I'd also try to go with what the designer recommends. The Harbeth grilles were factored into every stage of the design process.
He even went to all the trouble of making them difficult to remove!
So unless there is some HF hearing loss...
In any case I've never preferred to use any loudspeaker without grilles. They always sound worse to me and that way seems to be asking for trouble. My days of forever craving more treble are over, I prefer a balanced sound.
Despite all of the endless ribbing of Alan's comments regarding amps, let's not forget that no one was able to accept his challenge of attempting to identify between 2 different amps unsighted.
He was even offering a free pair of the top of the range Harbeth M40s, but still there were no takers.
Somehow it appears we audiophiles strangely seem to lose all of our confidence in the powers of our golden eared superhuman hearing just as soon as someone puts the lights off.
Either that or the blindfold must be loaded with kryptonite.
He even went to all the trouble of making them difficult to remove!
So unless there is some HF hearing loss...
In any case I've never preferred to use any loudspeaker without grilles. They always sound worse to me and that way seems to be asking for trouble. My days of forever craving more treble are over, I prefer a balanced sound.
Despite all of the endless ribbing of Alan's comments regarding amps, let's not forget that no one was able to accept his challenge of attempting to identify between 2 different amps unsighted.
He was even offering a free pair of the top of the range Harbeth M40s, but still there were no takers.
Somehow it appears we audiophiles strangely seem to lose all of our confidence in the powers of our golden eared superhuman hearing just as soon as someone puts the lights off.
Either that or the blindfold must be loaded with kryptonite.