Show us your DIY (or aftermarket) speaker grills.

dogwan

Dogwan
I've been looking for inspirational pictures for making some grills. Most threads address specific speakers. I thought it would be cool to have a thread with lots of different variations and construction techniques.

Let's see both DIY and if you've had them made for you.

Admittedly I am starting this for a self-serving reason. But hopefully others can benefit when they do Google searches like I have.

My current project are boring box speakers that are something magical. Grills were long gone when I picked them up and in order to do some repair work to the cabinets I had to route off the 1/4" lip that framed the stock grills. Now they are completely flush on the faces. I fear that a simple stick frame or Masonite with plain black fabric will not convey how special these AudioAnalyst M8's are. In short, I don't want them to look like 80's MCS specials (no offense MCS fans).

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Hey!

This wasn't my idea, but I did make them. I had the original grills so I could make an appropriate template. Bikini grills for the Valencia.

Built to showcase the awesome looking parts.

Altec127.jpg


Biggles
 
Hey!

This wasn't my idea, but I did make them. I had the original grills so I could make an appropriate template. Bikini grills for the Valencia.

Built to showcase the awesome looking parts.

Altec127.jpg


Biggles

Cool, I like that. I would show off that horn too.
 
I've done tons of custom grills and grill cloth upgrades. It's simple, if you have a saw, router, staple gun, and glue.
 
I've done tons of custom grills and grill cloth upgrades. It's simple, if you have a saw, router, staple gun, and glue.

Yes, I know it's pretty simple and I've made plenty myself. I was a cabinetmaker for 18 years. I was hoping to see examples of innovative designs that are more than plain-jane frames with black fabric. Looking for inspirations.
 
I've got some Advent/1's that I bought from an antique store earlier this year and re-foamed. Unfortunately they didn't have grills with them but the good news was that they had real wood veneer and not the vinyl. I wouldn't mind trying to build a set of grills but haven't really looked into the best ways of going about it. I was thinking a thin piece of particle board, cut out the area for the woofer and tweeter and then finding the right cloth. The only thing that concerns me is these cabs have the 4 nipples on each corner that the cover would have to slide onto. I would have to be very careful drilling the holes into the board so that the cover wouldn't sit crooked on the front of the speaker. If anyone has any cool tips, I'm all ears. :D
 
Yes, I know it's pretty simple and I've made plenty myself. I was a cabinetmaker for 18 years. I was hoping to see examples of innovative designs that are more than plain-jane frames with black fabric. Looking for inspirations.

Ahhhh... OK. You want to see some unique and inspirational examples, not just high quality examples. Well, find pics of many of the Marantz speakers to see there creative stock grills. I think the 880 used a wood grain grill cloth and they had those wedge shaped grills on a few models.
 
Here are some threads on how I tackled the cylinder covers for my Beveridge speakers. They originally used a thick foam material, but it eventually disintegrates into powder and I wasn't too keen on the look. I used regular grill cloth, but getting it to curve neatly was a task and needed some creativity.

Model 5
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=352331&page=7

For the Model 5, I build a frame with plastic that would bend, then wrapped the cloth over it.

Model 3
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=453742

I decided for this one to use a plastic mesh to cover the grill, then go over it with the cloth. The tricky part was attaching the cloth to the two metal strips that line the acoustic lens. I used some rubber edging and glued it on and the look turned out better than expected.
 
Ahhhh... OK. You want to see some unique and inspirational examples, not just high quality examples. Well, find pics of many of the Marantz speakers to see there creative stock grills. I think the 880 used a wood grain grill cloth and they had those wedge shaped grills on a few models.

Yes, high quality examples are welcome too. But, like the title of the thread said... show us your DIY grills.
 
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I've got some Advent/1's that I bought from an antique store earlier this year and re-foamed. Unfortunately they didn't have grills with them but the good news was that they had real wood veneer and not the vinyl. I wouldn't mind trying to build a set of grills but haven't really looked into the best ways of going about it. I was thinking a thin piece of particle board, cut out the area for the woofer and tweeter and then finding the right cloth. The only thing that concerns me is these cabs have the 4 nipples on each corner that the cover would have to slide onto. I would have to be very careful drilling the holes into the board so that the cover wouldn't sit crooked on the front of the speaker. If anyone has any cool tips, I'm all ears. :D

I recommend Masonite over particle board if you're going thin. $13 for a full sheet at Home Depot which is plenty to make a test template to really hit those nipples.

Did I really just say "hit those nipples"?
 
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