Speaker grilles aren't acoustically neutral. They were designed to do an aesthetic job, and the question of whether to leave them on or take them off has a real answer that varies from one design to the next.
Rare as it might be, some designers voice their speakers with the grilles on. They measure with the grilles in place, they listen with the grilles in place, and the final frequency response — the thing that determines how the speaker actually sounds — is shaped to be flat with the cloth and frame contributing their small but real effect to the radiation pattern. If you remove the grilles on a speaker that was voiced this way, you'll subtly brighten the top end and disturb the dispersion the designer worked hard to achieve. It may sound more open at first, then more fatiguing over a long session.
That isn't an upgrade.
Most designers voice and design their speakers without grilles in the signal path, treating the grille as a purely cosmetic accessory for buyers who want one. On those speakers, leaving the grille on can cause real diffraction problems at high frequencies, smearing the upper treble and softening transient detail. The grille is genuinely costing you fidelity, and the right move is to listen with it off.
Aside from helping with inquisitive (and potentially damaging) little fingers from small-sized waifs (I believe they are properly referred to as children), the first thing I do is remove that grille.
The grille is a design decision, not a default.
Treat it that way and you'll get the most out of whichever choice the designer made for you.
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