Forte II help

[Roshisan1]

My wife finally agreed to me using my oak oil Forte IIs as long as they are not in the way (big, ugly speakers in her opinion). I bought them new in 1995 and have had them in air conditioned storage since 2002 in the original boxes. I had to make a concession though. She is not fond of the oak oil finish and has said "They better be black". Naturally I have a couple of questions.

Is there a way to give them an attractive black finish without ruining the oak oil underneath?

I plan on using Crites crossovers/upgrades and ultimately biamping the speakers with tubes on top and SS on the woofer in a 2 channel system, but this will be gradual as money permits. what equipment do you recommend (source, preamp, amps etc) keeping in mind I want that magnificent warm and clear sound and enough bass to punch you in the gut and rattle kitchen cabinets? I remember being amazed hearing a set on an ADCOM GFA 555II, but I want speaker protection and something better, all at a reasonable price. Hopefully, I am not asking too much.

Thank you.

[noway1]

From your post it seems like you are very polite and accommodating and although those are great qualities sometimes people will take advantage and try to impose their will on people with those assets. If it was me, I would take charge and work toward a situation that this is your hobby and you will have complete control of the equipment and that this is not negotiable. You might also want to start planning a man-cave and spending more time down there.

[jhoak]

AHHH... The things we'll do to ensure "domestic harmony". Perhaps had I been better at it I wouldn't be on the hunt for wife #3. []

You have several options to make your oak speakers black. Unfortunately none of them guarantee an "easy" path back to the oak finish at some point.

Option 1 (and probably the best) would be to advertise your speakers locally as an "even trade" for a pair of black Forte' IIs. You might get lucky and find someone who's wife is sick of the big black boxes but could live with something in a nice wood grain.

Option 2 would be to paint them. Not hard to do but you'd need to research what type of paint is easiest to remove at some point in the future. Even then it's very likely that some of that paint will enter the pores of the oak and not completely come out when the time comes.

Option 3 would be to wrap them in a black vinyl veneer. Parts Express sells a "black ash" self adhesive vinyl veneer in rolls. I've used it on a couple of speaker projects. It does come back off fairly easily using a heat gun to soften it up but can leave patches of adhesive that have to be cleaned up with some manner of solvent. What that solvent would to the oak finish underneath becomes the question.

Please take some well intentioned and hard learned advice. Do whatever it is you need to do to accomodate the "better half". The color on the outside of the cabinets has no effect on the sound that they produce. If painting them purple is what it takes to make her happy then do it. They'll sound just as good.

[Turbox]

I wouldnt paint them. i'd start the negotiations...

[WMcD]

I had pondered the question of redecorating too.

One thought is that it is possible to make up a sleeve out of speaker grill material to cover the box. Maybe you'd have to take off the original grill to prevent excessive treble loss. The top would be a bit difficult to stitch. But maybe some plywood or glass, larger than the top of the speaker will make them look more like an end table.

Another thought is that white fabric might be better if you have white walls. Or try to match the furniture.

WMcD

[ZombieWoof]

Your gonna kill all the resale value if you paint them black .

[moray james]

So make the woman happy, go to a cabinet shop and have them make you a new set of cabinets and have them paint them black 35 degree sheen will look very nice. Put the oak cabinets into storage untill you get your divorce and then pull them out and swap the parts back into the original cabinets. Show your new girlfriend the door if she so much as asks you about them.Good lucc and best regards Moray James.

[P-Gavin]

Another opotion would be to build some plywood cabs.."slightly larger then the original cabs"..so its possible to slip the original cabs into the rear and scoot them foreward so nothing but the grills show. I have did this and it works well. Check the ph book for a local cabinet guy and tell them what you need..should,nt be that costly ..also lowes sales a black laquar in a spray can and it works well,i just refinished my Quartets and they look great..Good luck..Pat.

[dtel]

I would assume you have complete control over her shoe and clothes choices or is there no democracy at all ?

Sorry couldn't help it, never did understand the complete control thing, fair in some way or another, but complete say, I don't think. [:|]

[Roshisan1]

Thanks to all of you but especially those who provided useful ideas to make this work. I still would like to hear from you regarding an appropriate tube amp for the top end and SS for the woofer as well as a preamp and a source unit. This will be a gradual upgrade process so I will have to do it in stages. Suggestions?

[tigerwoodKhorns]

So make the woman happy, go to a cabinet shop and have them make you a new set of cabinets and have them paint them black 35 degree sheen will look very nice. Put the oak cabinets into storage untill you get your divorce and then pull them out and swap the parts back into the original cabinets. Show your new girlfriend the door if she so much as asks you about them.Good lucc and best regards Moray James.

Nice. Actually good advice.

Anyway, try staining them. Painiting them black will ruin them. Oak looks very dated and will take a dark stain very nicely. You can also go with a redish stain, but it may not look right with oak's distinctive grain. I had to stain some railings to match my new flooring because it would have been a fortune to replace the rails (mostly curved rails). I attached a pic of the rails (dusty because of the construction)

Just sand and stain and then apply oil or deft. If you have an oil finish you may need to wipe down with acetone (?) or soemthing else to get the oil off. Google it, I have no idea what to use to get the oil dry. It is really easy to refinish wood and may take an afternoon (or two with time for the stain to dry).

[Turbox]

I would assume you have complete control over her shoe and clothes choices or is there no democracy at all

[Y]

I dropped Jubs in my livingroom. received the delivery, and set them up while my wife was at work.. Wife sees them and says, "you've got to be kidding me".

Few days in the dog house and your good to go.

Sometimes its better to beg or forgiveness. Drop the Fotre's in the living room and tell her if they dont match, we may have to redecorate around them.

[Turbox]

Put the oak cabinets into storage untill you get your divorce

what happened to "For better or for Worse?"

[moray james]

there is zero point for either side living in the "worse" may as well split if you cannot work out something that matters to you simply because she could care less about it (or you). Redecorate the room to work or rework the speakers to work, cheaper to build fresh cabinets with what ever finish you can both agree upon than to change the whole room but often women will jump on the chance to have a fresh new look, fine. What ever works is good but if you cannot even get to that point then why bother? Best regards Moray James.

PS: the only situation more pathetic than this is when a guy uses his wife as an excuse as in " oh my wife would never alow that" when in fact the wife could give a hoot. That just makes me want to puke. In either situation a pair is required and they will grow if given a chance.

[cheric]

Moray,

Check your PM (on a different subject), please.

[dtel]

I would assume you have complete control over her shoe and clothes choices or is there no democracy at all

I dropped Jubs in my livingroom. received the delivery, and set them up while my wife was at work.. Wife sees them and says, "you've got to be kidding me".

Few days in the dog house and your good to go.

Sometimes its better to beg or forgiveness. Drop the Fotre's in the living room and tell her if they dont match, we may have to redecorate around them.

That's funny.

Roshisan 1, I'm not trying to cause any problems between you and your wife, it just sounded one sided and unfair if it's something you really want.

Things could have been worse, you could have taken up watching strippers as a hobby. [][]

[Roshisan1]

I am in possesion of both testicles thank you. What all of you don't understand is that this is a major victory. The speakers will be in the front room of the house as I don't have a man cave, which means the wife and I have to like them. I am not a huge fan of oak oil but that was all that was left when I bought these.

[ZombieWoof]

. . . [] . I'll be nice now .....[Y]

paint them black , if U want the grain to show sand & stain them black

but that might come out uneven , that depends on how muck the oil penetrated the veneer keeping the black stain from setting up

OR take them to a pick-up truck bedliner place & have them sprayed black

[moray james]

One advantage to having a new set of cabinets made is that you can not only choose the color but you can also choose the shape. Forte ll are a wide cabinet and are not exactly modern looking towers. You can turn the cabinet sideways build it wide enough to fit the woofer and mid/hi horns and have the passives on the outside face with a fine mesh metal protective grill. Place the speakers (without factory risers) up on attractive four post stands to position the centre of the mid horn at ear level when seated. Now you have an attractive modern looking tower loudspeaker. This is almost exactly the same footprint as the KLF20 so you know it works and that there will be visual appeal. This also makes placement close to the front wall easier to do than with a rear firing passive. Net result is a slim looking tower which can be positioned virtually up against the front wall if you need to make room and still be able to achieve good passive loading at the same time. There are any number of colors or veneers to choose from you can do that together since you both have to use the room together and be happy with the visual impact that the stereo has there. Take a look at the attached picture. While this is not the exact same size speaker or stand I think that you will get the idea. A Forte stand would only need to be about 14 -16 inches high and the combination is very attractive and effective. I hope that this is of some assistance to you in finding a home in your front room for your Forte ll. Best regards Moray James.

[moray james]

lost the first picture posting the second one so here it is sorry but the forum software would not allow for both pictures in the same post.