First step of my big project! :-D (1 Viewer)

[Jesse Sharrow]

Well for christmas I recently aquired a pair of very large dunlavy audio labs speakers. The hard part of them is done, the crossovers are built and the cabinets are built. These things are 6 ft tall tripolar hexagon speakers. I know tripolar is kinda weird. But I figure I have them I might as well use em. They were prototype speakers that they never finished and gave away. I guess they were originally designed to be used in a large ball room. But they nixed the idea. So therefore there are a set of only 2 sets in the world. :-D





Well my first step is i have to get them finished. Veneered, painted etc. But thats what I cant decide. I know what kind of finish I want but I dont know how to do it. I want them to be marble. Like a white marble to make them look like roman columns. Now I havnt found any veneer or vynil laminate that looks like white marble. So my next step is painting them.

Another idea my wife had, yes my wife. Was finish them in something that looks like brushed metal or stainless steal. So if anyone knows where I can get veneer like that, that would be awsome.

What do you think of my options. I have found out that its going to cost me almost $1000 total for all the parts. Thats mostly drivers and some nice binding posts and grills. Well I appreciate your input. Thanks!

 

[ThomasW]

Checkout a high pressure laminate suppliers (Formica, Wilson Art, etc.). They have a ton of real metal veneers. The actual metal part is a thin foil/film, so it's easily worked with woodworking tools.

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

What do you guys think of that?

Or this....



or this.....

 

[Parker Clack]

Jesse:

I agree with Thomas that there are lots of laminates that look like stone. These can be picked up at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.

The other thing would be to paint a base color such as white and then take a feather and paint a darker color like dark grey or black with the edge of the feather to make the "veins" of the granite. I have seen this done on many of the home improvement shows but I haven't done this myself.

I would Google "painting a faux marble look" and see if anything turns up.

Parker

 

[ThomasW]

Parkers' onto something. Trying to veneer those angles isn't something for a noob....

Given all the faux finishes available I think that's your best bet. Much less $$$ than the veneers, but there's more labor involved. The nice thing about faux finishes is that screw ups can just be painted over and if you want a new 'look' in a couple years, it's just a can of paint away....:wink:

 

[Kevin G.]

Guys, guys, you're workin' way too hard!!!
There is an automotive finish that is soooo simple. Check out the marblizer from HOUSE OF KOLOR. Or look for a shop that dabbles in custom automotive finishes. It is so easy. a beginner can do it. It looks very real. The cost of materials can hurt a bit though.

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

Now Kevin that proably is exspensive but would look slick as hell. I have looked into house of colors paints when I wanted to paint flames on my wifes car. But my father in law also suggested this site. Link.

But I do agree that veneer would be hard to do, and would be very hard to make look seamless. Unless I can get one of the guys/girls my wife works with that used to veneer the original dunlavys to help!

But I agree I think painting is the way to go. Now do I just buy regular house paint in a gallon bucket? Or some sort of spray paint? Ill have to swing by the paint department in lowes, homedepot or walmart maybe today. Ok thanks guys!

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Cool! Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Owen Bartley]

If you're convinced you want to go with paint, have a quick look at this old thread.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=171107

I remember Brett DiMichele was looking for interesting ways to finish a DIY speaker project, and I think it was leaning towards nice glossy automotive paint, sprayed by a professional friend. Wow, that was a good 2 years ago, I wonder what happened to those speakers. Either way, that would be a cool way to finish them.

 

[Leo Kerr]

Most of the faux-marble finishes that I've seen looked best when they were black marble with white veining - think Egyptian obelisks!

And yes, I'd recommend painting over veneering unless you're an expert carpenter.

Unless, of course, you hired an expert to veneer the things.

Leo

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

OMG! I love that idea! Ferrari Red. Do the top and bottom plate in Carbon Fiber. Get a nice black anodized aluminum binding post plate. Then do black speaker grills and put these on them!



The other thing I'm thinking is I found an awsome place that has specialty veneers. I havnt looked to much so far. Its 2 AM. But I saw a few brushed metal veneers. That would be really cool too. But I do have a freind that has the equipment to spray automotive paint. I also told my wife (shes very cool about this) we should paint them with chameleon color change paint. But Im really liking this ferrari idea.

Well heres thelink to that veneer place. Well what do you guys think?

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

BTW These are the binding posts Im using.



And the black anodized aluminum plates.



Im Sooo Excited. BTW. I have decided, to keep cost down, and also because I dont like the idea of tripolars. Im going to plate off with MDF the 2 extra speaker areas. So they are just forward firing towers. Plus it cuts my cost for drivers down alot. Any opinions on that?

 

[Owen Bartley]

Jesse, I'm glad you like the idea, I really wanted to see how Brett's turned out but I don't know if he ever finished them. I know with carbon and everything it would be pretty costly (and complicated) but you can still do it in a more simple, subdued silver/black/gun metal combo, or something like that and end up with them looking fantastic...



I just think the finish would end up looking really great, almost piano gloss, especially if you had it prepped and sprayed by a pro. And you could incorporate some of the brushed metal veneer too and I think they'd be gorgeous. Anyway, I just thought for a project of that scale, they deserve a really special finish.

Also I love the posts and plate, where did you find those?
Edit: n/m, I found them on PE.