robshort Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Recently bought a pair of KSF-S5s from another member here but neglected to ask what color they were. Turns out they’re white, and the rest of my Klipsch setup is black. Anybody got experience refinishing vinyl on speakers? Suggestions on where to get it? Should I apply the black vinyl on top of the existing white, or strip the white vinyl off first? Thanks, —Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robshort Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) Well, with 44 views and zero replies, I seem to have asked a question that nobody has the answer to, which may be because nobody besides me was stupid enough to try it.But just in case anyone in the future wants to give it a go, here's what I found out:The only kind of spray-on paint I found that will adhere to vinyl and not tear or scratch easily is a kind of sealant / gasket maker. (You've probably seen the late-night commercials where some a**hole uses it to waterproof the bottom of a metal canoe. That's the stuff I'm talking about.) Luckily, it comes in flat black.Just an FYI—Before you go painting your vinyl cabinets with that stuff on my recommendation—you will, of course, want to remove all the components beforehand and mask off the already-black MDF that you don't want to paint. Once the stuff dries, you'll need to take a utility knife or something similar and make an incision along the edge of your masking. Because the stuff is intended to make watertight gaskets, it will form a solid layer over your masking tape, and if you haven't cut along the edge of the tape, when you try to pull it off, it will pull the new paint off the vinyl. Which you don't want.Also: The KSF-S5s have metal grills. I do not suggest using the same paint on the grills as on the cabinets' vinyl. This is because that gasket-paint likes to glom onto anything—especially itself. This meant that the first time I tried painting them (with the gasket stuff) I ended up filling in a lot of the tiny holes in the metal screens, making them look about as ugly as a sow's a**.(Not that anyone else is stupid enough to have already done this, but just in case: giving the grills a bath in xylol or mineral spirits will take that s**t right off of them, allowing you to start over.)For the grills, I ended up using Ace Hardware's premium enamel black spray paint, which had the advantages of coming in a satin black finish and being a very fast-drying paint specifically for use with metal.I'm waiting to put a second coat on the grills, but after I do, I'll post pictures of the finished product on the remote chance that anyone else wants to attempt this. Edited April 9, 2015 by robshort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robshort Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) As promised: ...now all I need is some matching badges! Edited April 9, 2015 by robshort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Here is a reply, lol. Great job! They look new in the pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robshort Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) Thanks! I thought this was project was *totally* within the scope of my abilities until I b*tched the grills up with that sealant paint. At that point, I started to sweat a little. Glad they came out like they did—I’m pretty happy with the finished product. Now all I have to do is convince the wife that they’ve been on the wall like that since we moved in...I can’t believe she never noticed them! Edited April 9, 2015 by robshort 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robshort Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 Just to finish this project out: I figured out a way to get only the white portions of the badges changed to black. First, I spray painted over both the badges, exposed copper parts and all. After letting them dry, I took a shop towel and dabbed it in some xylol from the hardware store. I then wiped off the raised (copper) parts with the xylol-ed shop towel. I only messed up a couple of times when I got too much of the solvent on the shop towel and it ran down onto the parts I still wanted painted black. They look alright from about 6 feet away, but you can see that they’re not quite right up close. Still on the hunt for some original black badges that look like these if anyone’s got a line on them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Nice job! Back in the day when I grabbed my RF set... I wanted the pair of RS's to be White. The back wall they were mounted to, was the way you entered the room. That wall was also painted a very, very light Tan color... so I didn't want to have a giant pair of Black speakers mounted to the wall. The White versions offered a more subtle approach. There are times I wish they were Black to match the rest of the RF set. Congrats on your DIY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel's wife Posted June 19, 2015 Moderators Share Posted June 19, 2015 Dang it! I wish I would have seen this earlier! We do a lot of vinyl work and possibly could have offered some suggestions. Congratulations on the final outcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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