SL2

looking at one of the photos i took today, i notice that the wood is looking somewhat "washed". does anyone know how to bring the natural 'wood' cherry finish back?

not important for sound of course... (or?...)

you can see bits of the now replaced grill - hopefully i have seen the end of that now...

enjoy...

ken

Try HG meubeline furniture restorer, available on amazon. Certainly gets rid of watermarks.

Gazza posted:

Try HG meubeline furniture restorer, available on amazon. Certainly gets rid of watermarks.

 

 

thanks Gazza...

enjoy

ken

Ken, if you buy some of that HG product that Gazza has recommended do post some pictures if it makes a difference to the appearance of your SL2 cabinets. I'd be very interested to see if it works.

Best

David

Restor-A-Finish from Just Pudding Basins is very good, I used it recently on our oak sideboard which had faded in the conservatory and it transformed it.  The seller is very helpful, it's worth a phone call and sending them some pictures.

Richard

trickydickie posted:

Restor-A-Finish from Just Pudding Basins is very good, I used it recently on our oak sideboard which had faded in the conservatory and it transformed it.  The seller is very helpful, it's worth a phone call and sending them some pictures.

Richard

Thanks Richard. One has to careful in 'treating' wood -- use of inappropriate substance may in fact make things worse. so it will be good to at least talk to guys @Restor-A-Finish...

enjoy...

ken

trickydickie posted:

Restor-A-Finish from Just Pudding Basins is very good, I used it recently on our oak sideboard which had faded in the conservatory and it transformed it.  The seller is very helpful, it's worth a phone call and sending them some pictures.

Richard

I guess you would need to know what the existing finish is, which Naim could presumably advise on. Modern synthetic finishes such as Polyurethane varnish are usually difficult to restore without a full strip down and refinishing.

S3 posted:

Ken, if you buy some of that HG product that Gazza has recommended do post some pictures if it makes a difference to the appearance of your SL2 cabinets. I'd be very interested to see if it works.

Best

David

Yes, i will. But i need to tread carefully here -- just in case i ruin my speakers. i will ask Naim Audio what they recommend. Richard Dane, i you already know, please advise. My SL2s are cherry.

enjoy

ken

Ken, best to ask Naim.  

As my grilles weren't crumbly, but just a bit sad and grey looking, I decided to give them a bath yesterday - something I've never plucked up sufficient courage to do previously. They were really hard to get dry, as some parts are rather thick, but they are now really black and look good as new. Hopefully that means I won't need new ones for a while. 

ken c posted:

S3 posted:

Ken, if you buy some of that HG product that Gazza has recommended do post some pictures if it makes a difference to the appearance of your SL2 cabinets. I'd be very interested to see if it works.

Best

David

Yes, i will. But i need to tread carefully here -- just in case i ruin my speakers. i will ask Naim Audio what they recommend. Richard Dane, i you already know, please advise. My SL2s are cherry.

enjoy

ken

Ken,

Hopefully you can let us know what they say.

regards,

Willy.

Willy posted:

ken c posted:

S3 posted:

Ken, if you buy some of that HG product that Gazza has recommended do post some pictures if it makes a difference to the appearance of your SL2 cabinets. I'd be very interested to see if it works.

Best

David

Yes, i will. But i need to tread carefully here -- just in case i ruin my speakers. i will ask Naim Audio what they recommend. Richard Dane, i you already know, please advise. My SL2s are cherry.

enjoy

ken

Ken,

Hopefully you can let us know what they say.

regards,

Willy.

yes, will do S3...

enjoy...

ken

Hungryhalibut posted:

As my grilles weren't crumbly, but just a bit sad and grey looking, I decided to give them a bath yesterday - something I've never plucked up sufficient courage to do previously. They were really hard to get dry, as some parts are rather thick, but they are now really black and look good as new. Hopefully that means I won't need new ones for a while. 

i like the apt description "crumbly"!

are they 'inky-black'  after the wash?

anyhow -- well done!

enjoy...

ken

I've used Restor-A-Finish to great effect on water marked & general wear & tear furniture.   It looks to be much the same as HG Meubeline,  but Restor-A-Finish is all have experience of.    It's remarkably easy to use,  available in nine colour (wood) & tone blends, (I advise to go one stop lighter if in doubt).   If you web search there are video's to give you an idea of how it works.

ken c posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

As my grilles weren't crumbly, but just a bit sad and grey looking, I decided to give them a bath yesterday - something I've never plucked up sufficient courage to do previously. They were really hard to get dry, as some parts are rather thick, but they are now really black and look good as new. Hopefully that means I won't need new ones for a while. 

i like the apt description "crumbly"!

are they 'inky-black'  after the wash?

anyhow -- well done!

enjoy...

ken

 

 

I think they probably are inky black. They certainly look miles better than before. It took ages to get them dry though, and I had to resort to using a fan in the end. Well worth it though. 

Mike-B posted:

I've used Restor-A-Finish to great effect on water marked & general wear & tear furniture.   It looks to be much the same as HG Meubeline,  but Restor-A-Finish is all have experience of.    It's remarkably easy to use,  available in nine colour (wood) & tone blends, (I advise to go one stop lighter if in doubt).   If you web search there are video's to give you an idea of how it works.

Thanks Mike-B, i have mailed Naim Audio for advice on this, to be on the safe side. I will wait to hear what they advise.

enjoy

ken

I promised to report here the response from Naim Audio regarding SL2 wood restoration. Here is my message:

Hi,

We have been discussing on the Naim forum "SL2" thread how to restore the wood on this speaker.

The cherry wood on mine is looking quite 'tired' (as you can see from attached photo) -- Richard Dane advised that I seek advice from Naim Audio how to restore this.

In fact, it turns out there is general interest in this anyhow, so I will post your response on the forum, or you can simply reply to the thread directly anyhow if convenient.

 And here is the response from Steven Hopkins:

Hi Ken

All our loudspeakers are real wood veneer on Plywood in the case of Ovator or High Density Fibre board for other loudspeakers, they have a light polyurethane varnish and are the natural colour of the veneer. All furniture or wood cabinet suppliers will tell you it's impossible to move a heavy wood cabinet without a blemish and to this end they all employ French Polishers or joiners. When we were producing loudspeakers, our production staff could attend to such accidental blemishes but if they deemed the cabinets to have a major defect then we returned them to the cabinet manufacturer. Your loudspeakers are in need of a large amount of work and I would recommend you look for a good local Polisher to uplift your units and re finish them

 Regards

 Steven Hopkins

Many thanks to Steven. Now i need to think of a way forward --

enjoy

ken

ken c posted:

Many thanks to Steven. Now i need to think of a way forward --

 

I refer my honourable friend to my previous answer;  if the wood is just aged, tired, discoloured, faded & lost its luster,  the HG Meubeline or Restor-A-Finish treatment is all thats needed,  and truth be told its probably what a 'furniture restorer' will use anyhow.  French polishing is for solid wood,  not veneered speakers

Mike-B posted:

ken c posted:

Many thanks to Steven. Now i need to think of a way forward --

 

I refer my honourable friend to my previous answer;  if the wood is just aged, tired, discoloured, faded & lost its luster,  the HG Meubeline or Restor-A-Finish treatment is all thats needed,  and truth be told its probably what a 'furniture restorer' will use anyhow.  French polishing is for solid wood,  not veneered speakers

My honourable friend's latest and previous suggestions are noted, with thanks... 

enjoy...

ken

Can you try some restor-a-finish or similar on the back of the speaker maybe, best not to get stuck in on a part that is highly visible!

Bet they'd look spiffing in piano black Ken! 

trickydickie posted:

Can you try some restor-a-finish or similar on the back of the speaker maybe, best not to get stuck in on a part that is highly visible!

Good suggestion ... thanks...

They are sounding fantastic right now -- so am a bit reluctant to start  this exercise -- but we'll see...

enjoy...

ken

tonym posted:

Bet they'd look spiffing in piano black Ken! 

Naughty boy !! 

enjoy

ken

Well, I've joined the club! I didn't get the speakers that S3 alerted me to. I hesitated because I would have needed to drive a long way to see what the mark amounted to and this coincided with my aunt having some medical problems that she needed help with so I was driving south rather than north. However, I think as a result of this thread, I was contacted by someone who wanted to sell their cherry SL2s (2007) and I picked them up on Sunday. I have got them working but I think only at about 85% correctly installed. I need to cut a slit in the carpet to get the spikes onto the solid floor and I want to check the positioning first before I do that - of course that's a bit chicken and egg, but my starting point is the same position as the SBLs. I also wanted to make sure the cross-overs were working as the previous owner was using them active. I'm assuming there might be some warm up time for the crossovers. Anyhow they sound excellent already and will no doubt improve when finally sited. Richard's advice and all the comments here are very helpful.

The cabinets are very good but could do with some minor attention in a few places. For example there's some slight fading on the tops. However, I take it from the reply that Ken got, that given the varnish finish, polishing is pointless. Did anyone try any of the suggested treatments?

Photos to come when set-up completed.

Clive

Welcome to the gang.