Paint My Polks????
Got my FXi3's yesterday and they look just OK. But I wish I had black. Has anyone had any luck painting white speakers black and if so How?
At the very least I may dye the grills black. That might look cool if I can't paint them.
At the very least I may dye the grills black. That might look cool if I can't paint them.
Retired Onkyo 520 (returned broken HK 247)
Now a Pioneer 1018
CSi3
2- RTI10's
2- R50's
2- Fxi3's
Onkyo 250W Sub
Polk psw-10
"Inch by inch lifes a cinch, yard by yard life is hard"
Now a Pioneer 1018
CSi3
2- RTI10's
2- R50's
2- Fxi3's
Onkyo 250W Sub
Polk psw-10
"Inch by inch lifes a cinch, yard by yard life is hard"
Post edited by Kchill on
Comments
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I'd bring them to an autobody shop
I wouldn't trust a body shop.
I have been thinking of doing the same. You could simply tape up all the non-painted surfaces and spray paint. There are some fine mist sprayers (used for automotive paints) that you could use but I don't know if they would do that much of a better job on wood. There are also guides on the net for using lacquer to get a "piano finish".
Good luck. Let us know how it turns out. -
Going to go to the Home De Pot...you can do it, they can help. I'm not looking to make them awesome, just black...they will be high up anyways, about 7 feet off the floor and in the back i think. So it may not matter as much.Retired Onkyo 520 (returned broken HK 247)
Now a Pioneer 1018
CSi3
2- RTI10's
2- R50's
2- Fxi3's
Onkyo 250W Sub
Polk psw-10
"Inch by inch lifes a cinch, yard by yard life is hard" -
i've never done it.. but if i were you.. i'd remove the drivers before painting them. good luck..PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin: -
If you go autoshop route, then why go with some classy color. Paint them gloss red!
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.... with glitter:pmaximillian wrote: »If you go autoshop route, then why go with some classy color. Paint them gloss red!____________________________________________________________
polkaudio Fully Modded SDA SRS 1.2TLs + Dreadnaught, LSiM706c, 4 X Polk Surrounds + 4 X ATMOS, SVS PB13 Ultra X 2, McIntosh C2300, Marantz AV7704, Bob Carver Crimson Beauty 350 Tube Mono Blocks, Carver Sunfire Signature Cinema Grande 400x5, ADCOM GFA 7807, Panasonic UB420, Sim Audio Moon 380D DAC, EPSON Pro Cinema 6050 -
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I believe those are vinyl veneer so I'm not sure how well paint will adhere. Perhaps removing the veneer and replacing it with Black veneer is the best solution. Quite a bit more work, but the correct way to do it."Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Puritan Audio PSM136 Pwr Condtioner & Classic PC's | Legend L600 | Roon Nucleus 1 w/LPS - Tubes add soul!
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I believe those are vinyl veneer so I'm not sure how well paint will adhere. Perhaps removing the veneer and replacing it with Black veneer is the best solution. Quite a bit more work, but the correct way to do it.
Just what are the white ones made of? Does not feel like wood to me. Do they make white veneers? They say they are real wood on the web page.Retired Onkyo 520 (returned broken HK 247)
Now a Pioneer 1018
CSi3
2- RTI10's
2- R50's
2- Fxi3's
Onkyo 250W Sub
Polk psw-10
"Inch by inch lifes a cinch, yard by yard life is hard" -
Since you don't like the white ones, sell them and buy a pair of black ones. Simple solution and you won't eff up a perfectly good pair of speakers.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
I'd spray them with truck bed liner
DKG999
HT System: LSi9, LSiCx2, LSiFX, LSi7, SVS 20-39 PC+, B&K 507.s2 AVR, B&K Ref 125.2, Tripplite LCR-2400, Cambridge 650BD, Signal Cable PC/SC, BJC IC, Samsung 55" LED
Music System: Magnepan 1.6QR, SVS SB12+, ARC pre, Parasound HCA1500 vertically bi-amped, Jolida CDP, Pro-Ject RM5.1SE TT, Pro-Ject TubeBox SE phono pre, SBT, PS Audio DLIII DAC -
Since you don't like the white ones, sell them and buy a pair of black ones. Simple solution and you won't eff up a perfectly good pair of speakers.
Both Kchill and I are in the same boat. We both bought a really cheap pair of white FXi3's on clearance. They are white and scratched up quite a bit. I doubt we could flip the white ones for black without having to shell out more money. So we are looking for an easy way to make them black without messing up the look too much. I was thinking of buying new grills but the dye idea may work. -
Since you don't like the white ones, sell them and buy a pair of black ones. Simple solution and you won't eff up a perfectly good pair of speakers.
+1 to that advice. I guess it depends on how much you enjoy doing that type of DIY work. I would think the much easier approach (and most likely to end up successful) would be to just sell the whites and get some blacks.My HT
HDTV: Panasonic PT-61LCX65 61" Rear Proj. LCD
AVR: Harman Kardon AVR 235
Video: 80GB PS3, Toshiba HD-XA1 HD DVD
Fronts: Polk Audio RTi8
Center: Polk Audio CSi3
Amp: Emotiva LPA-1
Surrounds: Polk Audio R150
Sub: HSU STF-3
The only true barrier to knowledge is the assumption that you already have it. - C.H. Dodd -
are you press on just black or would you go for that stain wood look sand the finsh off and stain it. My o2- This your Bush?
Pioneer Elite Sc-25
Polk Lsic,15's,9's, PSW1000 -
maximillian wrote: »Both Kchill and I are in the same boat. We both bought a really cheap pair of white FXi3's on clearance. They are white and scratched up quite a bit. I doubt we could flip the white ones for black without having to shell out more money. So we are looking for an easy way to make them black without messing up the look too much. I was thinking of buying new grills but the dye idea may work.
Max you are right. When you pay only a hundred bucks for these you feel good because you know they are well over 250 new. However I do believe there is a way to make them black. The dye for the grills is a great simple solution for these because the grills are white.
Max I have no clue on what these are made of but I like the advice of taking the speakers out before painting if I do paint.
For myself I just want to have them black to match and not stick out in the room. If I dye the grills this just my do the trick and it could look kinda cool on the back wall , after all my trim is white.
But lets be real if we could have got them in black for the price we would have, enuff said we're cheap pokies
I got a 2000.00 set of speakers for less than 700 bucks, I'm a happy pokie:p , What about you Max? Retired Onkyo 520 (returned broken HK 247)
Now a Pioneer 1018
CSi3
2- RTI10's
2- R50's
2- Fxi3's
Onkyo 250W Sub
Polk psw-10
"Inch by inch lifes a cinch, yard by yard life is hard" -
No guts no glory, I say paint'em. Rough up the finish a bit, prime & paint.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Source: Rotel CD14MkII CD Player - Speakers: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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But lets be real if we could have got them in black for the price we would have, enuff said we're cheap pokies I got a 2000.00 set of speakers for less than 700 bucks, I'm a happy pokie:p , What about you Max?
My system is currently RTi6's, R50's, FXi3's, CSi5, and a Yamaha HTR-5790 receiver. Spent $800 total not including the SONY POS bookshelves and IC's. My Technics SA-GX700 100wpc stereo receiver/equalizer was a hand-me-down.No guts no glory, I say paint'em. Rough up the finish a bit, prime & paint.
True. Kchill, you go first. -
No guts no glory, I say paint'em. Rough up the finish a bit, prime & paint.
Hey do you know what finish are on these suckers?
I'm going to try the grills first...a pack of dye is only 1 dollar and a gallon of HOT water...tape over the logo...lol:DRetired Onkyo 520 (returned broken HK 247)
Now a Pioneer 1018
CSi3
2- RTI10's
2- R50's
2- Fxi3's
Onkyo 250W Sub
Polk psw-10
"Inch by inch lifes a cinch, yard by yard life is hard" -
Just a bit of friendly advice. If you don't know what you're doing or what the material is, don't do anything to them. These days the grill cloth is probably some synthetic that may not take dye well. The finish is God knows what. Call Polk first, I'm sure they can tell you what you're dealing with.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Um, it has been my experience that unless it is an actual piano, the "piano black" effect is achieved through either high quality enamels or a lacquer with a clearcoat on it. The clearcoat is usually acrylic. The lacquer gives it the dark black color and the shine comes from the acrylic clearcoat.
If you are going to attempt this by hand for a piano black finish, you can get acrylic paint at pretty much any paint, automotive or hardware store. But the clean look of teh finish is in the prep work and requires a good deal of sanding. If you use a black acrylic paint, you are going to need to do multiple coats and wet sand between each coat. That is a ton of effort for a pair of speakers.
If you are going to do it, remove the drivers and wad up newspaper and stuff it in the holes. Mask very well anything you don't want painted. Take your time too otherwise, you'll just eff up a perfectly good pair of speakers.Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
Adding to John's post. He's right, getting a true high gloss "piano black" finish is a TON of work. Furniture companies have ways to cut corners, but then they have invested large sums of money for the equipment/spray booths in order to do so. If you're not so picky, a can of black spray paint may make you happy.
BTW, the piano black finish you see on a piano is actually polyester. Beautiful to look at, impossible to repair.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Put some flames on 'em!!
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OK, decided to jump in and try to paint them. I removed the electronics, rear bracket, port, and label. I didn't try to remove the grill studs or the rear bumpers. If you can get them off then great. I also stuffed the open holes with newspaper. I used Black Lacquer spary paint can and applied several light coats. I was a little sloppy but overall they look great. I painted them by rotating them on a flat surface. It's better if you can hang them from one of the holes though. I probably should have gone flat black since now they look too different from my black RTi6's. They look real nice though, too nice compared to the 6's.
I tried to dye to grills. The first attempt didn't work. The wife recommends fabric paint. Maybe I will try that next. If I screw it up then I will just buy some black grills. Anyone know how much they typically cost? -
Wow Max...what's the exact paint you used and where did you buy it...I'm off friday and may do this in the back yard where i can hang the speakers off my deck and spary out in the open evenly...what tools did you use to remove the speakers? I have a hexagon set.
And for god sake man,,,show some pics!!!Retired Onkyo 520 (returned broken HK 247)
Now a Pioneer 1018
CSi3
2- RTI10's
2- R50's
2- Fxi3's
Onkyo 250W Sub
Polk psw-10
"Inch by inch lifes a cinch, yard by yard life is hard" -
Wow Max...what's the exact paint you used and where did you buy it...I'm off friday and may do this in the back yard where i can hang the speakers off my deck and spary out in the open evenly...what tools did you use to remove the speakers? I have a hexagon set.
And for god sake man,,,show some pics!!!
I bought Rustoleum black lacquer paint from Home Depot. Needed two cans. It's high gloss so that is why they will look different. The look will be very far from a piano-lacquer finish such as you have on LSi9's, but it will be much shinier than the veneer finish of black RTi's. Flat black will match the RTi's better. However, the high gloss finish with the silver speaks is rather nice.
For general spray painting... follow directions. Do not paint in high humidity. Again, rack-through-holes if possible. Clean the surface before you paint. Take your time and don't apply too much at once. Several thin coats are better. Take your time in removing components not to damage them or the finish. If you can remove the studs and the rubber bumpers then it will be better. They look difficult to remove though so I didn't and opted to cover them with painter's tape. The only problem is that the tape will have a tendency to peel away the paint. Perhaps wait 48 hours for the paint to thoroughly dry before touching them. There may be some spary surface protectant that you can apply afterwards, but I haven't looked into it.
Again, take your time in all steps. I was too impatient, thus my work is a little sloppy. But overall I am quite impressed with the outcome. If you really want the look to be 100% then I would heed what other people have said and take the bare enclosure to a body shop.
The speakers can be removed with an allen wrench but I think they are metric. I used a torx bit and it worked. They are not screwed in tightly. Remove the woofer first, then unscrew the tweeters and port and apply gentle pressure form the rear of the devices to remove them.
I bought a dye from AC Moore. It wasn't recommended for polyester but I tried it anyways. It didn't work. I am going to try fabric paint next but may end up scraping the grills. I also bought flat gray paint for the grill edges, but have yet to try them out.
I would take a photo but I don't have a digital camera. Never go around to buying one since I have a Nikon 35mm SLR that I can't part with. -
I'll take my before and after....not too worried about the overall finish because they do not match the RTI's finish to begin with....so I will find time today to take it all apart and take pics of them before and after....might look cool with white grills (syke) Retired Onkyo 520 (returned broken HK 247)
Now a Pioneer 1018
CSi3
2- RTI10's
2- R50's
2- Fxi3's
Onkyo 250W Sub
Polk psw-10
"Inch by inch lifes a cinch, yard by yard life is hard" -
Just a follow-up on the grilles.... I tried dye, fabric paint, and a fabric marker. None worked well. I ended up replacing the grille material (I bought a Joanne Fabrics). Removing the bezels and the white grilles was easy, but removing the Polk emblem was tricky. I ended up using a hot knife to chisel them out. With the bezels removed it was a lot cleaner to paint them. I used hot glue to secure the new grilles. Only up close can you tell that they were reworked.
