Painting bookshelve speakers...

[erikiksaz]

My friend recently bought some black glossy paint to refinish his desk, but quit halfway through because the finish didn't look quite right. So, i was thinking that i could paint my cherry colored speakers black. If i were to do this, would i need to sand the surface of the speakers? Or would that leave the surface uneven? Or should i use something like spray paint?

 

[Viperoni]

Is the cherry a real wood veneer, or is it a vinyl adhestive type veneer?

 

[erikiksaz]

Originally posted by: Viperoni
Is the cherry a real wood veneer, or is it a vinyl adhestive type veneer?

I don't think it's a vinyl adhesive. The only thing that confuses me as to whether it's real or not is that it's completely smooth, you can't feel any of the grooves of the wood. But, i'm guessing that's just the top coating the manufacturer used on the veneer?

 

[Viperoni]

It could just be that it has a few coats of clear on it to make it that smooth.
The issue is that if you were to just paint the current surface black, you would probably end up with a pretty smooth surface, but it wouldn't have any grain to it.

What you'd need to do is completely disassemble the speaker, and then sand a lot to get the surface very smooth. You'd need a coat or two of primer, and then coat or 2 of black, then a coat or 2 of clear.
All these coats will need to be sprayed, with sanding inbetween each coat.

I would recommend checking with a local autobody shop, because a spray paint can has a very limited range which makes it difficult to evenly apply the paint. Proper spray guns powered off of air compresors (like an average autobody shop has) provides a much better finish.

I'll post a pic of tower speakers I just finished painting: I used a roller for the primer, and because of that, the finish isn't smooth. Also, because I used a rattle can, it's not a very even finish, but for my purposes, it's plenty good enough. I might work on them further, but considering the painting both speakers requires a whole rattlecan, maybe not

 

[erikiksaz]

I think the primer, paint, and clear coat should be plenty fine. So long as they sound good and look alright :thumbsup:

Thanks!

 

[Viperoni]

Don't forget to sand though, it's the most important step. I would start off with sanding at 400 grit, put on a coat or primer, sand with 600, put on a coat of paint, sand with 1000, another coat of paint and sanding with 1000, then put on the clear, see how smooth it is, and sand with 2000 if need be. I use a small square-sheet palm sander.