Polk Monitor 11 refinish

[jeffs 3,565]

I finally got around to re-veneering my Polk Monitor 11 speakers.  Did it fast, still came out good.

Speakers =$100, veneer job = about $120 for all materials.  Real cherry veneer, will darken with age.

While I had them out, I glued the midrange magnets.

 

I chose not to re-attach the bases. Did not refinish them.  Will eventually replace the bases with stands of solid cherry .... fall/winter project.

     

 

Edited Friday at 12:02 AM by jeffs

[AndrewJohn 11,157]

Jeff, that is simply beautiful.  I love the look of cherry.

 

I have to ask, what is that sub in the corner..., is that a super junior or other sunfire sub?  Did you cover it in cherry veneer?  If it is, and you did, How did you roll the radius edges?

[jeffs 3,565]

43 minutes ago, AndrewJohn said:

I have to ask, what is that sub in the corner..., is that a super junior or other sunfire sub?  Did you cover it in cherry veneer?  If it is, and you did, How did you roll the radius edges?

The 2 subs are home made.  Passive.  Sunfire HRS10 drivers.  The boxes are Parts Express kits, 1 cuft.  Build is not quite a cube. The front is trimmed to achieve the same volume as a Sunfire HRS10 powered sub.  I did not use the face piece from the kit as I disliked the radius.  I made my own faces and threw away the radiused piece.

The pair is driven by the PM350 at the bottom of the rack. I won't use them with the Polks, but the Maggie LRS need them badly.  Want to love the LRS, tried hard. The Polks work great in the basement, but will probably live as shown.  LRS prolly on the chopping block.

These were my veneer guinea pigs several years ago.  My first veneer effort.  I've done 4 pairs of speakers in total and the subs came out the best.  Veneer on all 6 sides. I'm critical and it's difficult for me to find imperfections in these compared to the others.

[Receiver2000 4,943]

That's gorgeous.

[Half Life 1,462]

Those are beautiful, Jeff!  Love seeing projects like this.  Thanks for sharing it!

[Dennis47 1,027]

Nice work Jeff!   

Did you rebuild the x-overs on the Polk 11s?

[Jeff Stone 373]

Beautiful work! Gives me some other ideas for the Carverfst Subwoofer build project!

[stereo_dog 1,736]

The Polks look great! The sub looks great, too. Maybe this will inspire me to re-veneer my subs..... 

[madmike46 463]

I have a pair of Polk Audio 5b's that fake wood vinyl is looking a little tatter.  I might just have to redo them, I have had them since new.  Great job on the veneer looks better than original.  Were these originally veneer or were they the vinyl fake wood?

[AndrewJohn 11,157]

14 hours ago, jeffs said:

I won't use them with the Polks, but the Maggie LRS need them badly.  Want to love the LRS, tried hard

 

I've been listening to my Polk SDA 1C speakers all morning, driven by an m1.0t..., what a perfect combination - I am discovering things I missed on DSTOM tracks 2, 3, 4 and 5.  They (Polks, perhaps in general?) just don't need any more bass..., 

 

But I totally hear your thoughts on the Maggies.  I have a pair of IIIa's, and they are stunning, when supported by a subwoofer, or two.  I'm at a crossroads with them, they need to have some buzzing fixed - redone/refurb at Magnapan is almost $3000 - which would include a new tweeter ribbon assembly..., but perhaps I should just sell them as is, before the buzz is more noticeable.  ;-/  I want to love Maggies, but it's hard, sometimes. 

[jeffs 3,565]

3 hours ago, madmike46 said:

Were these originally veneer or were they the vinyl fake wood?

The worst looking fake wood vinyl that I've ever seen.

 

1 hour ago, AndrewJohn said:

I've been listening to my Polk SDA 1C speakers all morning, driven by an m1.0t..., what a perfect combination

I gave my brother a set of Polk SDA 2A speakers. I built him a m1.0t mkII.  He has a LARGE space.  It's a fantastic combo.  Six years later, he still raves about it.

[Half Life 1,462]

18 hours ago, AndrewJohn said:

I'm at a crossroads with them, they need to have some buzzing fixed - redone/refurb at Magnapan is almost $3000 - which would include a new tweeter ribbon assembly..., but perhaps I should just sell them as is, before the buzz is more noticeable

 

@AndrewJohn, you could do these yourself.  While not difficult, it is a time consuming task.  Going to be very similar job as I did on my MG 1's.  Process would be the same.  The buzzing is likely either coil loops lifted, hole/s in the mylar film or a combo of both.  To fix any holes in the mylar; you need some mylar tape (Scotch brand), 3M 77 spray adhesive (to hold down the tape and wires) and some Milloxane or 3M Fastbond (to seal the repairs).  Definitely doable.

 

[Jeff Stone 373]

@jeffscan you please tell me which site you order your veneer from please?

[jeffs 3,565]

Amazon.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009KN8INE?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_0_0 

 

I've used Mahogany as well. .... I think the vendor was "Edge Supply"

 

$42 for the cherry, 2ftx8ft was perfect for this project, only a few square inches of waste.

 

I use the old-school paper backed stuff with contact cement.  There is a peel-and-stick option as well.

 

Contact cement has tripled in price in 6 years .....used to be $8/quart now its 24.  Similar issue with the finish I use .... A quart of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal Satin is $45, half that not long ago.  Unfortunately I was out of both ..... should have bought a pint of each.

[Jeff Stone 373]

Thank you sir, appreciate your help. 

I really am looking for some burlwood veneer. I love the look of it!

[AndrewJohn 11,157]

3 minutes ago, jeffs said:

I use the old-school paper backed stuff with contact cement.

 

Have you ever used the heat/iron method with straight titebond wood glue?

 

I re-veneered a pair of EPI 400 speakers using this method, and 4-quarter book-matched walnut on the top surface.  It worked quite well.

 

 

[AndrewJohn 11,157]

2 hours ago, Jeff Stone said:

@jeffscan you please tell me which site you order your veneer from please?

 

Depending on the size of your project, you might find overruns for veneer on eBay.  I have found some pretty cool examples of zebra-wood, and book-matched walnut there..., Turns out there is a lot of scrap from the luxury airplane manufacturing industry... (I spoke to one seller way back when) and they sell the fairly big scraps on eBay, leftover from a build-out of a plane for a luxury buyer's customization.  I have another project to cover a Kenwood turntable with zebra-wood (replacing the ugly vinyl veneer it came with).  Spent just a few bucks for several pieces 8" wide by 36" long which will do the job for me. 😉   Amazon is a good place too, for sure.

[Kurt 3,347]

On 6/18/2026 at 9:57 PM, jeffs said:

The boxes are Parts Express kits, 1 cuft

I have one of those 1 cf Parts Express sub boxes.  I haven't finished mine yet.  I'm assuming your cherry finish is a veneer, no?  You did a terrific job with it.   Did you consider putting some kind of handle on the cubes at all. I'm considering doing that to mine.  It's just bulky and heavy enough with the MDF structure and the driver installed to be a bit cumbersome to move around.

[Kurt 3,347]

42 minutes ago, AndrewJohn said:

Have you ever used the heat/iron method with straight titebond wood glue?

 

I used this method to put veneer on my Bose 301 refurbish.  Works like a charm.  In fact, I don't buy the pre-glued veneer any more.  I prefer this method.