Sorry, I forgot to mention they are gloss piano black finish. Thx!
Am I out of my mind? #obsessed
I have a pair of B&W 805d3 stand mount speakers. I dust them weekly with a microfiber cloth. From a few feet away they still look brand new but on closer examination they aren’t perfect. Tiny micro scratches and smudges. I had the thought of trying a polishing product or car wax to make them perfect again. Good idea or am I just #obsessed?
60 responses Add your response
Looking at black cars or piano black lacquer the wrong way can cause swirls or marring. The speakers are probably a polyurethane finish and I would not try to remove the swirls with an aggressive polish as you may dull the finish. If you can't live with it, there are glazes, like Imperial Hand Glaze, which are specifically made to hide and fill the slight imperfections. Just make sure you work with a microfiber cloth, move in straight lines and be very gentle. This should help to hide the imperfections to some degree. |
Stay at least a few feet away from your speakers and/or get some therapy. You may very well end up doing more harm than good succumbing to OCD, then you’ll really be unhappy. If you don’t listen to your speakers from less than three feet away then don’t look at them that way either and you’ll be much happier. Life’s too short. |
If you're noticing micro scratches then you're going to need to learn to take care of your speakers as one would a concours winning car. The care is the same for both. Having both judged and won Porsche concours I know what it takes. First you need to stop putting scratches in the finish. Probably all you're seeing is what you yourself put there. Two ways: using a poor quality micro fiber towel, and/or pressing hard enough to cause the dust to scratch. The best duster is an old 100% cotton T-shirt that has been washed a million times. Next best is premium quality micro-fiber like from Griot's Garage. What you're seeing right now is so fine that if you try and remove it with a glaze you will find it only getting worse. Most advice you are likely to get is from guys who know even less about auto paint than audio. I've seen black paint so perfect your eyes wouldn't focus on it. There was nothing to focus on- it was more perfectly reflective than a mirror! You are not going to do this, it is only going to make people freak, but what you do is get a random orbital, fine polishing pad and something like Griot's Machine 4. This works great, its the first thing I did to my used sub, but this is where we separate the men from the boys. If you're too scared to go for perfect next best is Best of Show Wax. If your hairlines are as faint as I suspect they are this will fill and disappear them. This absolutely must be removed with the best micro-fiber cloth you can find, or the towel itself will put in even more scratches than you were trying to remove. Then if you are smart you will see just how much work is really required to maintain your impossibly high standards and stop obsessing over every little dust mote. You may also come to understand the wisdom in the saying you don't own a black car, it owns you. |
My GE Triton Reference Speakers are over 3 years old and the piano black lacquer finish is still perfect. Dusting with just a microfiber cloth will get you scratches. I talked to Sandy Gross who was the owner of GE and he told me to lightly mist the speaker with spray bottle of spring water and dry with a clean microfiber cloth going in one direction ONLY. I do not have any scratches or swirl marks anywhere on my speakers by following Sandys directions. |
Good Lord, You polish and wax speakers just like any other paint (after it’s cured) I make sure they’re are not surfaced scratched, I fix that first, then apply a HARD coat of natural wax, two coats will do. Make sure the wax is Carnauba Wax (VERY HARD) NOW buy Pledge Furniture polish. Its PURE WAX, no additives (read the label it’s PURE wax). A light spray on the clothe and on the base once a month. NOTHING will stick for one thing, and if it does, a slight brush with a feather wand will remove it.. I have 16 year old speakers that look like GLASS, Top to bottom...BLACK Laquer, and two sets of polly dips, BLACK. They are better mirrors than most of my mirrors. I know how to finish and take care of paint... I use to paint a lot... Now I don’t take the chances because of exposure, old lungs and chemicals don’t mix. BUT waxing the furniture sure keeps me in shape....:-) I'm doing a TT plinth right now in high gloss black, in about 6 weeks it will get final 1200 blocking, a quick buff out with 2000 liquid compound and wax applied.. GLASS.... Regards |
@millercarbonThanks man, appreciate your posts. BTW, I picked up some of those Nobsound springs and sandwiched them between two butcher blocks to try under my turn table. They worked! No more vibrations! Well, far less vibration anyway. I’m noticing they work better with only half of the springs they come with. I’ve ordered 2 more sets of 4 to play around with under my speaker stands and maybe my subs! So thank you again for being a proponent of those! |
Don't use wax use this 3M Glaze. It is perfect for high gloss piano finishes. You won’t be disappointed. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/3M-Hand-Glaze/?N=5002385+3293241476&preselect=3293786499&rt=rud |
Griots makes great products. I like the speed shine as well. You want to be careful not to get any chemicals on the drivers of your speaker. Im the type that will pull all my drivers out to protect them while I wax the cabinets and then punch a hole through one of the drivers with the screwdriver while reinstalling them, all for the quest of perfection, lol. My Mom said I used to open up and break all my toys before we even got home too. |
Paulgardner, The paint on those is a polyester lacquer and very hard. You can refinish it easily just like a car. I use Menzerna products (German Meguiar's) If the scratches are light (you can not feel them with a fingernail) you would start with 2500 and finish with 3500. You can do it by hand with a microfiber cloth rubbing firmly in circles overlapping as you go along then buff out with a clean microfiber cloth. STAY AWAY from the edges. The paint is thin here. Once buffed out you do not need to put anything on the surface. You will just make it cloudy. You can probably do this 3-4 times before getting into trouble as long as you stay away from the edges. You could use a random orbital polisher but given the small surfaces I would tend to recommend sticking to rubbing out by hand unless you are very experience with the polisher. You can get Menzerna products at autogeek.net. |
Never used it on speakers but I had a black BMW. In certain lighting conditions I could see very faint swirl marks. Most people probably didn't notice but I did. On the recommendation from a friend (professional auto painter) I used the 3M Imperial Hand Glaze prior to waxing. The glaze is not an abrasive. After, I could not see the swirl marks on the car. You may try the glaze on a small area of a speaker to see if it helps. I don't think you need to apply a wax after like you would on a car. A little difference in how to remove the excess glaze as compared to auto polishes and waxes....no need to wait for drying time. If there is any glaze left on the surface after using the microfiber, just apply more glaze to that area and wipe off before drying. Never tried the stuff on anything but cars but it really did a great job on them. |
@millercarbonThanks man, appreciate your posts. BTW, I picked up some of those Nobsound springs and sandwiched them between two butcher blocks to try under my turn table. They worked! No more vibrations! Well, far less vibration anyway. I’m noticing they work better with only half of the springs they come with. I’ve ordered 2 more sets of 4 to play around with under my speaker stands and maybe my subs! So thank you again for being a proponent of those! You're welcome. The springs you will probably find sound best when compressed a lot, more than half for sure. With four under my 63 lb turntable they sound best with only 3 springs per unit. The springs are small but very stiff! I've experimented with several different much larger springs, all work best when compressed at least half way. As for paint, I was for years almost totally obsessed with Porsche- driving, showing, everything. Won my class at a multi-region PCA concours. NOT an easy achievement by any means! That was a long time ago. Technology advances. For automotive paint there may now be some nano or ceramic tech that is more durable. For appearance though nothing beats the depth, luster and gleam of carnauba. With black however you really do need to be obsessed. The year I won there was another car, newer, absolutely perfect black paint. When I say absolutely, the paint was so perfect you couldn't even see it! You would see the sky, the clouds, buildings, whatever was reflected. Several times I caught myself thinking I was looking at the paint. Then a mote of dust would land, give my eyes something to focus on. Only the did I realize it was the reflection and not the paint I was looking at. Its almost impossible to describe how perfect this car was. (Obsession: they had a guy with a very old cotton T-shirt perched on lookout. So much as a dust mote lands and the guy is up and the dust mote is gone. Seriously. There's obsession. And then there's Porsche.) The next year, same owner, same car, nowhere near as good. Oh, it was much better than probably anything you ever saw in your life. But not as good as that. The year he won and was perfect I asked him what did you use? He said they brought half a dozen different waxes as depending on temp and humidity blah blah blah. Okay but which one did you use? Griot's Best of Show. Okay. And the next year? Something else. Very famous. Starts with an "M". So anyway Best of Show for the premium finish. Personally, me, I just keep the lights down nice and dark. You never ever in your life will find a flaw by the light of the lava lamp. |
| Post removed |
Agreed....for cars nothing beats a high quality carnauba wax if the surface is prepared properly. Aside from the appearance of the finished product that wax offers excellent protection from weather elements. Speakers don't need that. No need to apply a wax to them since it probably won't do anything to hide the blemishes you see. |
If you want to apply a high quality real wax try some ZYMOL carbon wax for dark colors. This wax is not sold at most auto parts places thats the cheap stuff. You will have to order it online and a small size container will set you back $50. This is a paste that you rub on and rub off right away! It will make your piano black speakers glisten like jewels. I use this on my black Porsche 951 too :-) Matt M |
I actually ran into the EXACT same thing. To answer your first question - YES, you are out of your mind, but so am I so strength in numbers my friend :) LOL! I had just brought home my brand new Dyn Evokes. second day in the house I removed the power cord from my sub to tweak it's position just a bit (yes, OCD and I accept it) and the plug hit the top of the Evoke 50 and put the tiniest little scratch (yes I am also a complete zipperhead and got what I deserved for being so anal) in the top of the piano gloss finish...Are you kidding me???? If I could have kicked my own a$$ I would have right then and there! After obsessing about it I ordered some car polish from Amazon hoping that may work (though I was also afraid it could make things worse as piano gloss black is the worst to fix, as you already know). Tried it and NOTHING changed. But at least it didn't get worse so I accepted to just cut my losses in that moment. And honestly t is just so small you have to be on top of it to see, so I have learned to live with it. Now months have past and I have put it out of my mind. It's fine. Just like when you get a brand new car and you get that first scratch, time heals (your mental state not the speaker). Point being time and acceptance will make it better, take this from a fellow OCD member:). Let it go and don't think about it. Just concentrate on that sweet sound every time you listen... |
Glazes do not remove scratches or swirl marks. They just hide them temporarily. Wax protects a car for for about 24 hours or the moment you drive out of the garage whichever comes first. Looks nice though. Ah Zymol, the pina colada experience. Black cars? You have to be kidding. Only in a museum. Porsche 911's? What fun. @millercarbon, you ever wrecked one? How many speeding tickets you get in a year? People who really appreciate what the 911 is about have wrecked at least one (I did but it wasn't my fault.....right) and they get at least one speeding ticket a year. Law abiding citizens need not apply. Real 911 guys appreciate the beauty of a Ferrari but would never own one. You can't beat the snot out of the thing without it breaking. I also hate cigars. Gag a maggot. |
As others have said, get a quality microfiber cloth from the rag company for example. The ones from South Korea are some of the best in my opinion. Also, the ones from magicfiber.com are good and I use them on my glasses without any issues of scratching. Lastly, dust the speakers before applying any polish/scratch hider or you may increase the chance of the actual dust particles adding to the scratches. |
Most likely anything you do to fix micro scratches is going to make the problem worse. The best coarse of action is limit the cleaning to twice a year and invest in protective, non abrasive covers. Then leave the speaker covered when not in use to prevent dust build up. I have a piano gloss wood finished speaker that I have owned now for over 20 years and they still look factory fresh. Although, if you look super close, a micro scratch might rear its ugly head but I don't worry about it. |
For years I have cleaned piano gloss speakers using the following method with perfect results: 1) Lightly dust the speakers with a Swiffer Duster. This will remove the loose dust particles without abrading the surface.2) Lightly mist the speaker with any high-quality auto detail spray. I had good luck with Mothers.3) Spray the Mother detail spray onto your NEW microfiber cloth, folded into quarters. Gently wipe the finish until you see the detail spray start to disappear. Flip over the cloth for a final buff and you're all set.4) As long as the speakers are not touched, usually you can get excellent results from just going back to Step 1, above, and not having to use the detail spray steps. To fix existing surface scratches on used speakers I purchased, I have used Turtle Wax Jet Black Car Polish and plenty of elbow grease with good results. |
Hello, I owned an antique Ferrari and a modern Mercedes E350 black in color. I was obsessed with the finish. Probably spent 2-3 hours per section or panel of the car. When I was done like MC said you can’t focus on it. It looked like it was a liquid finish. Its true glazes and waxes are finish coats. It is better to get the clear coat perfect and use the sealers, glazEs, and waxes to add depth, not to hide imperfections. My REL subs have wax on the finish from the factory. When using these polishes you need lubricant like water or car liquid detailer. Your speakers might have wax or cleaner on them so do clean them off so you don’t embed the dirt into the finish. When buffing the idea is to keep buffing until the product is completely broken down while you keep lubricating it. Use the highest # of grit or finish polish since you are trying to remove micro scratches or spiderwebs. To clean spray a good microfiber towel,$10-$15 with water until it covers most of it without dripping. Next grab two corners closest to you and drag the cloth across with no weight applied to the towel except surface tension and the weight of the towel itself. The liquid acts like a lubricant while the towel grabs the dust. If you apply pressure you can scratch the finish from the towel or the dust on the speaker. If you can slowly lift the towel off or higher as you slide across. This way the dirt you pick up doesn’t touch the finish. Most important. “If the towel hits the floor it’s done.” You can use it for dusting your house or cleaning your windows. |
