finishing stereo speakers

[neon]

My son sent me 3 pairs of speakers (california to ontario). They are about 50 lbs each. The guy who packed them for him had them wrapped on a pallet. UPS said no, so he broke them down to the six boxes. And they were poorly packaged!

One pair is veneer rosewood & the other two pair are piano black.

At the bottom of each speaker is a black spacer plate (1/2"). And then there is a black or rosewood base (3/4"). Four big screws go up through the base plate, spacer plate & into the bottom of the speaker. There are four spiked (six spikes / 3 rows) inserts pressed into the bottom of the speaker into which the screws go. The bases themselves have spikes screwed into them that isolate the speakers from the floor. Thank goodness these were pulled & shipped in a bag.

Now the bad news. All of the bases got separated (ripped off) from the speakers. So the base plate & spacer plate were locked together with the 4 inserts, scratching the hell out of the bottoms of the speakers (for 5 days by ground - lots of handling)! Spacer plates ok but 5 of the 6 base plates are severely dented or broken (pressed material). That is 95% of the damage. The rest is some dents and chips along the corners. Enough to make you cry.

I can't blame UPS. So I need to get them repaired. I know zip about woodwork. My only experience is with furniture guys from insurance companies who come in & repair after a move.

I have still have your interest here is a link to the speaker manual (pdf).

three shows my model & will give you a better idea of what I've tried to describe. I also took some digital pics.

So I think I'll go the yellow pages & look for a furniture finisher who has been in business for 25+ years.

Is this the right approach? Can the same guy handle the rosewood & the piano black?

thanks for listening.

[Robatoy]

Where in Ontario are they now?

[neon]

I have the good fortune to live near Grimsby, ON.

They sit not three feet from me, like wounded soldiers. I pass them umpteen times a day and sigh deeply.

I am in the process of buying a receiver for them so the only saving grace is that they are not deployed.

My son must feel terrible. So I told him "no problem", "I'll fix them up". I know it's only cosmetic damage but they are so handsome I want to do a great job & bring them back as best I can.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Robatoy]

E-mail me some snaps of the damage. Just remove the BULL from my addy.

[Robatoy]

[snippd for brevity]

My goodness. Somebody really threw them around, huh?

My suggestion is to replace the bases that were annihilated with new ones. The finish is not that hard to come by when starting from scratch. The rest of the damage is best left to Mohawk trained wood repair guys. A call to Mohawk's offices ( I think they're in Concord) will get the ball rolling.

Before spending any time and money, make sure that the drivers (woofers in particular) didn't get damaged as sudden jolts can dislocate the magnet structures pinching the voice-coils in the gap. The British traditionally use adhesive to hold the magnets in place while assembling the drivers. The bolts used after the glue-job are never tightened very much as the magnet material is very brittle and prone to cracking. I have seen many speakers (Spendor, Chartwell, Rogers, Mission) come across the pond with just that kind of shipping damage.

[neon]

Yeh, thought to get 6 bases made up and paint them flat black (to save a little money!). That's what the four are.

Google is not my friend. Got a number or url for Mohawk? And what is "Mohawk trained"?

thanks again

[Robatoy]

And what is"Mohawk trained"?

As so often happens, they were apparently bought by some other outfit. Richelieu now carries their goodies. Here is a URL which has some FAQ's and Ask The Expert links. I hope this helps.

And what is"Mohawk trained"?

What you are looking for, is someone who took a course like this:

companies have contacts with people like that. Some of the really good ones are employed full-time by furniture manufacturers.

It helps that your projects are portable.

People who aren't colour blind and have a knack for this sorta thing are very employable.

Good luck!

Rob