Which color fabric for my Carver Plats??

[mmadden28]

I picked up a set of Carver Amazing Platinum Mk IV's from Ohskigod a little over a week ago. If any of you were at Polkfest you may have noticed that they did not have their grills on. The fabric on the grills was essentially gone. I'm trying to catch up on some of my Speaker mods over the next few weeks so I thought I'd recover the grill frames while I was at it.

I brought a small sample of the original fabric (there was some left on one of the frames) with me to the fabric store and picked out a couple yards of a few different color choices. On one side of the original fabric it is Silver with Black accents and the other side is Black with Silver Accents. I thought it was supposed to be the Silver with Black Accents, but its actually supposed to be the Black with Silver Accents and I didn't realize this until I got home. Doh!! So the Gray fabric I bought is the wrong color--way too light but...anyway...

The camera shots I took really don't show the best representation of the actual color or lighting but which do you think is the better choice of what follows?

Light Gray Fabric:(perhaps for a bit of contrast?)


Black Fabric:(almost disappears??)


Or for a little spice, and maybe to do something a little different (the Amazings are a little different in the own right anyway right??), a Black and red fabric that changes between red and black depending on the lighting and angle of view. There are 2 sides to the fabric, one more black than red, the other more red than black.

(I know it looks like velvet in these shots but its not. It's a thin fabric with a slight crinkle texture-and a bit more see-thru than the original.)
The redder of the two:

A little brighter light shot--not really as vibrant as it shows in this pic, but I turned a nearby lamp on so it showed up well for the camera--normally the lamp is not on, so the red would be much more subtle):



The flip side which is mostly black with a hit of red:(much more subtle than the red's above, esp with no nearby lamp on--This is a shot with the lamp on.


Notice that in all but the brighter red fabics I just have them draped over the speaker to get an idea--I temporarily stapled the brighter red on the frame as I was having trouble 'seeing' it with my minds eye.

Thoughts?

[mmadden28]

Oh yeah, pay no heed to the room decor--this room will not remain as is and will be a darker color overall as this will be the Home Theater. The Plats may not be staying in this room anyway.

[mmadden28]

A shot comparing the Black, the Gray and the original fabric (bottom) and it's reverse (the swatch in the middle):


A closeup of the original fabric along with its reverse:


A closeup of the red fabric and it's reverse:

[dorokusai]

I like the black or red, just to be a little different.

[Face]

Acoustically transparent grill cloth.

[mmadden28]

Acoustically transparent grill cloth.

Yeah I know :tongue:, but I read somewhere IIRC, that if its more visually transparent, then it will likely be more acoustically transparent--not sure how factual that is but it was something to work with when I was looking at various fabrics.

With these speakers I guess I'm not as concerned since the fabric will only be covering the woofers. Or should I be?

What characteristics should I be looking for in a fabric to determine acoustic transparency?

[dorokusai]

Beings it's only covering open baffle woofers....why would it really matter Face?

I wouldn't think twice about it Mike but that's just me.

[mmadden28]

Ya kow when I look at the red speaker I keep conjuring up images like this:

or

[Face]

Beings it's only covering open baffle woofers....why would it really matter Face?

I wouldn't think twice about it Mike but that's just me.

I had no idea the crossover frequency was so low(2nd order, 100hz). Just about any above would work fine. Either gray or black would look nice, be sure to stay away from the crushed velvet.

[Ricardo]

I'd say the gray fabric and the first girl.

[dorokusai]

Face - Crushed velevet would be for the porn set we're gonna set-up around DisneyJoe's pool next year.

[mdaudioguy]

The darker red looks cool. Keeps the overall dark look with an interesting twist.

[mmadden28]

I'm going to flip the red fabric over to the darker side on the frame and see how it looks--I'll post a couple pics when done.

My wife suggested I velcro the cover on so I could swap it more easily but I'm not sure I can do that depending on how tight I have to screw down the frame. I also considered something like elastic the way a cover is used on an ironing board.

I think its pretty cool my wife isn't completely objected to the beasts. She is at least giving me ideas which means she knows these are staying She even told me about the 40% off fabric sale at JoAnn fabrics when I told her I was going to be getting some ew fabric.

[Joe08867]

I like the Dark red a lot. if WAF is good I would make a few different sets. Then you could change them out depending on your mood.

MMMMM Mood grilles!!!! :)

[Jstas]

I'd say the gray fabric and the first girl.

Nah, electric purple with neon pink polka dots!

The only detraction on the second girl is it's Tila Tequila. Otherwise I would have the second chick over the first.

[mmadden28]

Nah, electric purple with neon pink polka dots!

....

I have that fabric too but I was too afraid to post pics of if figuring I would get picked on for it...

[mmadden28]

The darker red looks cool. Keeps the overall dark look with an interesting twist.

I like the Dark red a lot. if WAF is good I would make a few different sets. Then you could change them out depending on your mood.

MMMMM Mood grilles!!!! :)

Which dark red shot are you guys looking at?

[mdaudioguy]

Which dark red shot are you guys looking at?

I was looking at the bottom pic in your first post.

[mmadden28]

OK had a chance to get the new fabric on both speakers last night...
It's really hard to get a good pic that shows what these look like in person but here are a few that come close sorta.

Thanks for all the suggestions. This is the way they will stay for now--something a little different. Perhaps later I might change it up again. I think these speaker get away with the different fabric better because of the style and gloss black finish than say a set of SDA's or other wood finish speaker but who knows. I know that this would not have worked if these were the Oak finish version.

A better closeup of the fabric showing the brighter red side and the darker side


Left


Right


Both


Both-darker shot-this is kinda how dark they look for the most part in the normally dimmer lighting in the room--subtle, almost black until you get just the right angle.



Again, really hard to capture what I see, but...What do you think??

Does anybody have any of those little Carver emblems? I am missing one.

[cnh]

Mike,

That's that fabric I would have gone with..As Doro says...it's a unique look and pretty classy too. They look great!

cnh

[Joe08867]

The one you have in these last shots is the Dark red I am talking about.

I think they look great. Although I didn't know the room was light wood paneling. I think I would go tweed like an old Fender amp. But the red is still very cool.

[kawizx9r]

Looks really nice, should iron out that fabric so it looks even better though!

[mmadden28]

The one you have in these last shots is the Dark red I am talking about.

I think they look great. Although I didn't know the room was light wood paneling. I think I would go tweed like an old Fender amp. But the red is still very cool.

Thanks!

The paneling will not be staying--it's destined to be the Home Theater and will get completely redone and will most likely be a darker color.
My guess is that ultimately the Plats won't be staying in that room as I doubt I'll be able to position them optimally without their getting in the way of the PJ screen. I might try to set the room up as is with the screen on the short wall, but put the plats on the long wall--so making it a dual purpose room if it'll work. Or I'll probably end up setting up another 2 ch. rig elsewhere-who knows.
For now I usually have all the lights really dim to off when listening anyway--otherwise the room is not used right now.

[mmadden28]

Looks really nice, should iron out that fabric so it looks even better though!

Thanks!
The fabric has a texture to it by design--not something that can be ironed out, but the texture is actually one of the other things I like about it. Although there are a few wrinkles or creases that don't belong--I might try to get them out but I'll do that later when I take the grills off again to gain access to the XO-they're not bothering me too much right now.

Getting the grills on and off is a real PITA, and there's a big risk of the grill slipping and ripping a surround or two .--I think I may engineer some kind of hook or something to help hold the grill up while screwing it down. Pretty poor design in that respect IMNSHO. I guess they really didn't want anybody pulling the grills off huh?

[dorokusai]

I think it looks great Mike....way to be different and do something cool.

[ohskigod]

warms my heart to see them getting the love they deserve.....I made the right choice. If you enoy them for half the time I did, they'll get a good run. the owner that had them before treated them like @ss, I fixed em up but never got to the cosmetics. they look great in those pics. good job brotha.