It might be all in my head, but somehow I've convinced myself that my M3's sound better with the grills off. The highs sound just a little crisper, plus I get to watch the woofers move.

Is there any truth to this, or is this a figment of my imagination?

I don't know, is it? Hey if you feel it makes a difference and you like the difference then why not.

I listen to my M3s with them off but I actually found that the M2 sounds better with the grill on. I imagine I've convinced myself that it helps to tame the upper "shrillness" just that tiny bit it needs to make them sound wonderful!

The only difference might be .5 dB in volume, there would be no sound difference.

Here are a couple of links you might find useful.

http://www.rjbaudio.com/Audiofiles/grill%20frame%20diffraction.html

http://www.polkaudio.com/education/tech_article.php?id=24

There is a lot of information about this.

This calls for A/B testing!

I've read in the past where having speakers located behind a perforated video screen diffuses the sound ... I can't see where the grills can't be that much different, after all one is placing a screen or a filter type device directly in front of the speaker, how little or how much it may affect the SQ, who knows.

And besides..

How can we as tinkerers have a set of speakers stationary for a period of time before we decide that things aren't quite right and have to go tinkering once again ... regardless of how well they may sound. It's our nature.

Or...

As George Lopez would say, 'Regartless'.

It's this restless nature that keeps me from settling down. That's why.

Check your meds - it could be akathisia!

Hemorroids.

Wheel in the sky, keeps on turning.

Better yet, A/B/X testing (Wikipedia Explanation).

Test yourself with some help from a friend. Listen to the same track three times. Two of the three times, your friend will either have the grills on, or off, and the third time, the opposite.

Do this for a handful of tracks and see if you can pick which of the three tracks is different each time. If so, you're on your way to proving your theory (and impressing us all with your wonderfully talented ears).

Have fun.

Jason

Tunes,
No you are not going insane.I noticed the same thing when I first got my M60s.I just keep my grills on and let my ears become used to that sound with them on instead of taking my grills off every time I listen to them.I only take them off when I have guests over and i want to really show off the great sounds that the Axioms produce.

Where's medic8r? He should be able to answer this...

He already did: http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showthreaded&Number=221024

Indeed he did! Serves me right for skimming over the posts so quickly.

No, no. Everyone skims over JP's posts.

It's safer that way.

I made sure I justcopied the link and did not read it myself!

Good, that way you won't be afflicted by his madness. And silliness. There's far too much silliness here.

No there's not.

Perhaps not enough silliness? No, that can't be it.

I guess I'll have to un-ignore JP once in a while.

I think we are achieving a very healthy amount of silliness and thread jacking for that matter, keeps me coming back for more.

But if we stay on-topic, you'll still stick around, right?

I see very little chance of that.