ROOSKIE
Major Contributor
It seems logical to me that if speakers come with equipment, like grills, they should be designed to operate with that equipment present. Removing them makes them out of spec. If a designer fails to take grills/cloth/whatever fully into account in the design then that's a bad designer. Just my sense of the situation. Maybe it's just unwise to block the sound, period, though.
I would be inclined, based on my assumption, to require a special tool to remove the grills on any speaker I'd release for sale that have them/cloth — to fully make the point.
Having been into this hobby for nearly 25 years I can say that nearly every HiFi, Audiophile, Performance oriented speaker measures best (and should therefore sound best) with the grills OFF.
This is not at all new or even remotely not understood.
Sometimes grills are well designed and affect the sound very little if at all, more often they are a sonic afterthought and detrimental.
Grills are generally there as an option for various reasons (such as looking better in the living to some people). Often grills are taken off when actually used and for many folks (such as myself) never ever put on the speaker - ever. I like the look of the nearly every speaker without grills.
This is very common in the "audiophile/HiFi" realm. Many people like seeing the drivers.
Any speaker with a special tool required to take the grills off likely will not sell well.