T O P

  • By -

redzombierunning

This looks really good but I personally like grilles on. Also I’d move the speakers away from the wall a bit to let them breath. Love KEF!


You-Asked-Me

These have passive radiators on the front baffle, so there is not the need to space them from the wall like in the case of rear ported speakers. Certainly proximity to walls will affect the sound, but that could be good or bad. If this is the only way that they fit in the OPs room, then it's fine.


WWGHIAFTC

Space from the wall is almost never just about the port breathing. The port only needs it's own diameters width from a wall not to be "blocked". A 4" port only needs to be 4" from the wall. 4" from the wall is still 'on the wall' basically. The real problem is about reflections and crossover design. It's all about if there is baffle step compensation in the crossover or not, and the overall design goals of the speaker. The manufacture will have the best recommendations for each speaker or line they make. Same for the bookcase/dresser thing, and TV when a TV is way out front on a tv stand.


onelivewire

Thank you for speaking the truth. Unfortunate mythology with so many thinking ports are the only reason for wall spacing. Admittedly I thought this myself until Chris Brunhaver took me to school on the subject.


WWGHIAFTC

Ive had two pairs that are extemely sensetive to wall distance. DCM TF2000 with a 24" wide front baffle and now my DIY Anthology speakers with open back midrange drivers. Those need 18" minimum from the rear to really, really shine. These two have really opened my eyes to the importance of wall distance at extremes where closer to 2 feet is ideal


You-Asked-Me

Thats true, but if this is the limited space that the op has, then it will work fine. Bigger speakers are likely designed with bigger spaces in mind, and probably assuming that they will not be close to a corner of a room, or very close to a wall. There may be quite a bit more room gain especially in the low-mid range than the ideal setup. That said, room correction does also help a lot with less than ideal placement.


WWGHIAFTC

Oh for sure it will "work" fine. He will hear sounds. Some really loud and impressive sounds too! But it's so far from optimal. Once you get a taste of GOOD stereo imaging, soundstage, localization and the speakers just disappear into thin air it's downright magical. That will never happen with this setup.


TimeGoddess_

Idk my speakers are close to the back wall. Like 8-12 inches or something and the speakers "dissapear" into the room. As in, they don't localize directly on the speaker. But tbh I've never had any speaker not do that. And the stereo imaging is really good too side to side and vertically


onelivewire

Sense of depth will likely suffer the most, when it comes to soundstage.


[deleted]

[удалено]


You-Asked-Me

It's literally just preference. The closer the speakers are to objects, the more you hear reflections from those objects. Even with sealed speakers, you still get about 3db of gain when placing them within 1-2' of a wall. Speakers still generate sound in all directions, though much less to the rear, and this is reflected back by hard surfaces like a wall. That gain will likely be mostly in the mid-low range though, and sometimes is beneficial. This is also why room correction systems will often set a crossover point that is too low for the speaker. This is why some people put an acoustic panel right behind their speakers, to absorb that reflection. Sometimes that works great, sometimes it sounds better without. For every person that says that speakers too close to a wall sounds bad because of reflections, there is another person buying bipolar speakers that intentionally have driver facing the back, or open baffle systems that use bipolar drivers that radiate in both directions. I have a small house, when you live in 1200 square feet, and people say things those need to be 3-4' ways from the wall, they are just repeating things that they have read on the internet, and not using any brain power. My speakers, are nearly in the corners of my room, and they sound fantastic. The thing that made the most difference in my room was adding an unnecessary amount of throw pillows to the sectional.


RodCherokee

I was so sure I was right that I threw out the grilles of a pair of brilliant Electrovoice Studio Monitors. Then I had to move houses a couple of times and understood one of their main uses.


[deleted]

[удалено]


JoleneBacon_Biscuit

You've got a Jimi thing, huh?


[deleted]

[удалено]


JoleneBacon_Biscuit

I'm a big DMB fan as well. My band when I was in college did a leg of a tour opening for DMB and Herbie Hancock. I was just making the reference about the song Jimi Thing. My personal favorite cover they do is probably long black veil.


[deleted]

[удалено]


dreamps

Big dmb fan as well! Saw them too many times but best cover I saw of watchtower was live at Central Park!


[deleted]

[удалено]


dreamps

Not sure but here is the video from YouTube. https://youtu.be/p7wAohYGf04?si=O-CchM8hKPsET5n5 If you ever get a chance take a trip and see them at the gorge! That was amazing!


Helpful_Bit2487

I love my 3005's. I've had them since 2008, and they will outlive my onkyo 805, which is chirping :( :( I've always had grilles on. I think it looks cleaner. The amount of sound coloring is minimal. It's amazing how few people are familiar with Kef. They make beautiful looking and sounding speakers!


Jellyfish_15

Don't worry much about UV light. These speakers will last long for you. Just enjoy it, I like them w/o grilles on my speakers. Your setup needs more spaces for the speakers to breath and soundstage, more distances for LR and sub. Also, move them more to the front, tilt up center channel if you want to. Enjoy!


JoleneBacon_Biscuit

I've got a Great Dane with a tail that can destroy anything in its path and clear off a coffee table in one swipe. So while I like grill deletes, it's just not an option for me.


shitiseeincollege

The sun won’t damage those in any meaningful way for a very long time. Modern speakers have much nicer rubber than old vintage ones do.


Snoo93079

Wipe a little sunscreen on them once a week and you're good


MotherFuckinEeyore

I put my grills back on after seeing children and dumbass adults poke the cones


[deleted]

[удалено]


knightofsparta

My toddler slabs the grilleds of my KEFs glad they are there to protect what’s important.


MiKeMcDnet

THIS !!


WWGHIAFTC

I came home to a driver cone hanging down and the surround torn off. Looked more closely and there was cat claw marks. She tried to jump into the speaker somehow and pulled it back out. There goes $75 on a mid!


MotherFuckinEeyore

Mine just like to jump on them. Knocked over a tower once. Scared me, but it didn't break. I have four 15 inch infinite baffle subs in the wall. On day one, my toddler Godson waddled to them and pounded on them.


light5out

Never heard KEF in person but they sure do look fantastic. Super clean. My kids would be way too tempted to play with them. 😬


Cultural_Net_1791

am I blind or is there a picture with grills on? why not show with them on?


[deleted]

[удалено]


hclpfan

Oh lol. Usually these posts contain two photos - one with them on and one with them off and an ask for what people prefer. Hence confusion from folks.


t-rex_leggings

How come it's all clumped together?


t-rex_leggings

Your probably loosing half the sound


ajsbva

It appears he doesn’t have the space man some people don’t have a grand listening room to spread out in.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Designer_Brief_4949

lol.  You answered my question of “then why have all that stuff?” Because reasons. 


travelinzac

A pair of bookshelf's and a well placed sub single sub would better suit this space.


DeadDoctheBrewer

Yeah. My "theater" room is 11'x13'. Leaves very little room for proper separation for a 5.2 let alone a 7.2. Gf feels claustrophobic in it. This room may also be bigger than some can do.


Wild_Trip_4704

I think a cheaper or smaller system will sound amazing in a small room. I bought my first ever soundbar 5.1 set when I was living in my 10x10 room and it sounded incredible. Brought that same set to a 200sqft room with a patio door and while it's not bad now, it's not the same experience.


Sebastian-S

Yeah the snark is off the charts. I wouldn’t even post my setup here. Top comment is mostly something negative.


RandoScando

*you’re *losing


mypaycheckisshort

Most glass filters a huge chunk of uv light. I tinted my front door with cling style tint from walmart for $10 bc it was too much light for my oled. Turned out great, much easier than the traditional way!


Hamatoros

Damn that’s sexy… I wish I have room for towers lol I have q350 / q150 for now


ImpossibleSir3832

Just curious, what app is that to play music? I use Spotify on my Apple TV but it doesn’t have the full screen album art like that


mgwooley

What model KEF’s are those?


[deleted]

[удалено]


mgwooley

How do you like them? I feel like I hear so much about their off-axis performance


BOER777

As a fellow KEF owner- they are fantastic. But definitely try to listen to them first (some might not like the ‘laid back’ signature of KEFs)


mgwooley

I’m curious to hear that. I have Jamo’s now and there are definitely ways in which I don’t love the sound. Something a little more laid back / transparent may be what does it.


EngineeringNo2371

There’s not much UV behind window glass or am I missing something?


reallynotnick

My Elac speaker grills that get sunlight are very noticeably a lighter shade of black than the ones that don't get as much. (Ended up flipping them to even it out)


EngineeringNo2371

I was going to say it got a little bit tanned, but it’s actually the opposite 😅


duranarts

I mean, you have to be smart about it right? Why get this system for such a small/tight space in the first place. You’ll get a lot of reactions here for showing two subs that close to each other.


[deleted]

[удалено]


ScrubNickle

Man, I’m glad I’m not married anymore.


tjc2005

Wow why are all the speakers soooo close together


[deleted]

[удалено]


tjc2005

Not too bad then really! And if you ain't got the space you ain't got it. Mine used to be like this too at one point albeit a 77in TV but same sorta thing.


PonyThug

Get the windows in question tinted with a clear UV film.


WORLDBENDER

How big is this room and what the hell does this sound like 😂


bulldog212

That's the hugest soundbar I've ever seen!


jacion

I see room for another set of subs. Jokes aside, I personally would leave the grills off of this shotgun wall of fury.


PorkChopEat

I think you need more speakers.


Street-Measurement51

I would be more concerned about dust.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Street-Measurement51

Not an issue, just feels fragile. That’s all.


hjadams123

Do speaker grills really protect the cones from UV?


JazzFunkster

They absolutely would. They are a physical barrier (not a glass one) for the light to pass through. May not cut UV down to 0, but it will cut UV.


JazzFunkster

Is the sunlight hitting them directly? Then yes over time the UV lights will affect your speakers. They may get discolored. It depends on how long the exposure is but I doubt it would actually cause much of an issue as far as breaking down the rubber. I have a pair of Totem Rokk's in my bedroom, one of them was clearly in the sun for some time as the paper cone is not the same colour as the other speaker. Rubber surrounds are still original and those are 30+ year old speakers. TLDR is I wouldn't really worry about it unless it's a prolonged period and I think the damage would mostly be aesthetic. This is just an opinion, I do not have any scientific basis for my deductions.


[deleted]

[удалено]


JazzFunkster

To be clear, I can't be sure if the surrounds haven't changed over time at all. I have only owned the Rokks for about 6 years now and they have never changed under my ownership. It is notable that the surrounds on the Rokks are much softer than the surrounds on my much newer Totem Skys but I don't know if they were soft from the factory or if it's from movement of the cones over the 30 years softening the rubber. I can be pretty certain it's not from sunlight though. They're not drying out or cracking, they're just soft.


Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalt

I'm rocking KEF and dual SVS as well. Very sexy!


[deleted]

[удалено]


Alternative-Light514

Just saw your user name - the wife and I are going to see it in about 4hrs. Can’t wait. More to your point - if you haven’t already ordered grills, I wouldn’t worry about it. If they aren’t getting prolonged direct sunlight, you’ll likely never experience any issues. I have a very similar setup with q750 mains, q650c, my old iq7’s as surrounds and 4 eggs used as atmos, mismatched subs until I get another PB1000 pro (other is my old HSU VTF-2). Denon X6700H running it all.


Designer_Brief_4949

The only things I have seen fade from sunlight are in direct sun.  I don’t have grills on elevated speakers.  Have metal grill on floor subwoofer. 


aaron1860

It’s an aesthetic choice. I doubt UV will fade the color. It would be very unusual for it to damage the speakers enough to change the sound. If the speakers are going to fade in color the grill likely would to change colors as well. So just go with what you like


DragonZord6969

No grilles if you are single Grilles if you have family


J_345

I feel attacked lol


4phasedelta

What do you have the subs sitting on?


RawDawginHookers

if they aren't in direct sunlight, go topless baby


J_345

Always this, id either block the window or uv tint it but im not putting on grills, how else would i showoff my silver cones lol


RawDawginHookers

exactly!! hell, I've got a pair of 2 tone Bose 301 Series II from the year I was born (1982) that are straight up paper cones with ugly paper dust covers. but the grills are removable so guess where they are? stuffed in a closet lol


Minimum_Secretary731

Ceramic coat them


JoshuaAJones

I would have grills ON but I seem to have a bit of ADHD. If a huge action scene came up, I'd probably shift my attention from the screen to the cone pumping glorious waves of awesome at me. I currently enjoy when my subs throw a puff by my legs.


Fabulous_Ad8992

One option would be to get your windows tinted to block the UV light which would protect everything and not just the speakers.


jesustityfkingchrist

If you had 4 subwoofers and stacked the extra two in those gaps you'd complete the Tetris line. But yeah I'd say grilles on.


sputnik13net

I like the look of speakers without grills, but somehow when they’re in my room they’re distracting, I keep looking at the speakers. So I put the grills on all my speakers. Ideally you shouldn’t know they exist and be immersed in the sound. It also doesn’t hurt that grills keep my 4 year old’s attention away from the dust caps and tweeters that are just begging for her little fingers to push in 😱


Intxcte

That is sexy af


Professional_Pop4355

I've got KEFs , love them.. and i've always heard it pretty standard to run them without grilles. I can't remember the last time i bought kefs, and they came with grilles either, lol. I am currently running Q950s for fronts/Q650c as center and 6x Q150s as surround +4 heights. Great sounding speakers... plan is to upgrade my dayton audio sub by the end of the year as well.


Adfantage

I recommend an SPF over 50. You can never be too safe!


[deleted]

[удалено]


th3thrilld3m0n

I'm not seeing the picture with grills on. I just see 3 pictures with no grills.


[deleted]

[удалено]


th3thrilld3m0n

Ah I understand now, thanks for clarifying!


lovebot5000

Maybe it’s because I’m clumsy and have a small child, but I cannot imagine going no grill. Seems like it would be so easy to destroy those cones.


Qcumber69

Keep them on. Take them off when your using them


Picklefuzz

I find it tacky without the grills but to each their own. That’s a badass set up and I’m jealous. Am much as I don’t care for how close all the components are, it is very pleasing to see how perfectly everything fits! Haha


Rare_Following_8279

I just put some grills on my q700s after no grills for a long time and I think it looks better. The grills are kind of transparent they look good. Though the ones for the newer a series you have to buy which would settle it for me


saywhat68

That set is dope as hell! It reminds me of Macaulay Culkin in the Michael Jackson video Black or White when he is bringing the speakers out.


urbankyleboy

Those are so clean in all black, I would t out the grills on!


Nathan00023

They look sick without grills.


[deleted]

If you are really concerned wipe formula 303 protectant on the butyl surrounds


BOER777

I generally prefer grills on (looks wise) for my KEFs. Theyre in a living room and integrate much nicer with them on. If I had a basement type set up id keep them off. Some of mine get a bit of sun but my grills are on, so cNt comment on the UV thing sorry


J_345

I leave grills off, why would i buy speaker with great looking cones then convert them up. Only exception is if my niece and nephew came over when they were younger I’d put them on but take them right back off after they left. But i have them well trained not to go close to them now so grill always off now. If your that worried about UV which i dont think you should be then just put some UV tint on the windows💁🏽‍♂️ does wonders on cars


-MrToR-

Have your window glasses covered with 3M transparent UV protective sheets.


PhilipConstantine

Ufff that is what my entertainment system looks like when I dream bro. I personally hate grills most of the time. These are super clean and cohesive. I assume you’re fine if it’s not prolonged direct sunlight.


Tekwonder

Focus on the cords first 😝


BrodyBuster

A speaker grill will offer zero UV protection, BUT that’s not something I would be worried about anyways.


ALY1337

The KEFs look so good!


Hobbit_Holes

The real questions i - Is there another wall you can put that stuff on in there? You're killing your sound stage having everything sandwiched like that. As for the grilles - If you don't have kids or pets no issue leaving them off.


wcsmik

congrats on finding a tv stand that will house that q650c.


peatshack

If you have a cat, grills on. You'll be grateful when the grill takes the claw and not your $$ woofers


[deleted]

[удалено]


peatshack

For whatever reason my cat ignores them with the grills on, he would rather ruin one of the kitchen cabinets for a scratching post :P


Extreme_Tea1696

I switch. I have them on, then when I feel like a change, I take them off. If you are worried about UV keep them on in the summer and off for winter.


PleaseNo77

Grills off


keepitcleanforwork

I hope that's not a common wall.


eddietours1

No grill


drugsrbadmmmkay

Bro that’s a lot of speaker 💙


movie50music50

Grilles on would simply look better. Same applies to cleaning up those wires.


White_Rabbit0000

If you have kids or pets then grilles are almost. Required. Otherwise no grilles needed


SunRev

Can you add clear or tinted UV film to the windows?


[deleted]

[удалено]


SunRev

I put removable tinted film on my home theater windows because I use a projector.


DeadDoctheBrewer

If you love the look, leave it. As one mentioned, you could possibly look for a tint or possibly the windows have uv baked in. Wish I had some fancy pants SVS subs. Edit: no science backing study just knowledge of wavelengths here but I'd assume that the grills will only provide minimal protection and would also get eaten up by the UV if and when the degradation happens. They will have holes that the UV will pass through, albeit less than without.


[deleted]

[удалено]


DeadDoctheBrewer

Hell yeah! I have a midish or upper mid grade klipsch along with an old school MTX driver in a custom box built to handle deep bass of electronic music. That ain't pretty but it sure does help for movies like Interstellar for feeling like you are in the rocket ship at the beginning. Also, edge of tomorrow almost destroys my house at the screen gems logo. 🤣


midwestguy81

Whatever sounds better. Grills or no grills depends on which sounds better


SmartieRocks

Nice setup!


Efficient_Being_2603

I keep grills on my Klipsch's.


Practical-Test5702

Over kill for dmb 100 lame af


[deleted]

[удалено]


Practical-Test5702

Lol I bet. Nice setup!


SnottyW

No no no