Repair or customise your speaker grills with acoustic fabric
July 20, 2012
Speakers can be expensive and sensitive pieces of kit. Most come with
grills or covers which protect the speaker itself from dust and damage,
but there are a number of situations in which you might want to make
your own. Whether your grill is damaged or you want to make a custom
cabinet, acoustic fabric is a great material to help you create what you
need quickly and easily.
Speakers are designed to emit sounds, which are essentially vibrations in the air. When speaker grills are designed, special fabric or mesh has to be used which will allow sound to pass through it, while providing some protection for the speaker. This fabric is usually stretched over a frame to keep it taught.
If your speaker grills get damaged, it’s easy to repair them. The first step is to remove the old ones, which may be pinned or screwed in place. While screws are easier to remove, pins can be pried loose with a screwdriver. The next stage is to remove the existing cover by taking out the staples or sliding a blunt knife under the glue. Finally, new acoustic cloth can be cut to size and attached to the frame. Staples are often the easiest thing to use.
Changing the cover of your speakers can also be a great way to update their look. Speaker fabrics come in a range of colours and textures, from the traditional black to grey and silver. The cabinets themselves often last better than the grills, which get dirty, faded and torn. Re-covering them can make your speakers look new again.
You might be planning something more involved. A lot of people like to put new speakers in their car and build custom cabinets for them. While these could be left uncovered, adding grills to the design can make it more attractive, as well as giving the speakers more protection. This applies to custom projects at home, as well. You could make a chair with speakers built into the headrest or use the cloth to hide your speakers away entirely. This is especially useful if your speakers are looking a little dated but still sound fantastic.
An alternative to speaker fabric is acoustic foam. This also lets sound through, but is more rigid. It’s great for creating a grill from scratch as you don’t need to build a frame out of wood. A lot of companies also sell grommets for attaching it to the cabinet.
If you’re interested in audio quality it’s important to get high quality materials. Just as a cheap phono cables affect the performance of your hi fi, using substandard fabric to cover your speakers will deaden the sound.
Nexxia
sell a huge range of audio and home cinema equipment, from phono cables
to acoustic fabric. Their cloth is available in a number of sizes and
colours, and has great acoustic transparency for great quality sound.
Website
Posted by Lennie Hancock.
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