woofer painting GF-8989

[-GZ-]

so lets start out by sayin a couple things.

1) im new to this game 2) im not very handy 3) im impatient 4) im kind of an idiot sometimes

now that thats out of the way.

ive been wanting to paint the cones on my Sharp GF-8989 since i got it. the left cone had some really bad water stains and the right wasnt that great either.

since im not comfortable with the spray paint and taping thang or disconnecting the speakers and re-soldering and all that jazz, i decided i was gonna try the uni-paint oil based paint markers. well i couldnt find them anywhere in this town so i found a not-so-great alternative. DecoColor ACRYLIC paint marker. yeah.....bad idea. from the first stroke i knew it was a bad idea.....but im impatient......and an idiot.....so i kept going.

so the paint is kinda uneven and without the grills on it looks sorta crappy, but not terrible.

but with the grills on.....it looks pretty damn decent.......and the sound wasnt affected....if anything, i think the lows sound a little bit fuller. but that could just be all in my head.

anyways.....its not a grail of high monetary value or anything but it IS one of my favorite boxes. ive got another 8989 and an 8989II so im not cryin over it. although i wont use acrylic again, i have to say im mostly satisfied with the outcome.

lesson learned

before (outdoor pic)

after (indoor pic)

sorry, no after pics without the grills.....not a photo i wanted for posterity

 

[blu_fuz]

Oh boy, now I have something else to do. That really cleans up the looks. Nice job!

 

[Superduper]

The reason for using spray paint rather than brush-paint is that you can apply it much thinner. As you have noticed, painting speakers DOES affect sound, and normally, it is by boosting the low end at the sacrifice of the high end and speaker accuracy. A heavy coat will make the cone heavier which means it can't move as quickly as before but it will stiffen it making it less prone to farting.

 

[-GZ-]

The reason for using spray paint rather than brush-paint is that you can apply it much thinner. As you have noticed, painting speakers DOES affect sound, and normally, it is by boosting the low end at the sacrifice of the high end and speaker accuracy. A heavy coat will make the cone heavier which means it can't move as quickly as before but it will stiffen it making it less prone to farting.

wouldnt a white sharpie be thinner than spray paint?

and i knew painting WOULD affect the sound, as you explained in an earlier post.....i was just crossing my fingers that it wouldnt sound like absoulute garbage when i first turned it on after painting.

 

[-GZ-]

Oh boy, now I have something else to do. That really cleans up the looks. Nice job!

thanks fuz......hopefully in a few months you can see it in-person.

 

[baddboybill]

Looks real SHARP It does make the box look newer

 

[Superduper]

wouldnt a white sharpie be thinner than spray paint?

and i knew painting WOULD affect the sound, as you explained in an earlier post.....i was just crossing my fingers that it wouldnt sound like absoulute garbage when i first turned it on after painting.

Well, I have never used an acrylic paint marker so I can't really comment on that. Normal Sharpies certainly would apply a very thin coat but they do not use acrylic paint -- they are more like a black stain in a solvent base. True paint would have pigments/solids and the lighter the color, the thicker the necessary coat/thickness in order to cover darker colors. Only you would know how thick of a coat is applied by the sharpie but in my experience, spray paint can be applied very thin (and usually far more even) than manual/mechanical application of paint.

As for sound quality -- like I have always said: It does affect sound but affecting is not necessarily the same as trashing, it merely changes the characteristics of the sound. In a hi-fi setup, that would be blasphemy since lots of research and such goes into picking, choosing components to produce the original desired sound characteristics. Changing the speakers will have the same result -- a decidedly different character in volume, sound type and character. Whether that results in an improvement or degradation is subjective and would depend on the changes desired and, of course, up to the beholder.

 

[sean 91]

these are my GF 9191 speakers that i painted last year and they turned out perfect. check out the 575 thread in my sig. to see the end result

sean

 

[-GZ-]

these are my GF 9191 speakers that i painted last year and they turned out perfect. check out the 575 thread in my sig. to see the end result

sean

[ Image ]

very cool! look way better than mine. thank god for grills!

 

[sean 91]

these are my GF 9191 speakers that i painted last year and they turned out perfect. check out the 575 thread in my sig. to see the end result

sean

[ Image ]

very cool! look way better than mine. thank god for grills!

i used white primer on mine because its finer and easier to apply. its more unlikely to drip

 

[undertheradar]

Did you use a car or art paint? Which
make?
Thanks

 

[sean 91]

Did you use a car or art paint? Which
make?
Thanks

car paint from halfords

Sean

 

[mancardo]

so lets start out by sayin a couple things.

1) im new to this game 2) im not very handy 3) im impatient 4) im kind of an idiot sometimes

now that thats out of the way.

ive been wanting to paint the cones on my Sharp GF-8989 since i got it. the left cone had some really bad water stains and the right wasnt that great either.

since im not comfortable with the spray paint and taping thang or disconnecting the speakers and re-soldering and all that jazz, i decided i was gonna try the uni-paint oil based paint markers. well i couldnt find them anywhere in this town so i found a not-so-great alternative. DecoColor ACRYLIC paint marker. yeah.....bad idea. from the first stroke i knew it was a bad idea.....but im impatient......and an idiot.....so i kept going.

so the paint is kinda uneven and without the grills on it looks sorta crappy, but not terrible.

but with the grills on.....it looks pretty damn decent.......and the sound wasnt affected....if anything, i think the lows sound a little bit fuller. but that could just be all in my head.

anyways.....its not a grail of high monetary value or anything but it IS one of my favorite boxes. ive got another 8989 and an 8989II so im not cryin over it. although i wont use acrylic again, i have to say im mostly satisfied with the outcome.

lesson learned

before (outdoor pic)

after (indoor pic)

sorry, no after pics without the grills.....not a photo i wanted for posterity

wow...nice job.

 

[-GZ-]

I will say this...4 years later.... with the thickness of the paint I used I have to keep my treble all the way up to get a good sound.

 

[blu_fuz]

^ thanks for the update

 

[Ambience]

Interesting, my Panasonic 5085's speakers seem to be pretty much trash, almost as if they spilled water in the grills and just left it rot. Sound seems ok, best of my small lot, but maybe I'll try the spray. Anyone know how the spray holds up over years?