Dunlavy SCIV loud speakers: customized and altered

just over 500 pounds a pair, here are the legendary pair of dunlavy SCIV loud speakers in oak that i wrote about earlier (original article)

like most of the amazing audio designers, john dunlavy had no patience for aesthetics, and while the speakers, are world renowned for their sound, their cosmetic design cues belonged to the likes of raymore flanagans.

some cosmetic intervention was necessary before blessing them into the house of god.

this started with stripping the speakers and taping off the front panel for protection. several coats of epoxy paint was applied. enough layers to mask the wood with out hiding the oak grain.

the final result was a gorgeous lacquered white ash finish including the vertical wood grains on these over 6 feet tall speakers

next was the question of what to do with the base planks?

we thought of discarding them and using a straight edged plank of wood sans the curvature but at the end we decided to keep them and modify them.

what we did was that we sand-blasted and stained them into dark walnut to contrast the white speakers and blend into the hard-wood floors below.

next, what about the aging black grills? white of course was the way to go, but what material could we use that was acoustically transparent yet visually opaque to hid the metal structure and the drivers?

when in doubt call france. we sourced these white sturdy acoustic fabrics from texaa in france with thanks to flow labs, and had them shipped. next was the issue of stretching them and adhering them to the metal structures.

 this proved to be the hardest part, as the fabric has no elasticity. on round one the fabric was stretched and adhered to the metal bars using super 77 and tack glue on the edges. it was held into place with micro clips to dry. it worked great at first. but a month on, the stretch is losing its grip and the super 77 is proving not to be very super. another solution must be out there and well come back once we find it. until then. by dd