How I Cleaned Grilles

[Doug G.]

The grilles on the pair of 40 year-old Advents I wrote about below had the typical dirty spots where the woofer and tweeter openings are. I guess after 40 years of pushing and pulling air through those openings, it was to be expected.

First, I tried using a spray foam cleaner and it worked OK but you could still easily see where the openings are.

With a lot of trepidation because of fear of ruining the masonite frames, I decided to put them (one at a time) into the bathtub, get them wet with the shower nozzle, squirt some Dawn on them, scrub them with a toothbrush, rinse, and dry with a towel and an 1875 watt hair dryer.

While the masonite frames did get a little limp while they were wet, absorbing most of the excess water off with a towel and drying with the hair dryer restored them to normal. They didn't swell very much at all.

I laid them on the floor and countered any tendency for them to dry warped by pressing on the frames in various places. And now I have some heavy books on them to ensure they stay straight until they are completely dry.

Appearance is really good. The dirty spots are completely gone and you can't tell where the driver openings are while they are mounted on the speakers.

Just thought I would write this up as a possible aid to the dirty grille cloth dilema faced by those of us who like to restore these speakers. It may save having to replace the cloth with something close but not exact.

Of course, I have to put in a disclaimer here that it is at your own risk if you should decide to try this method but I am very pleased with the results.

Doug