How to clean Magnepan MG-1 Grill Cloth

jdangel38

jdangel38

Pocket Aces
Hey all, I'm wondering if anyone out there has ever had to clean the grill
cloth (sock) on a Magnepan MG-1, or any of the other similarly covered Magnepan speakers.
I'm a little unsure on what might work well, one of the covers on my pair has an old stain I'd like to get out but dont want to ruin the cloth.
I'm not sure what the stain is, but more than that I'm just unsure where to start with cleaning products on one of these.
I've already removed the sock.

Would dry cleaning work, or is there another solution?
Anyone ever had to do this, and how good were the results?

I searched this topic and cannot find much info on it, so I'm hoping somone else can help.

If you havent owned a pair of these, they are not the standard grill cloth that 99% of speakers use.

I'm not opposed to buying new grill socks from Magnepan if needed, but I would appreciate if someone is able to help out here, it would save me a good chunk of money.
Thanks!
 
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If you can sew you can make new ones yourself pretty easily. Takes about 2 yards of speaker cloth.

Otherwise, people seem to use Woolite.
 
You can take the sock off and wash it in Woolite or similar, and try various stain removers while they are off. Remove as much moisture as possible by rolling them up in a towel, and then air dry them.

I did this with my MG-IIb and the socks fit, albeit a bit tightly. reassembling would be a bit tricky, as you need to line up the wood trim pieces on the front just right (the places where the trim had been was a slightly lighter color on my off-while socks)

There was LOTS of dirt, cigarette smoke in mine
 
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tubed said:
They'll shrink quite a bit.
Stretch them repeatedly as they're air drying.
Click to expand...

Putting them back on damp would keep the shrinking to a minimum, but you would need to wrap them in towels, as stated, a couple times to remove as much water as possible and do this on a dry day so the dry quickly.
 
Yeah, I was hoping to avoid washing them fully, since I have to remove the wood slats and it could be tricky getting them back on.
I may just try a carpet stain remover and see what happens, I'll do a little research first.
 
I would not recommend doing any cleaning with the socks on the speaker frames - too much chance you will damage the mylar. You can also get a new pair of socks for the speakers by calling Magnepan. You might be surprised at how inexpensive new socks are. Either way, you are going to have to remove the side rails and take the socks off. It's a PITA but they'll look great afterwards.

Good luck,
Mike
 
If the stain is on the front, no worries about the Mylar. If the stain is on the back, still no worries, unless the Mylar already has a tear / perforation in it. Mylar is an incredibly strong material when intact, fragile as an egg when torn. Taking off the trim and re-installing it is a cake walk. If you have any questions, shoot me a message, I've overhauled over a hundred pair, including stretching new Mylar, sewing grill socks, etc. As far as cleaning, wash them by hand in a bucket using cold water, then throw them in a washer, just on high speed spin, then stretch them back onto the speakers right away. They'll be slightly damp, but not enough to bother the wood substrate.
 
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