unruly

Greetings: I have a cosmetically nice example of an SW 15 Series II. Its amp creats a strangely muddy sound. It seems to vibrate all bass that comes through my system. I disconnected the amp and ran a high level source straight through the driver itself and it was clean, so I am pretty sure the amp is the problem. Can anyone suggest any further troubleshooting before moving on to the next question? Is there a reliable place to get the amp "refurb'd", refreshed or rebuilt? Will Klipsch go through it for me...preferred? thanks...

Keith, Exactly! Klipsch support told me that they lightly sand it with some 320 grit and apply a 30 sheen black lacquer with a fan-tip. 30 refers to the reflectivity (specular gloss) of the dried surface, so no final sanding should be necessary. Anything below 30 is considered matte or flat... above 85 is gloss. Lacquer sand seal should be thinly applied first. Klipsch support implied that they applied it to bare wood without the sealer... kinda risky from the experts that I have spoken with. Thanks to all for the assistance with this thread. bp

Big D From some examples that I have seen (two coats of stain) you can see color variation between the grain and the wood. Do you think that more than 2 coats might even that variation out? I like the stain idea as well, but I am unsure what to expect. I pose the same question again, since I am new to woodworking, should I prep the solid oak before applying stain? I am sure from other projects that I should sand (600 grit) between coats of poly. I guess the test plank will now have 3 sections masked off for testing. This might get expensive... but wirth it, if I can get close to the KG's finish. thx, Bryson

Keith, Thanks for taking the time to help. What I have is solid oak with some really spectacular grain. They are drawer fronts (6" x 24" red oak planks) for a media (CD, DVD etc.) storage unit, 12 drawers, holds 1500+ standard CD cases. I bought one extra plank for testing. I plan to mask it in half, stain one half in medium oak and poly, then the other half in the black satin. The planks were simply planed and sanded at the mill that cut them for me. I did a 3/16 round-over on the edge. Should I do any specific prep before applying the 3 coats of laquer, other than hitting it with a tack cloth? Should I sand between coats? The grain is pretty open, so I will probably go with your 3M finishing pad idea for the top coat. I appreciate your patience. I am pretty new to woodworking, but the construction of the cabinet (from an existing entertainment center) and the drawers (from scratch) has gone pretty well. thx again, Bryson

Keith, Is it a safe assumption that the laquer should be brushed on and not sprayed? thx bp

I have a pristine pair of KG 5.5s with black satin on oak. The grain pops out and smacks you without color variation... I love it! I want to create other pieces of furniture (completed one in red oak) in that room to match. How do I finish oak or red oak with the black satin finish, showing the grain the way my KGs do? Is it stain and poly, thinned paint and poly? Is it water or oil based??? Any help will be greatly appreciated. thx bp