Important to keep speaker grills on?

[netdog]

I got a pair of B&W 685s yesterday and they are so beautiful that I am reluctant to keep the grills on.

Apart from bats and kestrels flying into them, is it important to keep the grills on place? Will dust and things damage them over time? How would I clean them?

For those looking for small bookshelf speakers, while there are probably a few esoteric brands that offer better imaging at this price, I find these speakers are remarkably good. I got a really cheap NAD amp (C315BEE) to drive them and an Airport Express to feed my entire library (14,000 tracks or so) to them and I am now in audio heaven.

Having instant access to one's music collection plus a Hi-Fi output source is absolutely wonderful. I feel sorry for those who shuffle among their hundreds if not thousands of CDs looking for what they want. A search string works much better!

 

[Indohottie]

from what I know the grills are only there for protection of the cones and the speakers.. if you trust yourself not to damage them.. go ahead and take them off.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

The grille just keeps dust and such off the driver. If you dont drop them, they wont get damaged. To clean, just take a tisue or something and wipe it.

 

[kolax]

I keep mine off just because it looks so much sexier without them. Plus, I love seeing the speakers actually move.

 

[MacBass]

Grills have been scientifically shown to keep toddlers' and infants' fingers from poking holes in your speakers.

 

[viggen61]

As long as you don't have any budgies flying free in your home, or small children prone to poking & prodding their fingers into things, you should be OK.

I only wish here in the States, you could still get good car speakers WITH real grilles.