painting a subwoofer

hi all,

i may not be in the correct forum for this question,but i do know i will get the right answer here as people like yourself will have tried or at least attempted what i would like to do.

ok,first things first,i have a jbl gt4-12 1000watt(peak) subwoofer,which is not really nice to look at.exactly in the middle of the speaker jbl has painted/stickered its logo on there and what wattage the sub is.what i want to do is actually paint over this ugly part of the sub with spray paint,and paint it silver.jbl's orange logo will not blend in nicely with a blue and silver install and thats why i want to get rid of it.

the question(s) i have is,will the paint actually take to the sub? and if it does,will it actually stay there when the speaker is in motion? any help would be great.

cheers guys,

dave.

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live by the ford,die by the ford.

it sounds like you haven't painted much with spray cans. So this may seem a little "long winded" but its the best way I have found to do spray can painting/fine detailing.

the frame of the sub & the magnet structure would be fine to paint.. what I ahve done is take the soft Blue Scott Shop towels (very little lint) & CAREFULLY tuck them into the speaker frame between the frame & the cone. Be carefull around the tinsel leads & the spider/voicecoil area... Avoid using tape except against the back sides of the speaker frame itself.

Use a red(medium) or white(fine) scotch-brite scuiff pad. scuff the speaker frame, then clean with wax & grease remover ON A TOWEL do not pour the liquid on the speaekr frame itself.

On the magnet where the sticker likely is.. try to peel as much of the stocker off as you can. Use wax & grease remover to get all the sticky stuff from the sticker/label. The scuff the magnet like the frame. If the Magnet has a rubber protector around the magnet, pry it off with a small flat screw driver. scuff it all up, wax/grease remover... let is air dry...about 15 minutes...

lay the woofer cone down on the bench/table. now wipe it down one more time.

Use Krylon, SEM, or Duplicolor. They seem to have better mixes that seem to fight fish eyes better, as far as spray cans go. Start off with a VERY light dust coat... literally it should look like dust or little specs of the color you chose. Then each coat (3-4) should be slightly heavier, but never thick.. let each coat dry about 10-15 minutes. Be patient... if you go to fast you will get runs or it will lift/peel... Also, always spray in the same pattern each time... Start at the magnet & work down to the basket ending at the mounting flange.. this way the overspray/dust won't cloud the upper section fo the part you are painting.

Same priniciples apply to painting Amp chassis/heatsinks, pretty much anything...

Good luck, hope that helps

Rob

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MECP Sales/Install
IASCA/NACA/CAN Cert. Install & SQ judge

hi rob,

maybe i didnt explain myself fully with my question,sorry if i confused you.it is the front of the sub i want to paint,the actual cone,the center of it.if you go to www.jbl.com and search for my sub,gt4-12 under the products section,you will see a pic of the woofer from the front view.its this writing and the orange enblem i want to cover.if i do this,i need to know that the travel of the cone will not shake the paint loose or crack it.any idea's or will this actually work?

cheers,

dave.

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live by the ford,die by the ford.

hmmm.. I missed that part.. LOL

I would look in your local yellow pages for Electronic or Speaker repairs. There are shops that can rebuild woofers for home/pro-audio... they have just plain black dust caps. They can remove the JBL dust cap & glue a plain black cap on... the caps are like $1 a piece... all different sizes, that would be the BEST option...

from there... silly as it sounds: Sharpie or Marks-a-Lot black magic marker & do the whole cap. Or take some Rit Fabric Dye (brand name) in black... use one of those foam edging brushes for painting & staining... & carefully dab the dye onto the entire dust cap. I have had good luck restoring older dust caps this way.

good luck

Rob

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MECP Sales/Install
IASCA/NACA/CAN Cert. Install & SQ judge

hi rob,

thanks for the reply.i wouldnt bet on a place here in ireland that would be able to fix or repair speakers the way you have described.may be in dublin,but defo not where i live in galway..its still backward here in ireland im afraid!!!!

i will try masking off around the cone to paint the cap.i need to spray it unfortunately,as i have sprayed other stuff the same colour.thanks for the tip's anyways.

take it easy,

dave.

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live by the ford,die by the ford.

just do very light coats & you should be fine. If you can find it use vinyl/upholstry dye instead of paint if you ahve it there.

Rob

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MECP Sales/Install
IASCA/NACA/CAN Cert. Install & SQ judge

spray it.... it wont rattle off.

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You do realize that painting the cone of a sub (if its enough paint) will affect the performance of the sub? It changes the Moving mass.

It's up to you tho

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NuSonic Sounds
Brandon McGinnis

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