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My speakers don't have grills.

I only put them on when children will be present. I feel that if it excists it is not transparent.

Usually off, unless the speaker is designed with the grill in mind

Grilles always on, on my Impulse H2 horns; it stops them swallowing small children. Also happens to sound better, but that's a secondary consideration.

Maybe I'm kidding myself, and I do like the look of the grills off, but I really think that they sound better

This is one of those things that I find hard to A/B test because of the amount of time it takes to switch between A & B. But I do pull the grilles off of all 5 of my tower speakers every once in a while when I want my listening room to have that "mad scientist" look. It works.

I have 2 big dogs & 2 large floorstanding speakers. My big guy almost knocked one over recently.

I own Thiel loudspeakers which sound better with the grills on. This has the added advantage of keeping the kids' hands away and preventing damage through touching. Also, it helps tremendously with the wife acceptance factor.

My Nautilus 804's were designed with an attached tweeter which does not have a cloth grill over it. I keep the grills on for the mids & low drivers.

I always get better imaging with the grilles off.

The benefits are slight but, I am lazy and I own a cat...more time to listen to music. Grilles stay on.

Off. They sound like a different speaker with them on. Muffled, less dynamic.

My speakers SOUND better with the grills off. Need I say more?

The grills do make a difference (even though the manufacturer claims they do not). Besides, I have a good looking set of speakers, and I like to see them!

With kids and prying hands in the house, grilles are a must. I just wish my speakers' ports, which are on the back of the cabinets and the perfect height for my four-year-old, had a grille (I envision trying to fish out a Hot Wheels car one day). Late at night, when everyone is asleep, the grilles might come off, though.

My Equation Model 15s were meant to have the grills on. Manufacturer recommendate this.

It's the edge of the frame that is the problem,not the cloth. Unless your using burlap!

Mine are plain and ugly, kind of like the little JMLabs that they came with. It's been my experience that speakers in general really open up without them. And in the case of the few JMLabs speakers I've heard, and presumably all of them, over the laborously long break in they mature from a brightish to a darkish but still big and open tonal balance. Combine that with a Grado cartridge and all tubes and speaker grilles become a bit dark for me. Still crystal clear and open and big, but a little polite.

No matter what the manufacturer claims, I always find that a speaker sounds better without the grille on.

As reviewers say, I listen with the grilles off "for critical listening."

I leave them on because John Dunlavy says to. {PS: I love my SC-II's.)

Grilles off for better clarity and detail.

My electrostats are grill-less

However, on classical music my PSB Goldi sound fuller on the uper mid

Usually on, because I find staring at the drivers is distracting. For the rare audionut visitor, I'll take them off for that last little tad of sonic improvement.

There was no one right choice for me as my midrange grill is off, but the bass drives have their grills on (B&W Nautilus 802s).

If I did not own Magnapan speakers, here's how I would reply: I'd like to say that I always listen with the grills on, but I can't. In fact, I never listen with the grills on. Sure, grills generally enhance the appearence of most any loudspeaker by an order of magintuide, but, grills generally degrade the sound of a loudspeaker by an order of magnitude. So... it's off with the grills..... an easy but unfortunate choice. So here is my delima.. since Magnapan does not allow for grill removal, I always wonder : What am I missing! Jim R GI NY

The highs are more "there" without the grilles, but the soundstage is slightly more intact with the grilles on. Different speakers yield different results, of course.

Take the socks of a Vandersteen

It seems to increase the spaciousness of the soundstage. It also helps if you have great looking speakers like Infinitys.