Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Update the grills?

If I could give any cosmetic advice to Axiom for future designs....change your grills. I am nit picking here as the speakers are attractive of course, but they stick out too far. Too thick. Especially on things like the on walls.

Speaker Grills, screens, covers what ever you call them, should be flush with the cabinet, not stick off of it like a zit. Sure in the 80's this was the norm but when I see a speaker with a grill that's flush and almost hidden AND has magnets....it is just that extra nice touch. Of course thinner can also be flimsy so there's a trade off.

Hmm, interesting, I would think though, that would depend on the color. I have a set of high gloss black and I barely notice the grills. I gather, in order to accomodate what you are suggesting, a slight change in cabinet design would be in order in that there would have to be a slight extension out the front of the cabinet on each side matching the thickness of the grill.

I wonder what Ian would have to say about this, in terms of cost and how it may affect, if at all, the current sound design of the speaker?

I would imagine extending the cabinet would have adverse effects on the audio, due to boundary effects blah de blah blah.

why not just make the grill wider and taller so that it covers the whole front of the speaker and eliminates the outer reveal. That way the front of the speaker would be totally flat with the grill on.

My beef is with the design of the M100 and LFR1100 grill. I hate the 3 piece on an angle. they are forever looking wrong as they tend to be out of alignment. I would be more happy with a single long one piece grill. I don't need to have part of the speaker exposed and other parts covered.

[quote=oakvillematt]why not just make the grill wider and taller so that it covers the whole front of the speaker and eliminates the outer reveal. That way the front of the speaker would be totally flat with the grill on.

My beef is with the design of the M100 and LFR1100 grill. I hate the 3 piece on an angle. they are forever looking wrong as they tend to be out of alignment. "

I have only seen pics of these grills and I agree they don't look rite!

Even if they made the grill skinnier.

I see how this would play out... They would just make the front face of the cabinet itself thicker vs. making the grill thinner or cutting into the current cabinet. You wouldn't gain any reduction in total thickness as that would interfere with the sound of the speakers.

I think that flush grills work well for those of us that keep grills on, but then you have the people that don't use the grills, and it might look strange for them. Not a win-win situation for everyone, so probably won't change unless they DID just make the grill thinner.

I personally like the look, though I currently only have the grilles on my QS8s. If kids ever come over, however, I'll put the grilles on and appreciate that it doesn't look so boring with the one long rectangle.

@oakvillematt - I agree about your comments on the 3 piece grill. I find it so ugly that I could never consider buying them.

As the grills size go I don't really have any issues aside from the 3 piece. I do however wish the on walls looks a little more contemporary.

Well, I can see I'm not needed around here anymore.

Ken for $400, please!

If you're watching something, look at the screen. When you're listening to music, close your eyes. Whaddya want, black strands of spaghetti, like a Sonus-Faber? Or how about a gourd sitting atop the cabinet, like a B & W?

Grilles are super ugly dust collectors. Mine have never left the box. They are allergic to sunlight and smoking as well. Make great cat scratching posts.

If you want high dollar looks usually it means high dollar 2ch brands as Bob mentioned. Gourds! Lol. HT speakers dont get a lot of love cosmetics wise.... If you roll in the hay with ugly speakers, just turn the lights off.

Could not disagree more. Screens are a necessity unless you live alone. Even then I'd cover them to protect from the sun drying them out. Plenty of affordable (even more affordable then Axiom) speakers have screens that blend nicely with the cabinets. Even the cheap Polks I just replaced with the on walls had thin screens on them that you couldn't see unless you looked. You also do not need to change the internals of the cabinet at all. Either go very thin screens or put a small lip on the outer edge and have the screen sit flush behind it. Or recess the entire middle section where the drivers go an 1/8th of an inch and put a thin screen on it.

There are countless options and designs. You guy aren't thinking outside of the box. The trick is keeping the factory assembly and vinyl application process easy. But, there's no denying that Axiom needs a little face lift. Excellent finishes and all are nice, but when your new speakers look identical to a set from almost 15 years ago....

And look at my signature. If I thought they were ugly I wouldn't have a house full of them. This is just minor cosmetic pet peeve.

Ive been with ugly speakers before........it just really sucks when you wake up next to them.......
Oh wait, wrong forum......

Axiom's focus has always been function over form. The cabinets are a little dated for sure. But IMO there are also uglier "better" speakers out there for sure.

Could you make or modify the grilles to meet your needs? You can use the existing as a template and cut the new grill backer out of 1/8" plexiglass or similar. Then wrap in speakercloth and spray adhere on the back. You can use sticky tac to adhere it to the cabinet (it is removable and leaves no residue.)

56 posts in 11 years! Good one! Worth the wait!

OK, I'll admit it. When I first saw those 3 separate diagonal grills on the LF-100 and M100, I wasn't thrilled at the look.

Now that they've been in my face for 18 months, I've become inured. I'm sure they had some reasons, but I didn't understand why it wasn't a single grille.

And I agree with Newf that, if you don't live alone, sans grilles is not an option. Hell, I almost spilled a glass of OJ myself into my ep500 on it's 2nd day in the house! The grille saved me.

The M60's look really good, because the grilles still leave a nice amount of exposed wood on the bottom. Well, for me it's wood. For most of you it's plastic. If youre not gonna get any wood and you're gonna get "plastic," then you should visit Mark's Uncle, "Doc's" website.

So, the only question is, "If the speakers were touching sides, would the grille "chevron" point up or down?"

Mine point up, based on the design theories of 19thC Brit, Ogden Rood; diagonal up = happy, diagonal down = sad. Of course, he forgot to factor in that we read left to right, so he was unaware that it's cultural. Sorry, what were we talking about?

My HG Rosewood M22s & EP800s look fabulous (IMO) with a nice amount of real wood showing around the grills.

Their similar tall, slender form factor complement each other...

T%AM

If i recall, Ian answered this question some time ago, either on the forums or perhaps i asked in person, i don't recall.
The reply had something to do with a production issue. Either they could only produce a grille of a maximum size or that producing a grille that tall was too flimsy, etc. There was a technical reason for having to split the large grilles into three pieces.

And other folk such as myself like the grilles as is.
I'm not a fan of the stealth bomber look for speaker grilles; the attempt to make them slim inline, no edges visible, wrap around style.
That doesn't appeal to me.

What someone else calls an 'update', another person calls a mangling of classic style.

57 now....I've been on a bit of a run lately.......even have the big posters lookin over their shoulders......

I tend to agree and if your speakers are a dark color and the grills match, when you are watching at night, you won't notice them anyway. Much ado about nothing. For myself, personally, and for those that prefer to leave the grills off,(like some do), I would have always preferred a dark color speaker as opposed to the white, which is somewhat more distracting. Just a matter of personal taste which doesn't affect the sound or the defining factor on whether or not I wish to purchase the product.

I like my grills.