Grille Cloth Questions

[Theophilus Punoval]

I have a pair of grilles from original Advents. Can anyone tell me why the company used a black "liner" cloth under the outer fabric?

Also, is grille cloth the same as regular fabric or it a special type?

 

[spkrdtr]

IMO, the black backing cloth was there to prevent 'see thru' to the drivers behind the grille.

Original OLA fabric was 100% linen 16 CT.

 

[sKiZo]

I suppose you could use old drapes or underwear, but actual grill cloth usually has a lower thread count and more open weave to maintain maximum transparency. Maybe not a priority with Advent when those speakers were made?

I get a kick out of some of the older boxes with massive grillwork in front of the drivers. My Nova speakers have that, and also a couple sets of big box Sansui. Not saying they sounded bad, but ... there's a reason why a lot of them had their grills stashed in closets.

SpeakerWorks is a good source. They've got heavy black that's acoustically transparent and should let you get away with one layer.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

I suppose you could use old drapes or underwear, but actual grill cloth usually has a lower thread count and more open weave to maintain maximum transparency. Maybe not a priority with Advent when those speakers were made?

I get a kick out of some of the older boxes with massive grillwork in front of the drivers. My Nova speakers have that, and also a couple sets of big box Sansui. Not saying they sounded bad, but ... there's a reason why a lot of them had their grills stashed in closets.

SpeakerWorks is a good source. They've got heavy black that's acoustically transparent and should let you get away with one layer.

Some speakers had curtains on the front (I never thought to check if some/all of them could slide open or not). Some just used some really-thick material. It's weird how my W90's use a heavy upholstery material over the front, and yet the sound comes out from those mids and tweeters without any trouble at all. That's why I wish they were removable. Only thing is, what if they voiced them that way on purpose (to get through a thick grill-material)? What if the grillcloth is there to calm them down just the right amount?

 

[spkrdtr]

....... what if they voiced them that way on purpose (to get through a thick grill-material)? What if the grillcloth is there to calm them down just the right amount?

In some speaker designs, this was true. Zilch found that out with Advents.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

In some speaker designs, this was true. Zilch found that out with Advents.

Yeah, it's surely something to consider (at least with vintage speakers). And the cloth on mine is thick and textured like that stuff they used on couches back in the early '60's, so it's definitely had me wondering. I really wish I could hear them both ways, but mine have the fixed grills instead of the later, removable ones, and I'm not about to go messing with the perfect grills on these things. I dig the look. Ugly as sin on couches, but it looks great on speakers.

That's really-good news about the crossover being in the upper-compartment like that. It means that it will be much-easier to swap out the existing caps for paper-in-oil ones. My W90's were recapped already, but I don't think they got oil ones. The W90's originally came with paper-in-oil caps, but I think the former owner had electrolytic ones put in when he got them recapped. The guy that did them was a retired RCA tech, so I suppose it's possible that he could have thrown in some N.O.S. paper-in-oils he had lying around, but the former owner doesn't know. He just trusted his friend to get them up and running and back to spec. I won't know for sure what's in there until I get the back open. P.I.O. caps are a lot more-expensive, but the money wasn't my concern as much as the job itself (I didn't want to pull any wires loose removing the rear-panel), but thankfully it sounds like it won't be much trouble getting it done.

 

[Isotonic]

I have two pairs of OLA's. One is recapped with Solen Polypropylene caps and the other with PIO. The oil caps definitely help tone down the somewhat strident tweeter in the OLA.

Regarding Cloth. This is where I got mine and I was very pleased with the results. There may be subtle measurable differences between the original cloth and others, but in the end, the character stayed much the same.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=232168

 

[sKiZo]

SOnly thing is, what if they voiced them that way on purpose (to get through a thick grill-material)? What if the grillcloth is there to calm them down just the right amount?

Please don't take offense, but kind of a band aid approach, doncha think?

They're too shrill ... let me try something here ...

Perfect!!

Not that McIntosh didn't do the same thing.

Excellent sound on those too, by the way.

 

[dodog]

I have a pair of grilles from original Advents. Can anyone tell me why the company used a black "liner" cloth under the outer fabric?

Also, is grille cloth the same as regular fabric or it a special type?

Same thing on my KLH model 5's. When I replaced the grillcloth, in order not to have see-through from the metal tweeter guard, I just used a pair of black panty-hose (new, natch) stretched over the frames, glued and then cut trimmed to fit, with the replacement speaker cloth over top. No see-through, it looks better than the ratty cloth that was on there and the sound is superb. The panty-hose provide just enough darkening to obscure the tweeters but are actually a bit more see-through than the original black stretch-cloth (whatever material it was).