Very nice. They are really going to look good as the cherry darkens over time. 
Jeff,
I tried to speed up the aging process with a method I learned in a woodworking class. I consists of dissolving 1oz of washing soda in 1qt of water then painting on two coats. This works really well with regular cherry but looked terrible on this veneer. The sample pieces I tried it on came out looking like mud and all the figure was gone. I knew figured cherry reacted like this to stains and dyes but wasn't sure how it would respond to the soda treatment. Now I know, the same as it does to stains and dyes.
I've since come across a blotch control product of Charles Neil's which I will try and see how it does. If it works I will keep it in mind the next time I work with figured cherry.
These are just going to have to age naturally.
Ed,
These will be up and running by Monday night. I need to do some polishing on Sunday then wire them up.
Yes I really like the Target EM6000.
I have only used solvent based lacquer a couple of times and then from rattle cans. I can't stand the stuff. It stinks to high heaven, lingers for a long time and if you are going to do much with it requires explosion proof fans (and anything else that could produce a spark). Way to poisonous for my comfort. On top of that my results weren't very good.
The EM6000 water based lacquer is a different story. If you stick your nose in the cup it stinks but at arm's length I couldn't smell it. I was able to mix it up and load my gun without needing a respirator. I used one while spraying though.
This was very easy to use and worked well with my Earlex Pro 8 gun and HVLP turbine.
I used the EM1000 Universal Sanding Sealer first. This product really makes the grain and/or figure pop. It also seals and leaves a smooth surface (once sanded) for the lacquer. However, when the directions say you need to apply 2 coats they mean it. When I applied the first coat I missed the bottoms for the MTMs so I tried just putting one heavier coat on them. It didn't end up working near as well as the two coats I put on everything else.
This was a lot easier and produced much better results than the wipe on varnishes and spray on polys I've used before. I think the combination of the EM1000 sanding sealer and EM6000 production lacquer is going to become my standard finishing method. If they make a UV blocker additive to prevent color change in woods where it is undesirable (walnut turning tan or purpleheart turning brown) it will be even better.
Jay,
I thought the black would look good also. I stained everything first but didn't get an even color so I sanded it back and sprayed General Finished black milk paint thinned 20%. This worked better with a 1.8mm tip /needle in the gun rather than the 1.3mm that came standard.
I had enough trouble with the top and edge banding that I'd seriously consider painting these parts as well and only veneer the front of the baffle and wings.
Though I am seriously wondering how well this speaker would perform made out of solid wood. That way there wouldn't be any veneering issues. The eye candy possibilities this would open up
Mike
