[Speakerguy]

Hello everyone,

I've had a pair of Salks since 2019, and have ben using them nearly every day. Been fantastic and no regrets, other than not purchasing the matching centre at the time.

Since we have a little guy at home, and two dogs, we've always kept the grills on. We're about to change the room the speakers are in, so we took the grills off to move them and noticed the grills seemed to stain the finish. It's generally along the wood of the grills, not near the fabric.  Looks more prominent in person. See below.

Anything I can do to remove the stains? I'm guessing this is due to a lighter finish on the oak. Appreciate any ideas.

Sad to see Salk close down. Jim, you and the team produced some excellent speakers. Enjoy retirement.

[RonN5]

Did the grills "stain" the finish or did the light "bleach" the non grilled area so that a difference is more obvious?

[tcmo]

I have the same problem with a pair of cherry-stained Salk speakers.  Jim told me that the sun changed the color of the wood uncovered by the grill.  I just live with it.

[Speakerguy]

Definitely not the sun damaging them. Sides of the speakers which get a bit of sun, don't have the issue. Color is changing from the blueish color to a darking brown/black. The marks follow the bracing in the speaker grills.

[Paul K.]

I've had the very same problem with a number of my DIY speakers that I've built. It's not from having exposure to direct sunlight as mine aren't exposed to it.  Just ambient light causes either the exposed wood and/or the applied finish to change color/shade.
Paul

[Speakerguy]

Hi, I don't think it's the light changing the color of the finish. Attached another picture for clarification hopefully, don't think I'm explaining it well. Discoloration only occurs where the wood from the grill frame touches the speaker. Between those points, or areas exposed to Sun are unchanged. Hopefully that makes sense.

[JDoyle]

If that’s the case, then go to your Auto store and pick up some of this… start slowly and gently rub the effected area to remove the stain.
If it’s superficial, this will remove it.

[Paul K.]

Speakerguy, none of my grilles actually touch the baffle because I use neo magnets on the back side of the grille boards that align with and sit on tops of some of the mounting screws/bolts with a little clearance between the back of the grille and the baffle.  Yet the areas covered by the grilles end up eventually with a different shade than the rest of the baffle and cabinet. I remove the grilles only when I'm having a dedicated listening session.  We are apparently experiencing different problems.
Paul

[Rshorb]

If they are a satin finish and you start rubbing them with that compound, there is a good chance you are going to make them gloss where you rub. Jim sprays a high gloss lacquer for all coats. If you order a satin finish before the final coat sets he sprays straight thinner on them that effectively dulls the high gloss to satin. I think you are seeing the non sun damaged where the MDF protected it. Cherry darkens with sun exposure, Oak tends to bleach over time. Just my personal experience and my 2 cents.

[Peter J]

This kind of finish, (whitewash or pickled) has a characteristic I came to know well doing cabinetry touch-up. Here's the issue I saw. Any solvent based clear yellows with age. With whitish stain this manifests as a yellow cast so the look goes from frosty white to varying degree of not-so-pretty off-white. I'm guessing here but I suspect there's some mild interaction between what was used to color the grill frame and the clear topcoat. Light exposure may be contributing factor.
FWIW, I was never able to get what I'd call a back-to-original look to the finish and would tell folks that.  Only real fix was to re-coat with what's called a tone coat and darken the entire surface some degree to disguise the yellowing. It was a nemesis I never conquered.
Rubbing compound is certainly not the answer. The discoloration is throughout the depth of topcoat. Learn to live with it would be my suggestion. Without some sort of refinishing, it will not go away. Only way around it in the first place would be to use waterbased clear, and that has its own issues.

[JDoyle]

BUT you won’t know until you try and I’m the only person offering you a practical suggestion to try to remove it, rather than just live with it.

Read my post again, start slowly and gently rub. *if* it’s superficial, this will remove it.

It may not be superficial, but for $20 bucks, it’s worth a shot.
I doubt you will cause a change in glossiness… if only it were that easy.
And I personally would choose glossy over a stain any day.

[RonN5]

why don't you post some pictures of the front, sides and backs of the speakers so that the discoloration is more evident?

[Mark Korda]

Hi Speakerguy, you may have wiped down your speakers or maybe a house cleaner did so with the grills on. The inside looks darker and the grills did not touch the wood. As a painter I always have to clean the wood with TSP or Dirtex available at any hardware store,kind of a powdered Spic and Span before I paint or the nicotine will bleed thru. I have to do this because of nicotine or pot smoke.If that is a high end speaker,and it is,it would have an acoustically transparent grill cloth. Maybe the sun did bleach the area not covered by the grills but between football games today try wiping down the area the grill usually covers as an experiment. With a damp white rag and some Dirtex or TSP you will have the answer. I see this all the time as I am a house painter.Every hardware store or Home Depot carries the products.Good luck and let us know otherwise Jim is right, take care Mark Korda.

[Rshorb]

This is a picture of my cherry Song Towers that have had the grills on all there life. Room had about as much sunlight as yours. My SS8’s look the same also cherry. It’s all in the nature of the wood. Cherry will darken with age and sun exposure, Oak will bleach out with sunlight as I’ve seen in my kitchen.Just the nature of wood nothing you can do to stop it unfortunately. If you leave the grills off they will eventually match.

[jsalk]

Personally, I would avoid using rubbing compound.  When we shoot a satin finish, only the last coat of lacquer is satin.  If you rub on it, it will become glossier than the surrounding areas and you may end up with a much more serious issue on your hands.

One project we worked on a few years ago involved a matte Mercedes finish.  When we tried to remove some fingerprints from the surface, we ended up with a glossy finish where we tried to clean.  I did some research and found that Mercedes owners with this finish had terrible issues. They couldn't clean the finish without destroying the matte finish.  So they warned each other not to let anyone touch their cars.

While satin finish is nowhere near as fragile in this regard, rubbing on the finish with any pressure will make that area more glossy. 

- Jim   

[Speakerguy]

Hello,

Appreciate all the feedback. Attached some additional pictures, tough to get a good shot of it.

Didn't use any cleaners on these, just a Swiffer. Unsure if leaving the grills off will help, or applying anything to it. We're good with them the way they are, not really a big deal. Just run the risk of a crazy 3 year old banging into a driver.

[Rshorb]

Just leave the grills off when you can. No cleaner will help what the sun has done.