Re finishing speakers

[danilo]

re wrap them in Tolex ?.. Stuff that Fender Amps (and others?) use.. cheap to buy, easyish to apply well and actually is a decent 'look'.
Albeit more suited to a Gig Venue than m'lady's lounge.

[walpurgis]

re wrap them in Tolex ?

Surely that would change the tonal characteristics?

[ERICLIMPIT]

It looks easy peasy, good luck!

[walpurgis]

How about using the vinyl wrap that they use on cars? They say you can wrap almost anything and there's a huge variety of colours.

I tried that on my thingy and ended up with a carbon fibre effect condom!

[RothwellAudio]

I think the guy who owns the body shop would be the person to speak to. He will know what he has available to spray and how it will react with different substrates.
A very low tech option would be to use shoe polish on the cabinets to make them look a bit better.
Some photos of the speakers might help.

[Naughty Nigel]

The cabinets are likely to be MDF rather than chipboard, but either way they should be well stuck together.

I would suggest veneering them. I did this with a pair of Celestion DL8 II loudspeakers nearly thirty years ago, and they still look good. The original PVC wrap simply peeled off, leaving clean MDF behind.

The problem with painting is that the substrate will probably have tiny pock marks, and these will need to be filled. Painting also looks naff in my view!

Yet another suggestion would be to paint them with black gelcoat, which is then polished to a mirror 'piano black' finish, a la some of the current Quad loudspeakers.

[RothwellAudio]

I've an old pair of Audio note Es that are in a very dark lacquered vinyl wrap (I think)...

Actually, this seems a bit unlikely. I thought the point of a vinyl wrap was that no other finish was required, so lacquering vinyl doesn't sound likely at all.

[Naughty Nigel]

Actually, this seems a bit unlikely. I thought the point of a vinyl wrap was that no other finish was required, so lacquering vinyl doesn't sound likely at all.

No other finish is required, but that doesn't mean that nobody will try!

PVC wraps usually have a dull, satin finish which may not have been to the Owner's liking.

As an example they could have been varnished with a conventional varnish to provide a glossy finish. Such varnishes become very dark and yellow with age, especially if kept in a warm, dark place.

Alternatively, the cabinets could have been sprayed with an acrylic lacquer from a spray can, but this would not darken or yellow in the same way.

PVC is readily softened and dissolved by certain solvents, such as ketones, but not white spirit. Provided the varnish or lacquer was applied thinly it would not have caused an adverse effect in the PVC.

[RothwellAudio]

Yes, there are many possibilities. Your suggestion of a "piano black" finish would look attractive but I can't imagine it being cheap. I thought the OP was looking for something at the more "affordable" end of the spectrum.

[Naughty Nigel]

A tin of black gelcoat doesn't cost much more than a tin of black paint.

Gelcoat can be applied by brush or spray. Once applied and cured it would need to be sanded smooth with progressively fine grades of wet-or-dry paper used wet, ending at 1,000 or 2,000 grit, and then polished smooth with T-Cut or similar.

With a bit of elbow grease it would be an easy DIY project, and wouldn't need to take long.