What are some of the advantages
of using grilles versus
not using grilles?
So that's an interesting question,
because when we consider
why do we actually have the grilles
in the first place,
it's mainly to protect the drivers
or to change the visual appearance
of the loudspeaker.
In terms of sound, it's quite simple.
All of our loudspeakers are tuned to sound
best without the grilles.
Anything in front of the drivers
will affect the sound.
And in terms of sound performance,
we don't want that.
So normally
we tune them without the grille.
We have a grille that you can put on
either to protect
or to change the appearance.
But it will sound a little bit worse
when you put on the grille.
What affects the sound coming out of the speaker
when you put on the grille
is both the cloth itself,
but it's also actually the frame
that the cloth sits on.
Because the sound that goes
from the drivers of the speakers
will actually travel across the front
of the speakers, around the speakers.
And when that hits the frame,
it will actually diffract the sound
going into the room; it'll create
some sort of distortion effects
just from the frame itself.
So even if you had no cloth,
it would actually still affect the sound.
So no matter how good the cloth is,
the frame itself will still impact
the sound a little bit.
So all else being equal,
it will sound better
without the grille.
So there are different types of cloth,
different qualities of cloth,
and in this case,
this is all about how open is it,
how acoustically transparent is it?
And all of the cloth that we use on
a Dynaudio speaker is, of course,
very acoustically transparent
in all of our models.
So that's a big consideration
in designing the speakers.
One of the speakers where we went
to extremes in that regard
is on the active Focus speakers.
And so what we did on the Focus is
we built in a small sensor
so that when you put on the grille –
put that on the speaker –
the speaker will actually sense
that now the grille is on.
And then we created an EQ
to kind of compensate
for the grille in front of the drivers
to make it sound much more similar
to when you don't have the grille on.
And that happens automatically
as soon as you put the grille on.
So we were very careful with
how we designed the grilles and built that
into the design of the speakers,
to make as little impact as possible.
But if you want the perfect
sound, take off the grille.