Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Naked cabinets

Hello'

I've been going crazy. Is it possible to get speakers with no finish? Just the naked wood?

This may sound dumb to some folks but I want speakers that look good as in furniture quality. Veneer is very cheap and I am very handy and experienced in wood working.

I'm by no means inferring that the axioms don't look good. But, I've owned my fair share of speakers in my day and am looking to make my next purchase something I will keep for a long time. So since axioms are ordered exclusively from the manufacturer I thought I'd ask if this was possible.

Thanks in advance
leaf

Give 'em a call! But as I recall from the manufacturing process that Chess described, the vinyl is pretty integral in how they assemble the speakers.

Leaf, they start with a flat sheet of wood with the vinyl already bonded to one side, and then cut from there.

I am not sure if they order the wood with the vinyl already applied, or if they apply it in-house. Like Ken said - give them a call.

Worst case I guess you could just veneer over the vinyl with a bit of judicious glue selection.

I seriously doubt the no-vinyl option. The way the speakers are made, the vinyl is the only thing that holds the different sides together before the speaker is "folded" together.

Still, it can't hurt to ask.

Hey Leaf.

Like the others I doubt that you'll beable to get unfinished units.

However, I recently got some samples of the standard finishes and after looking at one of them I noticed the vinyl was lifted on one edge. Like the little kid in me I just had to pull on it. Just a little tug and the vinyl peeled off very easily. The vinyl is very tough and doesn't seem to stretch or rip and came off in one complete piece. Its actually quite thick and I'd say in my limited experience a quality finish. After this I realized that should any of the finish lift off on an edge of one of my speakers I would want to glue it back down right away. The MDF underneath was actually very smooth and would require only a little sanding prior to applying a veneer. So, if you really wanted I think it would be quite resonable to remove the vinyl and apply a wood veneer.

My recommendation would be to first check and see if they can give you unfinished speakers. If not then request a sample of one of the standard finishes and check it out as I've described.

I'd be very interested on how it goes if decide to go that route. We would all love to see pics of the finished product...

Cheers, Jag

I was talking to some buddies of mine tonite and thinking about the manufacturing process. We figured for the most economical process the vinyl has to be applied first. So getting naked cabs isn't an option though I emailed and asked about it.

My next question to axiom has to be which is the thinest skin they apply? Our group consists of an architect/designer, carpenter, woodworker and myself. There are products to use over the vinyl and some pretty neat inlaid ideas we are floating around. But it would be much easier to just apply to wood.
The carpenter just wants to take them apart..measure the dimenssions and build our own ..I nixed that idea.
I've got everyone thinking about making the axioms look and feel as good as they sound. Sort of picture an axiom with a african rosewood veneer and a few strips of ebony inlaid for contrast. The designer hasn't really had time to think about it but I cautioned simple is better..we'll see what he comes up with.

If this works as a possibility I'll keep you guys informed.

Leaf

Yeah, I wouldn't want to build new cabinets for them, but a nice veneer would rock... You could probably set up a cottage industry refurbing people's speakers!

In reply to:

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If this works as a possibility I'll keep you guys informed.

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Cool...

You sound more experienced than me but I wonder how good it would be to apply a venner over top of the vinyl? I'd think about it a bit...

Another thing I wonder about is the fittings for the grills in the cabinets themselves. I may be difficult to neatly remove the vinyl and neatly apply a vennear without removing these kinds of things first.

Good Luck!

Jag

Good point. You'd have to make sure that everything fit back in properly. Even if you weren't going to put the grills back on, this could be a bit of a pain.