Painting an SVS subwoofer

hauxon

I just bought a used SVS PB12 NSD sub. I just swapped it in for the rather small 8" Jamo sub and it is a great addition to accompany my SRS 1.2TLs. The however problem is that it is white and looks like a small refrigerator ...and my wife who generally is very understanding does not approve. ...so I thought I should just paint the box black. The sub does not have a wood veneer like the new SVS subs but some kind of coating, don't know if its paint or plastic coating.

Has any of you painted your sub? Any tips or suggestions?

Hermitism

Talk to this guy, he just painted a set of Apple i703s. They are really Polk LSiM703s.

https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/192084/touching-up-my-lsim703/p1

Gardenstater

If you don't have a paint spray booth with an exhaust fan and a filtered entry vent (how many of us do?), you can try spraying it outside or in a garage with the door open. There will probably still be particles falling on it in a garage or at least there would be in mine, and outdoors you can get small bugs etc.. I have sprayed smaller items outdoors with a makeshift spray booth made from a large cardboard box. You still have to wear a respirator but it defeats the wind at least. Something like a Refrigerator box would be ideal. Also, lots of coats of automotive primer (as long as compatible) with wet sanding with 400 to 600 grit is essential. For the finish coats, sanding with even lighter sandpaper is necessary, but you can often re-coat after a couple of hours without sanding if you have gotten a nice dust free application. Thin multiple coats is the key.

F1nut

Remove all the parts, then take it to an auto body shop and have them paint it.

Gardenstater

Unless you can wait until they are painting a satin black car (might be a long wait) they will charge a great deal if they have to clean their equipment and purchase a small quantity of paint for you (assuming they don't have it). I got a quote of $100 a while back for spraying 2 sailboat Dorade Boxes gloss white and that was only if I did the primer and sanding first, however there was some tricky masking required with those and it wasn't clear if they expected me to have done the masking or not. Point is it could be expensive. If you are OK with a gloss black they might not be a terrible idea, especially if you do the priming and sanding yourself because no way are they going to do as nice of a job otherwise. I ended up doing the job myself and it was a good thing because it was an extremely difficult job to get a smooth finish by spraying inside a hollow tube, basically and the masking was a nightmare.

F1nut

A $100.00 for a job like that is dirt cheap.

Gardenstater

That was after I did all the work of stripping, filling, sanding, masking, priming, sanding, priming, sanding, masking again. Then they would shoot some gloss white on it for $100. I don't want to steal his thread with the saga of the Dorade Vents lol.

hauxon

Ed Mullen of SVS replied to me:

Ed Mullen (SVS)

Sep 14, 2020, 1:12 PM EDT

Hi Hrannar -

The subwoofer has a vinyl laminate covering.

You would need to remove the amp, woofer and port flare if you were going to paint it.

I would use a paint with low solvent, as vinyl can easily be melted with a high solvent paint. Do a test spot on the bottom on the subwoofer to make sure the paint is compatible. I don't have a specific brand recommendations though - this is the first time we've been asked this particular question.

My preference would be spray paint, but I supposed you could roll-it on too. but there is a higher chance of drips/runs.

Guess I will visit a painter shop and see what they have with not too much solvent.

And I won't go to an auto body shop since it would be too costly for an item that will be tucked away and hopefully only showing the front side.

Gardenstater

Well they do have low VOC paints now. Hopefully they will be low enough solvent to not be incompatible. Good luck. I may be painting a Silver Martin Logan Dynamo Subwoofer that I got a good deal on even though I wanted Black. I don't really want satin black either. More like an Eggshell I suppose, and that is not really a sheen that you can find in an aerosol can. At least it is Painted MDF that is already super smooth.

F1nut

Painting vinyl is never a good idea.

hauxon

Let's see

VR3

Removing the vinyl is like 25% of the battle, the real war is going from vinyl to a paint able, glue free, smooth su state that will look good once painted.

Truck bed liner is rough enough to hide a poor substrate

sgmsmg

You could just take it to a place that does auto wrapping. Any competent shop should be able to do a pretty good job. Or you could DIY but it might take a little practice.

hauxon

Auto wrap is cheap and would probably wok well. I did also consider using something like Tolex (like on guitar amps) or leather. I however contacted a specialized painter shop today and they are confident it will be easy to paint. They recommend light sanding to ensure enough grip. Their suggested paints from Sikkens, BL Rezisto Primer and then Bl Rezisto Satin. It's acrylic paint made for high durability, for handrails, schools, kitchens etc. I will do a test at the buttom and post pictures if I go foward.

hauxon

The sub is ready after painting. I put on two rounds of primer and two rounds of the satin paint. Lots of patience needed mostly waiting for the paint to dry. I'm really happy with the results. Looks like it was originally black.

Few pictures showing the progress.

Testing if the primer would stick to the vinyl at the buttom.


I took out the 12 inch woofer but could not take off the plastic at the post or the amp at the back. Needed to use masking tape.


The second round of primer drying


All done masking tape off the amp.


The sub now back (in black) in the living room

Gardenstater

I like the low luster sheen you got. I got too much shine in my tests with Rustoleum satin black aerosol. What applicator did you use....roller.....brush.....both? This is what you used? So bizarre but I couldn't find the color Black on their website.

https://www.sikkens.fr/fr/produits/sikkens/rubbol-bl-rezisto-satin

ken brydson

Gardenstater wrote: »

So bizarre but I couldn't find the color Black on their website.

https://www.sikkens.fr/fr/produits/sikkens/rubbol-bl-rezisto-satin

What, are you new?

hauxon

Gardenstater wrote: »

I like the low luster sheen you got. I got too much shine in my tests with Rustoleum satin black aerosol. What applicator did you use....roller.....brush.....both? This is what you used? So bizarre but I couldn't find the color Black on their website.

https://www.sikkens.fr/fr/produits/sikkens/rubbol-bl-rezisto-satin

I don't know the exact color number, there's paint on the sticker on the can. I just picked the darkest gray without going 100% black from a color chart in the store. 1L cans are more than enough paint and will let you paint something else with the rest of the paint. I used small fine rollers to get the surface even. I think the key is not to hurry allowing at least 6 hours of drying time between rounds.

Gardenstater

Where did you purchase? It seems there are not many dealers in USA. I may want to try this for my Martin Logan Silver (uggh) Sub.

pitdogg2

Gardenstater wrote: »

Where did you purchase? It seems there are not many dealers in USA. I may want to try this for my Martin Logan Silver (uggh) Sub.

It's a long drive and a fair bit of backstroke to get there....

Ricardo

Black paint? Where did you find it? Been looking for years where to buy some.

Gardenstater

I guess in *some* people's minds color is the only thing that is important with paint. Try painting people's kitchen cabinets and revisit that notion. I've done a fair amount of that. I liked the sheen that he got in his pictures, ie. luster is another word for it, and foreign paints tend to be very high quality. Apparently Sikkens isn't available in the states.

Clipdat

Wow you are brave running that Cambridge amp with that small of space above it.

F1nut

Sikkens paint and wood stains are available in the US. One source for paint,
https://cdautopaint.com/what-we-offer/coatings/automotive/sikkens/

I believe their wood stains are under the PPG banner.

hauxon

Clipdat wrote: »

Wow you are brave running that Cambridge amp with that small of space above it.

Haha, when I first got the CA 851W I put the NAD dac/preamp on top of it and found out soon it was not a good idea so I put it underneath to protect both components. The 851W does run hot but not to the point where I can't touch the chassis. I do monitor the heat regularly and do believe it's acceptable. There is a hole in the back of the cabinet so the heat can escape quite easily front and back. The amp auto powers off after not receiving a signal for 10 or 15 minutes. So no problems here in cold/tempered Iceland.

As for the amp it was thought of as a temporary solution until I had saved up for a pair of Parasound JC1 or a JC5 to feed the SRS 1.2TL. The 851W has no problem driving them and just sounds powerful, effortless and musical. The heat probably being a result of the heavy class A bias that makes it sound so good. So I will probably keep it for a long time in my system.

With the addition of the SVS sub I feel the next step in my audio journey is acoustics rather than gear. ..and then remember to sit down and listen as love for music the reason we are here.