Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Bulletproof M80's & V150. Metal grills

Just thought I would post some pics of my new speaker grill prototypes. This is only the vp150. I have built two m80 grills as well but haven’t uploaded pics of them yet. I will try to get them up later today or tomorrow. I will also chime in later with more info on the project.

Couldn't you just use a forcefield?
Nice!

Looks fantastic. The acoustic fabric everybody uses has long outlived its worth. Very nice design. I'm curious (a) how you built them (weld, crimp, etc) and (b) do you get any resonance from the grill surface?

(b) would be my primary concern in theory, but it may be stiff enough not vibrate at all. It is just that much of the wire is near the diameter of some stringed instruments so I immediately thought about a vibrating metal cord down the long axis.

Now that is cool!!!!

pn

Turbo, what finish is that on your 150? ah-lak-it! ah-lak-it-ah-lot!

Very cool!

I've always wanted a nice set of grills.



Seriously though, nice work. It's too bad Axiom doesn't offer premium grills to go along with the premium finishes. I'd be tempted to upgrade, because those look awesome. Can't wait to see the M80's.

Great job on those! They really make the speakers look custom. If you decide to market some of these let us know

Nice, I like them!

If you don't mind for the next set of pics could you possibly get a pic from a little farther back, just to see what they look like from a distance?

Very Nice. Someone on the AV123 site did something similar for their MFW15 subwoofer. Where did you find the grill material. I seem to remember that it was hard to find stuff that was more than 50% open.

Thanks everyone!!

Zimm; I have not noticed any difference in sq, and no rattles due to the stiff material

Adrian; its sexy high gloss cherry

RickF; I will get some better pics with the 80's

Fredk; Funny you should mention that because that is where I got the idea found the perforated metal online and it has 79% open area. as for the trim i would like to find somthing that worked better and came in black.. this was white which had to be primed and painted...(pain)

If i could find better trim for the application I could possible make more

Someone out there must make a speaker fabric sheer enough to see the speakers underneath. Seems a shame to hide them with the standard fabrics.

A nice job, but not the look for me.
I doubt the wife would be keen on having my speakers seem like they should fit as replacement grills on the front of a 1979 Ford F150.

Just personal preference.

It is good work but I don't care much for the look. My brother in law bought some white van speaker that have a similar looking grill

Nice work! Very sharp!

Do you plan on selling them? If not, do you mind posting a DIY on how to make those.

Cheers,

Here's another shot for you showing the difference the light can make on the HG Cherry



I plan to take new pictures as 2 years later I've finally built a center stand to replace my fan box above

Wish I had the money for real wood!

Real wood is nice Bob, no doubt about it. But I keep telling myself, that real wood doesn't sound any better than the standard finish. Usually this helps.

pn

The High Gloss Cherry isn't wood, it's vinyl...

I have to admire the quality of the work you put into the grill. I do wonder however if it is causing soundwaves to be reflected away from the listener. Measureable or audible I have no idea.

I must say the look is not for me, it's as though you have placed your speakers on the wrong side of a chain link fence.

It is however; a very innovative idea.

I like it!

Nice work on the grills.

The contrast in opinions is interesting. Makes you appreciate the difficulty of a company like Axiom trying to figure out what to make a speaker look like. I love the look, in theory anyway. Some more pics from a distance will help. But I like the more modern approach this represents. Many of the cutting edge designs show the drivers. (E.g, B&W ; Gallo ) I personally hate the 70's fabric covering and think that is a dying design. All that precision and money hidden by some 3 cent fabric - just irks me. But I can certainly appreciate that others have different taste. Axiom should offer such upgrades just to expand their customer base. Make them an option at minimal markup and you broaden the design while not increasing cost to the others.

Anyway…nice work. Dying for the details. Most pointedly, where did you get the mesh?

Those grilles are nice, and the real wood. Oooh noo! You,ve just started a whole new wave of "Upgraditis"

Those finishes are actually the optional vinyl finishes aren't they? they're very convincing though.

Correct. The High-gloss Cherry finish is vinyl.

Yes, the HG Cherry I posted is a custom vinyl found here... of course, there is the custom wood HG Cherry as well for much more here...

The Highgloss vinyl finished are amazing. I think that the only way you could get better is to do an oil finish on natural wood.

From any distance, you can't really tell the difference between wood an hg vinyl.

Always nicer to the speakers, from a distance the grills blend so well with the finish, they almost look invisible.

Just what I thought, Chet they look even better from a distance. Everything blends so very well and the grills add a rustic approach to your speakers that flow great with your beautiful decor ... I really like the grills.

Man its hard to take pictures of high gloss cherry! If you use a flash all you see is just that. J Ok so here they are. My reason for making them is due to kids and cats I want to protect my wonderful speakers. So awhile back I left my original black covers on thinking they were safe. After having them on about 3 months I took them off to remember what the speakers looked like and I found a dented dust cap L I was able to pop it out but it had been dented for so long hidden behind the grills that it had permanent dimples …bummer.. Then I saw that someone on another site hade made their own metal grills…….After a lot of online searching here I am with custom covers. I like the look of them but am not completely satisfied with the edging. So I am still searching for something that would work better, and be more efficient. Something that came black. The center grill is more noticeable from a distance that the 2 m80’s. At about 10 feet away at first glance its hard to tell they are even on unless I have all the lights on in the room. Which is nice because I get to see my speakers but also know that the drivers are safe…

Thanks! All I need now is to remodel my tv stand to fit a bigger tv and stain it darker to match the speakers and house trim.

Yep, those came out fantastic. I've got to try it.

You can't use chain-link fencing though Charles!

I was going to steal the grill of an Escalde and glue it up in front of my speakers. Will that not work?

How many speakers do you have to cover? sounds like an idea...I'm sure there's a few unsold Escalades at the dealers. Might as well steal new over used!!

Unfortunately, you are right, there are lots of SUVs to pick from these days.

For surround speaker grills I'd recommend a Bimmer X-5. They have those nice little, split grills about the right size.

I still think the stuff I got off my ford f150 is the way to go.

Very nice.

You could use an Audi grill for the sub!

Yea, uh huh ... you expect us to actually believe *your* F150 is missing the grill, right?

OhoaKay

Ok so I don't have a f150 but my Neighbor does.

I really like what you've done with the custom grills. Great job!