metal screens seem like they would be better at this than cloth, and you can still see the drivers inside - best of both worlds! (Think of the old a/d/s/ speakers.) The limit here is size - you would probably have to re-cut, re-bend, and re-finish these to fit a home speaker - so this would take some work and appropriate tools. Raw screen is also available from various vendors, and you can choose various designs and hole sizes.
I'm going to be experimenting with a couple of alternatives - one is screen door mesh (ala Home Depot) - this is fiberglass and I'll be using the heavy duty type that is available in black. I will orient it 45 degrees off level so it will appear diamond-shaped. It should very transparent - visually and acoustically.
The other material is, believe it or not, automotive aftermarket grille material - the metal mesh kind that you see on the fronts of a lot of sports cars. It can be had for cheap in bulk off of eBay, and the hole shapes are pretty cool. Due to the large hole size the visibility of the drivers on loudspeakers should be perfect. I will paint them black so I expect them to be almost invisible.
I will post my results if I think I've come up with anything that might be of interest, but in the meantime all feedback is welcome, and if you've done anything similar to this already I would certainly like to see it.
Thanks all.