Why do people leave them in after installation?

All of the paint shields i am aware of are plastic. They are meant to protect the speaker.

Do you mean the white cloth thats stuck to the inside of some grills? As far as i know that is meant to stay in. You remove it to paint and then put it back in. Its there to block view through to the woofers/tweeters.

Yes I'm talking about the cloth, I never keep them in & it's a pet peeve of mine to pull out old speakers that have them. I have tried my hardest to do actual sound test to try and hear a difference & the only time I "thought" I did was when it was a super thick cloth and I thought it muffled the sound.

As far as taking it out and putting it back in after paint, how do you do that on some speakers where it's almost stuck on?

I thought those were to be kept in to paint them so paint doesn't get clogged in the holes & then you remove them.

Not sure though, but either way I always remove them & I've never really noticed seeing the tweeter or woofer through the grill before.

Really? It's there to hide the speaker from view. With them in the speaker blends in better.

Don't know what speakers you're using but never had an issue removing them for paint and then putting them back in.

White cloth behind a white grill to hide the black speaker behind. If I am painting the speaker a dark color then I leave the cloth out.

We took over a job with unpainted Jamo speakers, so I took the grills back to the office to paint them myself. The scrim inside the Jamo's is thick and very well attached, it was not coming out. Since we were installing a Triad in-wall sub I used the same color on the speaker grills. It was a pain keeping paint off the scrim, but the end result was nice. Not as nice as the finish on the sub, but not bad.

I still confused on why you would bother to even take them out if not painting them. Is it just a pet peeve?

Yes, I do not know why I take them out. I guess it's just a pet peeve of mine. Honestly I can't tell a visual difference by removing the cloth. I just "have" to remove it lol. I guess I'm just wierd and like doing 1 extra step haha

painting the speaker a dark color then I leave the cloth out.

+1


You sure would not want to leave the cloth in there and paint them. The cloth would totally clog up and you'd lose all of your highs.

Keep in mind a lot of cloth (actually called filters i believe), Is embedded and glued into the grill. This type of speaker is very difficult to paint correctly. If you are using speakers like the GHOST Series From Tru-audio, the speaker filter is required weather you paint them a dark color or not. the grill will vibrate onto the magnets if the filter is not there to create a buffer. These filters help dust get to the speaker. It just so happens that the speakers is less revealed when filter is present.

These filters help dust get to the speaker. It just so happens that the speakers is less revealed when filter is present.

Actually the cloth the is not a dust filter. It's there to hide the dark speakers. Dust isnt a big issue with speakers.

Okay so based on the responses its obvious IMO that no two speaker manufacturers are doing things the same way. For all speakers i have ever installed...the cloth is sticky/tacky on one side but definitely not glued into place. You can easily remove it and put it back.

The cloth doesn't always exist. The round triads that come with square grills came with black felt corners and no white cloth. [Link: wiremunky.com]

Other tips from this thread:

If you are painting with a dark color you wont want to put the cloth back.

We don't want to leave them in during painting or the paint clogs the grill perforations.

Want to know what my pet peeve is? When i pull a keypad or light switch out of the wall and the wire is sloppy and filthy. Typical issues.

#1.The installer left the wire 10' long and jammed it all into the wall. 2' is as much as you will ever need behind a keypad, touchpanel.

#2.The wire is covered in construction filth. Please for the love of god go out and buy yourself some windex wipes or whatever and wipe the jacket down before you start stripping/terminating it.

#3.The wire has been cut back so short that you can barely wire devices. Okay so maybe it was the drywall guy...splice on a piece of cable..lazy bastard.


#4.The installer doesn't own any tools except a screwdriver and a chain saw. Thats the only way i can explain the chopped up cable jacket and the untamed unused conductors. Whats so hard about trimming the cable down to a reasonable length, cleaning the filth off of it, stripping the jacket properly (NOTE:Using side cutters to chop around the jacket is not the proper way to do it). Trim or tie back any unused conductors/drains...and THEN you can put your connector on.

I paint tons of speakers... 3M spray adhesive will stick these back on if they don't stay sticky enough.  As others have stated, some peel off and stick back on easy, some peel off easy, but won't stick back on and some are stuck on so good that it's difficult to remove them.

I've had a job where painters lost a couple of scrims and we had to scramble to get new ones because the client was unhappy with how visible the speakers were through the grill. If we'd pulled them at install, it would have been a huge deal.

Some brands even come with a second scrim in the box, so you can pull the glued in one for paint, and re-install a fresh one after.


Unless it's a client/designer that loves to move stuff. I have at least 2 houses right now that have 10+ feet at 1/3 of the locations, because things moved so often. about 4 of 6 of the location we moved we didn't have to re pull because we had enough extra wire on the line. Yes, they were moved AFTER trim and finish. You know the type of client.

Leave the scrims on the speaker grille where they belong, you're in the wrong.

The paint shield is plastic, not cloth.

Additionally, if you are painting a speaker a dark color some manufacturers will offer the darker scrim too, or make your own.