Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Speaker grille choice


Guest MoJo
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm struggling to find a Peavey PRO210 cabinet to sit under my BAM210 combo so I thought about using another 4 ohm 2x10 cabinet. Being quite anal about how the rig looks, I would like the two cabinets to have the same grille. The BAM has a perforated steel grille with square holes. The SWR Workingman Pro is very similar.
I looked at getting a perforated steel grille off ebay and there are such items available. One such item claims 63% of free air which got me thinking, does this then mean one gets 37% of restricted air and what is the effect on the volume/dispersion? What is the best way to protect a cabinets speakers?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Metal grilles every time for me.
Cloth grilles may look pretty (if you have flares in your wardrobe... ;)) but they offer very little protection when the unexpected happens.

As for the '63% of free air' thing, I don't see it making any difference in practical terms - I don't see a cab manufacturer slapping a metal grille on a product that's going to impact its performance capabilities by 37%. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You've actually anticipated a question that I was going to ask re 'Mark to Space' ratios on speaker grills.

I have an old Musicman HD212 cab (2 x 12" + 1 x 8"), (8 ohm 600 Watt RMS) which has a grill that is basically a sheet with smallish (3 - 4 mm??) round holes in it. I'm not at home at the moment so can't say exactly, but I'd say that the split between hole and metal is probably around 50-50.

I have played around with taking the grill off in the past, and it makes a very noticeable difference to the sound. Without the grill it just sounds so much more 'open', which I far prefer, but of course leaves the speaker cones vulnerable.

My Shermann PA speakers have a metal grill (underneath a foam front) which is more like the expanded metal type arrangement, where I guess the ratio is closer to 80% hole, 20% metal, and I have thought about fitting this type of grill to the Musicman cab (but not done anything about it).

Also, I agree with Icastle - grill over cloth ever time for protection and longevity ... and personally I prefer the look as well!

The stuff I've seen on e-bay isn't wide enough for my application, but something from these people perhaps?


[url="http://www.metal-mesh.co.uk/"]http://www.metal-mesh.co.uk/[/url]

Edited by Count Bassy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...