What material does Axiom use for grills? Polyester, rayon, nylon, or ...? I want to dye my tan grills black, and odds of success would be higher if I know what the material is.

Greg, I don't know what the material is, but here's instructions via Axiom on how to paint them.

That's very interesting. It hadn't occurred to me to paint my grilles, since I would have thought that would sort of kill the high frequencies. Especially going from tan to black, since I would have to lay on a lot of paint to get coverage.

I did try to dye some other light grilles black, using RIT dye on my front height speakers from Cambridge Sound Works, but they turned brown. They don't look awful, but they are definitely not black. I'm hoping to get better results with the Axiom grilles.

You could just buy new grills from Axiom. They're pretty reasonably priced.

Oh wait, just saw your sig list. That would be a lot of grills.

Cam, I'm pretty sure that article is only for the grills on the in/on wall and in cabinet speakers. It looks like they have different grills than the reg lineup which I think Greg is wanting, maybe someone can clarify.

All Axiom fabric grilles use the same cloth material which varies only colour wise. I don't know its exact composition and I'm afraid that it might be a trade secret. I will look for the information and let you know.

Maybe that dog with the secret to the Bushes Baked Beans sauce knows this too?

Well, it's not quite that bad. It's only the M22s, the 4 QS8s, and the EP500 grilles that need to be blackened. Still, Axiom prices for grilles are pretty steep, and I'm pretty tight with money.

Can you just purchase the fabric from an audio supplier and recover the frames?

I suppose I could. But it's a lot of work --- each QS8 has four grilles and I have four QS8s, so that's 16 grilles already.

So you want it to get done with no cost and no effort?

Greg: Don't use RIT dyes. They're incredibly unstable.

Go to a craft store and ask for the fabric dyes that are used in cold water. It's not as simple as it sounds, but the results are actually what we THINK RIT will do. Their intensity and saturation properties are mucho potent.

Oh, and, if you look carefully, there are fabric dyes that come in spray cans. They were popular in the 60's and 70's, so I hear. Though, these days, you may need to read and write Chinese in order to buy them online. I don't know.

and Bob comes through again.

Is there no end to the knowledge around here?

Mark .........

LOL.....

Actually, Mark and his room are responsible for both the peaks and the troughs in our knowledge standing wave; however, when summed up they cancel out.


So, thanks for nothing, Mark!

Well, at least I peaked at one point!

I did use black RIT dye on some other grilles, and they looked fine for a couple of weeks, but then they turned brown. I also had the problem that the plastic-y frameworks of the grilles didn't like to be boiled in the dye solution -- they got distorted.

I'll look for cold water dyes -- thanks for the suggestion. I also ordered some black dye that is specially for polyester, since that was my first guess about the material of the Axiom grilles (but it has to be applied hot).