Recover SDA1's

McLoki

I have a set of SDA 1b's (or are they c's?) that I purchased new in the late 80's. The amp I used to run these with was a Yamaha M-85 that died about 7 years ago when about 5 gallons of salt water ran into the amp.

They have not been used since except to decide that my current Onkyo 777 AVR will not run them worth a darn. I am now upgrading my home theater (from an rm-6600) and have become enamored with the LSI line. This is causing me to upgrade my AVR with an external amp to be named later. (depends what the audiogon or e-bay gods provide for me)

I have the LSiC and am going to be purchasing some LSi7's from Brett, but with the purchase of an amplifier will have limited funds for the front speakers. This brought me around to thinking of the SDA's that have been sitting in my basement for years. They are still in pretty good shape but they are a dark walnut like vinyl unlike everything else in my house (light oak, or cherry - no vinyl in sight).

If I wanted to recover these and make them look nice in a different color wood, what should I do? I would like them to look better than they do now. (if I want any hope of my wife allowing their move from the basement to the living room)

I have thought of maybe 1/4 plywood (birch or oak) and cutting it to fit, but what do you do with the edges that are showing? I may be able to get some veneer, but I do not think I can get it wide enough to fit the depth of the speakers, and dont know what I would do about the corners where the side meets the top.

I do have some basic woodworking skills, but making an entirely new cabinet (and bracing it correctly) is not an option for me. I guess I could take a clue from the current LSI line and get some 1/2" oak (or something), finish it nicely then cap thespeaker with it.

Is it possible to get the vinyl stuff off and refinsh the speaker in the gloss black of the current LSi line?

What would you do to make the classic SDA line look better in current decore. (if they were going in a dedicated listening room I wouldnt care, but they aren't)

What are my options?

Thanks,

Michael

Codey

I'm sure you can get veneer large enough and the stuff is thin enough that the edges won't really matter if you're careful when you trim.

kelley

I'm getting ready to do the same thing. If you search the forum you will see where I asked the same question last week and there are a lot of answers. I have decided to go with the 1/4" plywood but I will use actual wood to frame the speaker corners and cover the seams at the same time. If you add a top and bottom wood cap to the cabinet you can cover up most of the seams.