What are your favorite speaker finishes?

I like rosewood, although I've never owned a pair of speakers that were rosewood; and I really loved the book matched burl of the Focus Audio 888s that I used to own. If only they had sounded as good as they looked. Yew is also nice, as in some speakers I have seen from ProAc in the past.

I like the very high gloss finishes like they put on some affordable Quads in recent years and that one often sees on the real expensive stuff.

Hey Aolmrd1241, the leather on the Olympicas is real leather, not the faux stuff from the earlier lines correct? Something about Italian leather - the scent from Campomaggi leather accessories is the perfect example - it's just fantastic. I was serious - I'll buy a pair of the standmounts one day just to admire them, you're a lucky fellow to have those IIIs.

Brazilian Rosewood, which is a global banned wood for shipment to most countries, like US and UK, and has been for about fifteen years. Other countries claim to have rosewood but compared to Brazilian, they suck. All of my speakers and most of my furniture is Brazilian rosewood. Gorgeous!!!!!

Brazilian Rosewood (Palisander) is beautiful, but I ended up with black piano finish speakers (similar to Wilson Puppy) that I hated with passion. My wife even mentioned that they resemble small coffins. Now they are growing on me and I think I even like them. One advantage I can think of is ability to fix scratches. Any piano repair place should be able to take care of it.