Cleaning & polishing premium-grade speakers

sirspeedy: I tried to email you to discuss avalon ascents. I own a pair. Didn't go thru. Is the listed address correct?

Jpounds,try --sirspeedy7068@earthlink.net---leave out the last "0",from my original post.Not 70680!We do have a nice chat in front of us.

As for the wood/finish issue,BOY would I love to NOT have to buff,or polish.It takes me about an hour per speaker(told you I was nuts).I just cannot get away from the thought of not having to do anything to the finish.It's worked for these years,to a fairthywell.Maybe seeing all those nice Wilson finishes,as well as some other low maintenance designs has (probably so)made me a bit paranoid,but I paid a load for these speakers,new,and want them to keep that "new" look.I guess I do this out of habit,yet I'm a bit fanatical with these speakers,as they have really proven to be "VALID CLASSICS",and have not really been improved upon much,IMO.Just the easy load,alone,puts them above the newer Avalons(just my opinion),not to mention what the sealed inclosure does for midbass articulation!

Also,I would definitely be interested if any of you guys who are experienced furniture finishers/wood restorers could E-mail me some phone numbers/addresses.If I move my premises,in a year or two as planned,I may consider putting a different veneer/finish on these,to accomodate the "little lady",should I have to give up my dedicated room.Drats!!

Best to all!!

I use wax designed for this purpose from here:
http://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/search.exe

I got this from the advice from pro's. According to them Pledge and others are a joke.

All polishes and waxes are a joke if you think they are going to feed the finish, moisturize the wood, save the finish from checking, protect the finish from water, solvents, oxidation, light, heat or chemicals. They can not and do not do any of those things.

What polishes and waxes will do is help with scratch resistance, will add a temporary shine, can leave a pleasant scent in the room, can aid in dusting and will take money out of your wallet to feed the million dollar polish/wax industry.

Armor All on furniture!?! That's a first for me and I thought I'd heard/seen it all.

Sirspeedy said

as wood ages,it tends to dry out,and can change it'e properties

Not quite. Wood (we're not talking about green wood, here) reaches an equilibrium with its environment. Furniture wood in someone's home in Seattle will have higher moisture content than the same wood in a home in Santa Fe. The wood will be equally functional and long lasting in both cases. It's when wood goes through cycles of picking up moisture and expanding and then drying out and shrinking, because it lives in a climate with widely varying weather conditions, that one gets problems. Preventing the wood from being subjected to this cycle is one of the main purposes of a good finish.

Sirspeedy, I'm sure the loving care you give your speakers is worthwhile, but I believe you are repairing the finish itself (a la your comments about finish checking), not the wood underneath. Unless the finish was poor to begin with, the wood underneath is fine, as it is protected from the elements, as it were. Finishes are subjected to the elements, however, and olde-style finishes do age, lose moisture and resiliency. Modern finishes are pretty darn inert and only need to be kept clean. I'm in agreement with S7horton and Merganser. (I do think that an application of real Carnauba wax is useful some places; no furniture oils or polishes for me, though.)