I've been a creative director and designer for over twenty years... so I feel semi-qualified to weigh in on the controversy over the veneer vs. black sections.
Folks, this is an easy aesthetic design problem to solve. In the simpliest terms it's all of one, or the other.
The tweeter area is the point of visual tension. The viewers eyes wants to complete the transition all the way up the front, but due to a lack of space around the tweeter the veneer can only go three quarters up the facia. My immediately reaction upon looking at the speaker was to question why the upper speaker area was not covered in veneer. The black looks like it's covering a mistake, instead of homgenous design element. I also agree the thick exposed damper area does not add visual appeal and should be covered in the production version.
These are nitpicks, however. The overall design is quite nice and as we all know it's the sound that matters most.
