Refinish speaker in different color

I'm assuming you are talking about sanding/stripping and restaining the black ash with a cherry stain. If the black ash is a veneer (which it probably is...check with the manufacturer if you can't tell), then the answer to your question is 'not in a million years'. Don't even think about trying it unless you want all the veneer to peel off the speakers when you attempt to restain. Sorry to be the bearer of that bad news, but it just won't work and I can imagine that you'd hate to ruin a set of speakers, no matter how low the price. Paint would probably work, as long as it was not oil based. Somehow though, I can't imagine a painted finish that would look any better than the original black ash. Hope that helps and good luck.

I once asked Thiel about staining their teak finish on their CS3s a darker shade to better fit in my living room, and was told the same as Goinbroke stated. Most speakers, like the Thiel, are veneered, so you may be out of luck.

Andy, first of all a lot of people like the look of the black ash. That is why so many of the manufacturers make them, and sell so many. Choice one would be to sell them for a tidy profit and use the proceeds to get what you want. If you don't like that option, and you are handy and have woodworking and refinishing skills, my experience is that you can refinish black speakers. See my Alon's under my virtual system "time to listen." You need to totally disassemble the drivers and x-overs from the cabinet, then strip the black using a combination of a heavy duty stripper (multiple coats) and varying types of brushes and pads (plastic bristle mainly, but maybe brass bristle for tough spots). Mine were black laquer which is probably easier to remove than stain, because the stain would likely penetrate the wood deeper than laquer. You would probably want to refinish with a medium to dark stain to hide any nonuniform areas, so cherry or maple may not work on your ash. Also, you may not want to take them to a commercial stripper unless you are sure they will not dip them in a chemical vat, since that procedure could very well delaminate your veneer, as mentioned above. Finally, you may want to try a small test spot (like on the bottom) first before proceeding with the whole speaker. After stripping and staining, use several coats of a good sanding sealer to fill in grains on the ash, sand with very fine paper (some use steel wool) and my recommendation is multiple thin coats of laquer to look very nice. Good luck.