Result of Improper Orientation of Sierra Tower Grilles

[Pogre]

Can lead to possible damage! Okay first off, my dumb ass put the grilles on my towers upside down last night, so user error for sure. However, when I woke up this morning and took them off I was pretty bummed to see this.

462_copy_640x480.jpeg

That was taken a couple of hours ago and it's just about back to 100% normal now, but I'm sure you guys can imagine my first reaction this morning. The way they're cut, to me, it's a little bit confusing as to which side is up. Guaranteed I won't confuse it again, but I could see it happening to others.

I've owned lots of speakers and have never run into this issue before. I've accidentally put grilles on upside down, but never had it cause any physical damage. I think a badge at the bottom would be a good good solution that wouldn't require a redesign or something. Anyone else run into this?

[John Galt]

I had this EXACT SAME problem. I even ran my first Audyssey with the grilles on upside down.

I ended up putting a sticker on the back of the grilles saying ‘UP!’. I really think that the magnet polarity should be oriented in such a way that the grilles can’t be put on upside down, or a grille logo, or grilles that can be installed in either vertical orientation.

[davef]

Thanks for bringing this up! We have been selling the towers with magnetic grilles for about a year now and this is the first time this has ever been mentioned to us. I like the idea of a small sticker on the back indicating "up" or "top" - that should work well I think.

We used to have logos on the grilles but the vast majority of our customers preferred the cleaner "logoless" look so we stopped using them.

I really think that the magnet polarity should be oriented in such a way that the grilles can’t be put on upside down, or a grille logo, or grilles that are unidirectional.

That is a good idea but from a manufacturing standpoint, an impossibility. Switching to magnetic grilles using bamboo cabinets was both challenging and expensive to implement. Typically, with magnetic grilles - either metal or magnets are installed into the front baffle from the front, and then covered with veneer. Since we don't use a veneer, we had to work out a method to install 6 magnets into the front baffle from behind, into holes that are about 1/4" deep into the bamboo so as to not damage the structural integrity of the bamboo. In order to have enough magnetic strength with the neo magnets not flush to the front baffle, we had to also insert magnets into the grilles.

If our cabinet maker tries to, for example, install (2) magnets on the bottom in reverse polarity, and then install (2) bottom magnets in the grille in reverse polarity - one polarity mistake and there goes the entire cabinet. Once the cabinet is assembled, getting to the front baffle magnets is impossible. Something like this would dramatically increase our costs.

We also can't have unidirectional grilles because with magnetic grilles, we had to add additional bracing to the grille frame as there is no longer any support given to the frame previously provided by the grille post inserts. We added the cross-bracing in the only possible locations.

Frankly, I am surprised the grilles stayed on upside down as only 2 pairs of magnets will line up properly in this position (instead of 3 pairs). In our original test samples, the grilles slid off when placed upside down but it could vary based on the different cabinet finishes - something I did not test for.

I think the overall best solution is a sticker on the back.

Thoughts?

[racrawford65]

Dave,
I think the sticker on the back is an effective and cost-efficient solution.

[audiohead]

Sticker sounds fine, I bet Pogre wont need a sticker, he'll remember next time lol!

[Pogre]

Sticker sounds fine, I bet Pogre wont need a sticker, he'll remember next time lol!

You got that right!

I can believe it's never been brought to Dave's attention before. You have to admit you're a dumbass in order to talk about it... lol.

[davef]

Sticker sounds fine, I bet Pogre wont need a sticker, he'll remember next time lol!

We are implementing this immediately.

[John Galt]

The sticker was a stop-gap for me. I sometimes feel compelled to make sure that I didn’t install the grilles upside down in haste.

IMO the best solution involves magnet polarity, or magnet re-arrangement so that it’s simply impossible to install incorrectly. Of course none of that will affect me since there’s no way to retrofit an existing speaker to this configuration.

[audiohead]

AHHhhhh...my heart just missed a beat! I ran and checked mine, all good, PHEW! I can easily see how that happened.

Maybe a small sweet ascend logo could be next in line for the grill? I'm sure each of us would be willing to test a few samples out
I think i would put a shout out for Dave on this?

P.S. i hear there is a road trip to Arizona in the works ;-) LOL!

heck, i bet they will sound even better now

[Pogre]

AHHhhhh...my heart just missed a beat! I ran and checked mine, all good, PHEW! I can easily see how that happened.

Maybe a small sweet ascend logo could be next in line for the grill? I'm sure each of us would be willing to test a few samples out
I think i would put a shout out for Dave on this?

P.S. i hear there is a road trip to Arizona in the works ;-) LOL!

heck, i bet they will sound even better now

Ha! Well, they've bounced back completely from what I can tell. The dent is gone now, but I was crapping my pants this morning.

I like the logo idea and think that'd be a pretty easy fix. Maybe I can finagle some free badges from Dina..?