Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Naked cabinets

Vinyl is laminated on so can't really be removed.

Oh well gonna order some M50's and see if it's even possible.

You should be able to use a heat gun to remove it. I had to remove this stuff and it’s not easy. Then use acetone or some other toxic crap to remove the leftover glue residue.

Hey Leaf, SERIOUSLY consider getting yourself a few free samples of the standard finishes sent to and you'll see just how easy it is to peel the vinyl off. This doesn't mean the vinyl is poorly bonded on the speakers, but if you get the vinyl lifted along one of the edges then it does become quite an easy task to peel the vinyl off. This is why I mentioned that if I noticed the vinyl lifting off along an edge I'd be quick to glue it back down. Once the vinyl is off you are left with an almost smooth finish, just a very little roughness from the bonding agent. I got samples of all three standard finishes and I peeled the vinyl off on two of them with the exact same results.

I think it would be a bit more difficult to peel the vinyl off on a speaker that has a larger surface area but I think the results with the sample would suggest it is a reasonable task given a bit of patience and effort.

My concern with the re-finishing thing is how the speaker fittings ( grill post holes, ports ect...) are secured to the cabinet. If they are glued then it may be quite difficult to remove them, which I think would be a neccessity inorder to do a proper job.

Another possibility mentioned is the release of real wood veneer editions. I think this would be a far more likely thing for Axiom to do as an Anniversary release as opposed to completely new models as some have speculated. Why not ask Axiom if they are planning some special Anniversary Veneers. It may well be worth the wait if its that important to you.

Also don't forget that on all accounts the vinyl veeners are reported to look way better in real life than what is shown on Axiom web pages. There are also alot of beautiful custom veneers to choose from.

Unfortunately, to a large extent you'll never know how well re-veneering will work without giving it a try.

Anyone want to volunteer a speaker...

Cheers, Jag

Jag,
I went ahead and ordered some M50ti's today. They are the speakers I wanted regaurdless of finish. Ordered b-stock only a 2 week wait. My biggest concern at this point would be the fittings being glued in. If they are I'll just decide to keep em or return em on sound quality. Who knows I may just love the way they look.

Now I'm gonna loose my mind waiting for them to arrive.

Leaf

In reply to:

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Now I'm gonna loose my mind waiting for them to arrive.

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I hear ya. I ordered mine in Boston Cheery from B-Stock.

12 week wait for some...

Jag

Just out of curiosity... Why did you chose the M50s instead of (for example) the M60s? I've not seen many people chose M3, M40, or M50 because most people seem to chose the M2, M22, M60, and M80 sound. I just ask because sometimes with the M2i's I had before, they seemed a bit bright with badly recorded music (although the M60s seem a bit more tame comparatively). When I purchased my M60s, I was wavering between them and the M50s because I felt that maybe a bit of added warmth would be a good thing. That being said, I am incredibly happy with the M60s, and i wish you the same with the 50s!

DJ,

To be honest it was 558 versus 720 from B-stock. That and I've been listening to alot of speakers with these 2 configurations. Whenever I compared them I always liked the sound of the 2 woofer one tweeter combo more than the ones with the added midrange.

On top of that if I end up trying to get the vinyl off the 558 won't hurt as much. :0

Leaf

Ahh - I definitely see where you're coming from now with regards to the speaker selection - heh. In fact, I think I have convinced one of my friends to go for some M50s eventually, and that will let me decide if I made the "right" decision for my type of music or not.

I'm in awe that you have the patience to do B-Stock though... I was going to do it, but then the wait time for Mansfield Beech is incredibly long, so I went A-Stock. I am also really anal about my electronics being in perfect condition, and even though most B-Stock Axioms are just fine cosmetically, I'd be afriad to take the chance for 80 dollars difference.