• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Advent Grill Cloth

S

Sasquatch2

Active Member
For Advent speaker grill cloth go here;

https://commerce44.pair.com/dorrmil...th=57&osCsid=4916e69c070ed56a504b8818b006fcfb

They sent me samples and I must say that the Primitive Linen unbleached is almost a perfect match for the original in both color and transparency. The bleached single ply is a little lighter in color but a little more transparent. Not cheap either.....abt. $26-28/yd. 1/2 yd would do a pair of Large Advents. You may also find it locally if you have some hookers in the area...I mean rug hookers!!! In the hooking industry they call the cloth "Foundation Cloth". This has to be the material that Mr. Kloss used for his grills. It just gotta be!!!
 
Register to hide this ad
Sasquatch2 said:
For Advent speaker grill cloth go here;

https://commerce44.pair.com/dorrmil...th=57&osCsid=4916e69c070ed56a504b8818b006fcfb

They sent me samples and I must say that the Primitive Linen unbleached is almost a perfect match for the original in both color and transparency. The bleached single ply is a little lighter in color but a little more transparent. Not cheap either.....abt. $26-28/yd. 1/2 yd would do a pair of Large Advents. You may also find it locally if you have some hookers in the area...I mean rug hookers!!! In the hooking industry they call the cloth "Foundation Cloth". This has to be the material that Mr. Kloss used for his grills. It just gotta be!!!
Click to expand...

12x12 is an extremely coarse weave for grille cloth. However, with the black backing cloth also, I guess it will be okay.
For single cloth grilles on classic speakers, I recommend linen in the 20-30 TPI range and 4-7 osy.
 
Order a sample package from them....you will be pleasantly surprised at how close this material is. Sample package is free.
 
spkrdtr said:
12x12 is an extremely coarse weave for grille cloth. However, with the black backing cloth also, I guess it will be okay.
For single cloth grilles on classic speakers, I recommend linen in the 20-30 TPI range and 4-7 osy.
Click to expand...


What do you mean by extremely coarse? Are you referring to the aesthetics of a coarse weave? If so, it might be an acceptable trade-off if tone is the main consideration.

I recently bought a pair of Tannoy GRF Windsor speakers. These are big speakers, with perhaps the nicest looking grills to be found. They are made of intricately carved wood lattice, painted black, and laid over a cream colored grill cloth. The problem is they impede the sound. In fact, I am planning to make new grills, and might use something like that indicated in the link. I hate to do this, but I am convinced there is too much change to the sound from the grills.
 
jm55 said:
What do you mean by extremely coarse? Are you referring to the aesthetics of a coarse weave? If so, it might be an acceptable trade-off if tone is the main consideration.

I recently bought a pair of Tannoy GRF Windsor speakers. These are big speakers, with perhaps the nicest looking grills to be found. They are made of intricately carved wood lattice, painted black, and laid over a cream colored grill cloth. The problem is they impede the sound. In fact, I am planning to make new grills, and might use something like that indicated in the link. I hate to do this, but I am convinced there is too much change to the sound from the grills.
Click to expand...

I have run some studies of the effects of different weaves and fuzziness of grille cloths and found the high frequencies can be adversely affected by too tight and/or too fuzzy a fabric.
Below is a link to one such study.
http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=4972&hl=grille
Linen or polyester are the best for low fuzziness. Linen, of course, is aestheticly pleasing for vintage speakers. I offer 6 types myself. Polyester is the best for sound transmission and more suitable for more modern speakers. Open areas in the 30-70% range are quite good. Too open (coarse) a weave will begin to show the drivers behind the cloth. Someting the cloth is intended to hide.
 
Thanks for the reply. I appreciate you sharing your efforts at tangible speaker research. Neglecting the issue of transparency or aesthetics, can you indicate which cloth looks the best, acoustically, in the link first provided? That store is actually not far from where I am, so I could pick it up rather than having it ordered, thus being able to see it first, and save shipping.

I am confident I could solve some of the visual negatives of a coarse weave through other means, and as far seeing the driver goes, I would have no objection to being able to make out its form.
 
It is also interesting that your results show effect at the very low end too. This is a surprise.
 
I ordered the Primitive Linen. It looks like a good option to replace the Advent Grill screens. I will use this over the original black gauze as suggested by the speaker doctor. This is the closest I have seen to the original. Expensive, perhaps, but not out of reach for most.

I will be putting it on my newly refurbished and recapped stack of OLA's.
 
Last edited:
In the first search box at the top click on entire site and in the second box type in 18 count. I have used the "lambswool" and one of the "corks", but I can't remember which one or where I have it in my notes.
 
Original Advent cloth is 18TPI. I have a sample swatch of some material and the color is absolutely perfect (for original Advents) but the thread count is about 14TPI and the threads are thicker so I'm reluctant to use it.

This is in spite of the fact that, even if you just get a couple of feet away, it looks pretty much identical to the original.

12TPI seems way too coarse.

Doug
 
We'll see how it goes. I wish I had known the original thread count before I ordered the cloth. On the other hand some of the pictures of 18tpi looked rather tight compared to the original. Even if the count is the same, it could be a thicker thread I suppose. The bottom line will be the sound. Or maybe I will use the 12tpi cloth on something else.

I had been listening to the speakers sans grills and the grills definitely help to tame the high frequency anomalies. My the 12tpi will get me most of the way there.

Thanks for all the info though. I will report my results, that way this thread can be a developing resource.
 
The 12tpi cloth has arrived from the Dorrmill site. Color wise, it is as close as imaginable. The old cloth is old and most certainly darkened. Though the new 12tpi cloth is a lower count than the original, the thread itself is a bit thicker and more than a bit fuzzier. In fact, the original cloth is remarkable flat and looks like it could be coated with something (starch?).

Looking through both cloths, the original cloth alone is much more translucent than the Dorrmill despite a higher thread count. The original cloth/black gauze amalgam is roughly equal to the Dorrmill cloth alone in transparency and translucence.

It has occurred to me that you can spend a lot of money looking for an exact replica and never find it. Beyond thread count, fuzziness and thread thickness is an equal if not more important factor. Unfortunately those two factors are not available at any site I have looked at.

There are images to compare, but honestly, the Dorrmill image is more open than the actual cloth. So images can be deceiving.

1-2-3stitch has many more options and I would be curious to see someones results, and a sonic report. That said, I won't be spending another $50 to do a sonics experiment on OLA's.

There are many factors to the effects of Grill Speakers on the OLA. One could assume that the Masonite itself changes the properties of the baffle significantly. I like the way the speakers sound with or without the screens. I suspect that this new cloth will bring me in the ball park of the originals.

My plan is to iron and starch the new cloth to get it flat and reduce the fuzz. Then I will replace the original amalgam with a single layer of the new cloth.

Report and images to follow.
 
Another note to this is that not all the original Advent cloth is the same.

The material on my walnut pairs is softer and the threads are a little thcker and fuzzier than the threads on my utility pairs even though both are 18TPI.

I don't really hear any difference between the two types and have never measured them.

Doug
 
Long time getting around to this but I thought I would post pictures of the OLA's with the Dormill supplied replacement cloth. They look great and they sound like OLA's.
 

Attachments

  • Stacked Advents.jpg
    Stacked Advents.jpg
    78.4 KB · Views: 157
  • Advent Grill Cloth Refurb.jpg
    Advent Grill Cloth Refurb.jpg
    70.6 KB · Views: 180
Mega-bump!

I am looking to replace the fabric on my large Advents. I see Dorr Mill has a "Prmitive Linen" and a bleached version of that. Do you remember which one you bought?
 
Those speakers were re-clothed using Dorr Mill Primitive Linen, not the bleached variant. I did the same and am very pleased with the look and quality. Will be writing up a summary of my experience doing a light restoration on a pair of older large Advents.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom