converting oiled walnut to "rosenut" color

yeah..lot to be said for new veneer..short, sweet, & just "pay da man". More than once I've tried 'creative' solutions and found that just pay da man is the better choice. I'll have to beat the local bushes to see if there's anyone around that can do the job. I've done some veneering, but I'm not sure I'd want to take this job on.

Any thoughts on whether new veneer would have any impact on the sound?

What is the impetus for wanting to refinish the speakers? You state they are in fine condition.

I believe you may be unhappy with the end result. Rosenut over walnut? Does not sound right and doesn't conjure good visuals for me.
Why not just find something similar to the snells acoustic signature in rosenut and be done with it?

Merry Christmas

If you use stripper , use it with coarse steel wool no sanding. as a natural looking top coat, use tung oil or shellac. use the shellac like a french polish. cut 50/50 with Denatured alchohol and wipe on with a cheese cloth pad with the grain, several coats. it dries in minutes then fine steel wool and rub with wax. thats how fine antiques are done.

I think Corazon makes the most sense. Leave them alone. In my opinion if you add veneer over the existing veneer. You run the risk of 1st)ruining the sound quality as the dynamics of the cabinet will change, 2nd)a good chance the top veneer may loosen the original of the glues interact somehow. 3rd) getting a telegraph of the orginial veneer graining through the new layer. 4th) ruining the resale value as you leave the "original" condition behind.
Just my opinion.

Corazon/Theo,

Points well taken.

Why change the color?..the room where I listen has a mix of chocolate-brown oriental furniture and a couple pieces of furniture that are dark wine-red in color. The Snells are the odd-man-out with an oiled-walnut color. This is driven purely by aesthetics. If the Snells were rosenut..it would look very nice.

No doubt I might be unhappy with failed results, that's why I'm looking into options. "Rosenut" is just walnut stained with a red mahogany or cherry stain(or more likely dye..fine furniture is often dyed due to greater transparency). So this isn't odd..just converting from one color to another is odd.

One veneer over another and sound quality..yeah..that's a big unknown & if I mess it up, going back won't be so easy. Top veneer glue raising the bottom veneer/glue..surely possible, but in my woodworking experience, unlikely. Any veneer adhesive these days is high solids(low solvent) and the first adhesive is cured to a brick by now. Telegraphing..possible if the base veneer were flat-sawn oak or ash(ugly wood..to me), but what's there is a very fine walnut surface. Add adhesive and more veneer and it would be fine. Resale..I know & I don't care. We're not talk significant money here. If they were worth 5-10K on the resale market, then I'd care. The sound appraoches 5-10K..which is why I'm keeping them. All the possible reveneer issues is why I leaned toward restain(dye)initially, that and cost. I'll admit, given everyone's thoughts, I'm reconsidering the entire project.

I would be interested in your(anyone's) thoughts on other speakers that have the Snell's sound signature. I'm aware of Vandys, but not of others, first hand at least.