Does anybody know how to get this finish?

[John L]

John, have you considered starting a thread, and trying out different finishes, and how they are done? That would be more than interesting.

[ptwining]

Why do people buy speakers? Or more properly - do speaker companies *have* to mix a *design* element into their product to *get* people to buy their boxes?

It does kind of indicate that the sonics themselves aren't enough, that the speaker has a dual function, as art in itself, and a sonic reproduction device. I find that kind of bizarre.

I don't want ugly speaks any more than anyone else does but how far should that go?

There it is - the question - how far should that go and how much should we pay for it? Moreover, how much of that mentality is responsible for the *astronomical* price of what turn out to be (in many cases) middling (at best) sonic products that simply *look* slicker than their competitors?

Capricious question I know, but I found it mildly interesting.

What do you think?

Regards,
Tom

[John L]

Tom, that is like turning ceramincs on a potter's wheel. There are basically two seperate and distinct parts to making wonderful pottery. First is that of the cylinder, or pot, bowl, etc, which comes out of throwing that cylinder. Learning how to do this is a time consuming period, and requires a great deal of dexterity and artistic eye.

But also just as important, and more difficult is the art of "glazing". Learning how to make that wonderful pot look great depends on how technically astute you are with the glazing process, and becoming an expert usually requires years of work.

This also works with speaker building. It is one thing to model and put together a nice speaker system, but finishing it into a wonderful looking and pleasing project, where it can be not only listened to but admired for it's asthetic value, requires "That Other" process too.

[MJL21193]

Originally posted by John L
John, have you considered starting a thread, and trying out different finishes, and how they are done? That would be more than interesting.

Hi John,
In the spring/summer I will be trying this paint technique on a pair of speakers that I built a few years ago, and I'll open a thread to cover that.
I'm sure if there is enough interest it could ramble on...

[R-Carpenter]

Originally posted by ptwining
Why do people buy speakers? Or more properly - do speaker companies *have* to mix a *design* element into their product to *get* people to buy their boxes?

It does kind of indicate that the sonics themselves aren't enough, that the speaker has a dual function, as art in itself, and a sonic reproduction device. I find that kind of bizarre.

I don't want ugly speaks any more than anyone else does but how far should that go?

There it is - the question - how far should that go and how much should we pay for it? Moreover, how much of that mentality is responsible for the *astronomical* price of what turn out to be (in many cases) middling (at best) sonic products that simply *look* slicker than their competitors?

Capricious question I know, but I found it mildly interesting.

What do you think?

Regards,
Tom

Not everyone is capable of building a speaker cabinet or calculating the crossover. Most of the people will go and select speakers based on esthetical preferences and the price. Somehow, companies that invest money in the research also invest money in to the exterior element and duly so. Competition is tough and they need to make the product look different. On the contrary, to the misconception of “how much we have to pay for this exuberant design”, marketing departments in large companies work the opposite way. What’s the target consumer? What’s the competition? Can we make better looking (and better sounding) product for less?

My 5c to this thread is this. All synthetic veneers or reconstituted veneers are on the market for quite sometime. The main reasons for their emergence on the commercial market is consistency and the price. For example: real plain sliced Ebony Macasara-$5-$8 per ft2. Reconstituted substitute is about $1.35. If you making 1 panel or say table top for a commissioned piece, it’s fine and you could charge the price but doing say a 100 panels for a store may become quite costly. Consistence is another issue for the big order. Tree differs from tree and some costumers may not like variations in the graining.
I understand that some people actually prefer the look but there’s no substitute for me.
I would get a real quilted maple and black stain. Perhaps some pearl dies could create incredible effects.

B@W aren’t interested in having a craftsman working on each speaker because there wouldn’t be any consistency. They want to make the cabinet “different” and appealing. If I had a chance to see real cabinet, I could tell you exactly how they did it. It could also be a high quality plastic laminate. May be even custom made for them.

[peterbrorsson]

Originally posted by MJL21193


Hey Peter, just hanging in there, unused

I could have waited for it to dry longer (cold in my shop) and I think the layers need to be thicker, especially the main colour.
This was a quick demo, not meant to impress the sharp eyes on this forum.

Going on the assumption that the paint was too fresh, not dry enough, I tried to sand it again. This time with my random orbit sander.
Result is below. Starting to see the potential yet? Imagine a properly prepared piece, with 9 layers to work with plus a true base.

Well John, you are getting old. same here

It's fun to play with these things, huh? Sorry thing with my work is that I've to develop crappy paints and lacquers just to make it fast drying. Normal finishing time, from raw board to stacking, is 5-8 min. Does not leave any artistic space, eh.

I've played with a similar treatment on chairs for an exibition and main thing was drying time, quality of paint and sanding grit as ShinOBIwan mentioned above.
Also thickness of layers is a thing to play with.

When I was young, I played with girls. Now I play with speakers.
Well at least, speakers doesn't bitch!

Keep hanging in there!

Peter

[peterbrorsson]

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN


He didn't use lacquer/clear. That just a couple of different basecoat colours. The reason for the indistinct edges is he used a low grit paper, which fine for what he's done because it gets material off quick. If he went over with a fine grit you'd see a nicer transition.

I think John was demonstrating the basic concept rather than showcasing it. I have no doubt he could make it look better than what's shown.

Yes, a miss in terminology. Sanding grit, I agree.

I've seen what he's done, so no writing(Paint brushing), how it should be done, on his nose.

BTW, Your speaker look awsome!

Cheers

[Peter M.]

Hi, I`ve got some veneer here that looks identical to the veneer B&W is using. I`m pretty sure it is the exact same thing.

It comes in large sheets, 60cmx250cm or even larger.

I can post pictures later.