Cleaning vintage speaker screens

Distances

New Member
Hello wise Audio Sages of AK,

I have a pair of Advent/3 speakers from the 70’s and I wanted to clean the screens to try and whiten then up a bit. I noticed the material is ropey, almost like hemp or something. I’ve heard of screens shrinking after getting wet and I wasnt sure of what kind lf cleaning agent to use. Just wanted to seek some advice before I did something stupid and irreversible . Cheers!
 
It's unlikely you'll ever get it to look like new. Probably better to replace (the cloth isn't too expensive). Google linen speaker grill cloth and you should find something that looks fairly similar to what you have now. You may even be able to find it locally at a fabric store.
 
Maybe linen.
I cleaned some AR 3 speaker grills a couple of weeks ago but l have an Upholstery and cleaning business so have the equipment and products.
They were and still are very badly stained☹️
I used a mixture containing a product called Chemox which is a fabric safe bleach product used in the right proportions and extracted after pre spraying.
It marginally improved them but the stains are probably 40 years old and l wasn't expecting a miracle.
If you have a wet and dry vacuum cleaner you could give it a try with a cleaner with a whitening action.
Do it on a hot day and extract thoroughly
Don't leave them wet for to long

As the last post pointed out you will find some linen at a fabric store.
 
I cleaned a pair of dirty grilles on a pair of KLH Model 17's. First, I vacuumed them well. Then, I removed them from the speaker. Then, I used Armorall Auto Upholstery Cleaner (it is a foaming cleaner-and it smells real nice). Spray it on, wait a few minutes, wipe with a moist sponge to work it in. Rinse sponge frequently to get rid of the dirt. Re-Vacuum to remove a lot of the wetness. Mine have a Masonite backing boards. The boards got kind of "bendy". So, I laid them on a flat, clean surface and set some books on them to make sure that the Masonite dried flat. Then, just a quick vacuum to remove any dried residue. They look beautiful. And, the fabric tightened up nicely. Look like they were re-stretched. Not saying this would work for you. But this is what I did and it worked for me.
 
I replaced some grille cloth on a pair of AR's a year ago. I bought some oatmeal colored cloth off eBay. If you research it some you'll find it.
 
Some Advents have a thin black cloth behind the linen that can have a tendency to "bleed" its stains back to the white cloth when it gets wet.
 
My KLH's had the black "backing" cloth, as well. Did not bleed through. I made sure not to get them soaking wet, though.
 
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