You know, guys....

Nobody has mentioned what the instructions say, or whether the instructions don't say anything. I'm pretty damn clever, but every once in a while I actually look at the instructions. Did any of you guys do that? How about commenting on whether you think the instructions are BS, or helped you, or whatever?

I reprimanded my tech a couple times because he has a habit of just removing them. He believes they dilute the sound and will sound better without them. I had enough when we were on a job and he walked up to an in-wall speaker that we did not install and has been in place for year, removed the grill and removed the cloth. I made him go fetch it out of the garbage and put it back.

I airbrush mine, fabric in because I've had it stick and get distorted as well, and have no issues with the fabric absorbing the paint. The airbrush lays on such a thin layer each time that it can't soak in. I also spray it at and angle so there is paint being shot directly into the holes. It take 4 or 5 coats of paint and looks awesome. I've pulled fabric out and tried listening before and after paint, with and with out fabric, and havn't heard a difference, except that painted or not, the fabric softens the highs a little. As far as instructions go, one brand I use says to remove them but when you try, some are stuck and get pulled out of shape. Crapy? Yes. But the speakers sound very nice and are well priced so I continue to use them.

Craig

Well, the RC has helped me quite a few times solving problems, so hope this helps. The best idea with that scrim is Monitor Audio-they ship the scrim separately packaged so you can paint and just apply it new. SMART! Unfortunately, I am not crazy about that brand for audio quality to value for my clients, so peel a lot of scrim........

Can't remember which brand it was, but once I asked a speaker manufacturer's engineers about the scrim. It actually serves an acoustic purpose in the higher frequencies by absorbing super-high, short wavelengths that bounce back from the metal grille preventing them from causing destructive interference and affecting frequency response.

They are not there for cosmetic reasons, except maybe on uber cheap speaks, which i notice always have very thin, non absorbent scrim that is often not glued in either. Of course hearing a difference with scrim in/out is totally dependent on the quality of the speaks/playback chain.......

I was not part of this original discussion 2 1/2 years ago. Thanks for reviving a dead thread there Mr. First Day :)

Yes the scrim is dual purpose:
1) It helps blend the speaker into the environment. When painting the speaker a dark color however, a dark scrim is needed. Some customers are not that picky however and it wouldn't matter if the scrim was in or not.

2) It is part of the speaker tuning and response curve. For cheap speakers, it doesn't really matter as it is unlikely part of the speaker design. As such, it is possible the speaker might sound better with the scrim out.
On higher end in-ceiling & in-wall, the scrim is an essential part of the response curve for the speaker. And the sound engineer at B&W would likely kick you in the nuts if he knew what you did to his speakers.
The sound difference is usually very subtle but it is there and measurable. So when you remove the scrim on a set of high-end speakers, you are essentially robbing the customer of the extra money they paid for that precision.

And this: You paint the speaker with the scrim in place and leave it? WTF!!! Having the scrim in or not maybe subtle but having a scrim that is coated with paint in-place damn sure is not. Many men over the age of 40 have some high frequency loss. Depending on years of exposure to certain sounds @ certain levels, they may have a lot of loss (at many different frequencies). Some people installing speakers are just f^n tone deaf! And should never be allowed to do so.

*Not saying that is anyone here. But if you are responsible for - or installing any kind of audio gear, you should have you hearing 'extensively' tested every year. So you know that your hearing may or may not be screwed. And unable to hear anything.

Was at a lady's house the other day, walking by the TV I could hear the power supply buzzing away (high freq). I asked her about it and she even put her head next to the TV and still couldn't hear anything. Thought I was trying to fool her as she was completely unaware she had hearing problems. She's 65 but women generally retain good hearing longer than men (minus environmental factors). All this is documented research you can learn about in audiology books.