Can you paint Polk Audio home theatre speakers?

[bananaboy69]

I just bought the RM 6700 Home Theatre speaker package, which comes with 4 sats and 1 centre speaker, and the PSW 202 subwoofer. Unfortunately, the place where I bought these only had them in black. :( I would have preferred the titanium colour to match my other components and furniture. I was thinking of buying a can of metallic silver spray paint and just paint the outside cabinet and not the speaker grille. Does anyone think it is wise to paint these brand new speakers? If yes, what kind of paint would you recommend? If no, I was thinking that I might screw up the paint job and ruin these speakers. :D :supermad:

Thanks for your assistance! :)

[PoweredByDodge]

.... well... i'm no pro - but i painted my cheapo towers with some auto body primer and paint and it has held up pretty well -- i went from black matte finish to a metallic midnight blue.

far as whether or not that wll work on your polk cabinets... i have no idea man... but whatever you do , just dont use rustoleum brand paint --- that stuff just peels off of everything... i mean it wont stick to anything. i've had a lot of bad experiences with it.

even a basic krylon 1.50 / can gloss paint will hold up well if u prime under it and then clear coat over it.

hopefully Jstas will chime in... this seems more up his alley, he seems to have built a whole lot more/better cabinets than anyone else in here and could give u the best idea me thinx as far as refinishing cabinets.

[sntnsupermen131]

i dont see anything wrong with it as long as you use the right paint and not get any on the speakers
but you might want to try your question in the basic hookup/wiring or speakers forum
theyre more home audio b/c this part of the forum is car audio
they should be able to help you out
-Cody

[Jstas]

You can paint whatever you want. However, you had better prep the surface well. What you need to do is sand down the cabinets. Make sure you rough up the surface well but don't marr it. Deep gouges are not good. A good scuffing of the surface is what is desired. You should remove the grilles and if possible, take the speakers out of the cabinets completely. You should mask off the parts that you do not want painted. Clean them with acetone, it can be found at any auto parts or home improvement store. It cleans very well and dissolves all kinds of oils and such.

Anyway, after the cabinets are adequatly sanded, wipe them down completely with the acetone. It evaporates quickly so soak the rag and wipe them down and don't worry about it. Next, goto the auto parts store and pick up sandable primer. Lay one heavy coat down and let it dry. Give it a nice light sanding to even out the surface and dust it off. Lay down another even but not so thick coat of sandable primer and sand one more time. Now you are ready for your final primer coat and your color coat. I wouldn't use silver car paint unless you get a specific color that says something like Titanium as the color. Straight up silver will look like ****. Anyway, grap a dark gray or black primer. Believe it or not, a dark primer behind a medium paint will add depth to the color. So if you can get a flat black, standard non-sandable primer that would be great. Cover the primered cabinets with the black primer in an even coat until the 3rd primer coat covers all of teh previous primer.

Now, if you are using spray paint for your color coat, you need to use a steady and even technique otherwise you are going to get an uneven coat. Don't "draw" with the paint. Hold teh can 6-12 inches away from the surface you are painting and make sure you spray past the ends of the side you are paint so that the paint gets all the way to the edge. Go nice, long even coats. Spray the paint in a way that it makes like a heavy fog. If you can see a line and fairly defined edges you are spraying too close. If you are getting shiny pools of paint, you are not moving fast enough. If you are getting uneven or extremely light coats per pass you are not holding the can close enough and/or you are moving too fast.

Take it nice and easy and use at least 2 coats of your color paint letting the coats dry to at least a tackyness before painting another coat.

Use your head, take your time and you will end up with your desired results. If you are worried about it, grab so scrap wood or go buy a board from the hardware store and practice on that until you get your result. I know it seems like alot of coats of paint but if you do it right, they will all be thin. The purpose of the sandable primer to hide swirls and protect the cabinet. It's easier to fix dmaged paint than it is to fix damaged cabinet materials.

[bananaboy69]

Thanks to all of you for your advice! :) Jstas, I guess I'm the typical newbie looking for a quick & easy fix. :p But I know that if you want it done right, you have to have the patience and take the long way instead of the shortcut.

But one last try, can't I just spraypaint carefully over the cabinet with the speakers masked without any prep work? :p It seems painful to scratch-up my new speakers even though it would be painted over after. Would it look like sh!t or would the paint not even adhere to the cabinet?

Thanks dude! ;)

[Jstas]

Look, do what you want. I told you how you have to do it. If you want to go the "easy" way out then go ahead. Painting any finished surface won't work the way you think it will. I don't know what kind of surface is on the cabinets so I couldn't tell you what its going to do. Since you are so quick to get this done and do it the "esy" way, I'm gonna say don't do it because it is going to look like hell and you will get paint where you don't want it.

[PoweredByDodge]

i agree w/ Jstas...

take it from somebody (thats me) who's f***** up a lot of things he's wanted to paint.

I painted my door panels, and absolutely butchered them in the process --- i ended up having to apolster them they looked so bad (but the apolster is pretty damn cool).

I painted speaker cabinets and they looked like ass.

I painted model RC cars and didn't prime and they peeled like hell 2 months later.

I painted home furniture and (lacking prime / good prep / thorough coverage) it all looked like junk few weeks later.

do it right or dont do it at all.

this isn't us being bitchy or anything... its us not wanting you to go through the same hell we've all been through at one point or another.

there's nothing like doing something expecting it to come out good, and then absolutely hating yourself and your work afterwards.

[bananaboy69]

Thanks for the help! :)

I know sometimes I'm impatient and that will just get me into trouble with half-baked goods. :p That's probably why I ended up posting here instead of the Speaker forum because I didn't "read the instructions carefully"! But it is a custom fabrication question. Same sh|t (speakers), different forum. ;)

Once again, thanks a million guys! I know where to turn to if I need help.

Cheers! :D


P.S. - Can you tell I'm a newbie? :o Love the emoticons!! :supermad: