Installing New Veneer from Amazon on My Cerwin Vega D-9s (Part 4 D9 Restoration)

When looking for a new product to wrap my D9 loudspeakers I came across this product on Amazon and figured I would give it a try. In this video I go through the steps to installing it on my Cerwin Vega speakers for a bran new look!

[@tmdillon1969]

Ok. I've watched this several times though but it really doesn't show how hard this is. I put the veneer on one of them today and before I finished it I had already decided they were going to stay ugly as hell and will be my garage/workshop speakers. I cleaned up all the connections, re-foamed the woofers, and put them back together. They sound really amazing but I'll never use vinyl again. I'd rather paint them or use wood veneer. It's like to trying to open and close a grilled cheese multiple times without tearing the bread. I really cannot recommend the sound of these VS 120s for anything under $500 but next time I won't even entertain taking the cabinets back to stock. I've done wood veneer and refinishing but neither is even in the ballpark of trying to get this stuff on correctly. I've built multiple sets of speakers but wildly underestimated the difficulty of redoing a vinyl wrapped cabinet. I also underestimated the sound. I guess I just didn't remember how cool they were.

[@ovesimonsen5578]

Seeing you apply that vinyl is just fantastic....

[@jasonm.9776]

Bro this was the best 4 part video I’ve seen about removing veneer to bracing to applying new veneer. You explained everything in detail even down to the tools. Excellent work!

[@SavingVegas]

Well thanks! I'm glad you liked it, much more to come yet.

[@twohandsandaradio]

I bet you're great at wrapping Christmas gifts. Excellent job!

[@tmdillon1969]

I was listening to you talk about the little particles breaking loose and ruining your flat finish so I got an idea when I was at Lowe's. There's always returned paint in the paint section. I just bought the highest quality quart that was sitting there and then painted the cabinets prior to the veneer. I'm still waiting on the vinyl from Amazon but so far the surface is smooth and the particles are sealed in place. Not every speaker project I'll do will have particle board but I didn't spend much on this paint so if it dries out before my next boxes then so be it. I might look for returned spray paint next time. No brush to clean.

[@ericschulze5641]

Your on your way to making replicas not hard making speakers better than factories, yea vega's were and especially today are , a great value, it would cost more for me to make something close than just buying them , however $1000. homemade will blow away $4 - $6 K speakers any day

[@randomrepair1680]

Looks amazing! Great job

[@SavingVegas]

Thank you!

[@hpjunkie69]

Awesome job at saving them. Turned out really nice

[@SavingVegas]

Thanks, I was overall happy with them. I want to try some different kinds of veneer for the next project maybe, want to try to find something a little thicker maybe more durable.

[@Casualfulltime]

Dude you are so good!!

[@MicroAngelo1]

Brilliant work on an amazing sounding speaker!!! You have a new subscriber!!

[@SavingVegas]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it.

[@stephaniepeeters6288]

flashbacks of covering my textbooks first week of school

[@SavingVegas]

Ha! Well I never used to do that. I just drew all over them in class instade of paying attention 😆. If I had I guess it would've been good practice for when I started recovering speaker boxes 😝.

[@THEKINGS001]

Great job bro 👍🏼

[@SavingVegas]

Thanks

[@Thunder-sf4qy]

👍 Looks good.

[@910rick]

That looks absolutely perfect. Very good work

[@SavingVegas]

Thanks!

[@PatFitzpatrick78]

Love my Vega’s I got a set of RE20’s and now looking for a set of RE30’s to go with them

[@richardabney4528]

Very nice work don't always comment but enjoy the video

[@SavingVegas]

Thanks!

[@tmdillon1969]

I wonder if it would be worth it to use a real wood veneer? I just bought a pair of VS 120s that need love and I was considering an oak veneer over the ragged factory vinyl.

[@kandiscoaches9047]

I wanted to use real as well. But I'm not sure if it's worth the cost. Good looking wood isn't cheap!

[@codyprall2169]

1983 ish while in the army station in Germany I bought a set of s2ee like the d9 but different? Ever herd of them

[@nic2098]

In my opinion the S2’s were a much better cabinet build and better crossovers

[@vantowers9017]

I'm doing mine in gray in the front, and walnut in the sides. Plus no red foam.

[@pabloosvaldopenizzotto1098]

Great job! Can you please tell us what is the name and description of the product you used for this project. Thank you!

[@kandiscoaches9047]

Yeah, I would like to know too...@savingvega's

[@SavingVegas]

I would have already, but I am not overly satisfied with how this product held up. It's not as durable as I'd hoped.

[@RonRivet]

Nice job! I like your shop too. What size garage? I acquired a set of mint D7's from the original owner that needed new foam surrounds so I changed the surrounds, cleaned them up and checked everything. Everyrhing worked and sounded great! Sold them on CAM.

[@SavingVegas]

Thanks! Shop is 36'x36' with 16' walls. Great place for working on whatever you want but unfortunately not the greatest for acoustics. The D-9's do a great job and are loud enough for the space that you don't notice the echo lol. I also just recently sold some D-7's, had to completely re-cone both woofers and install proper tweeters. They did sound great but had to sell to fund other projects.

[@scottlowell493]

If I was to re-veneer a speaker cabinet, it would be with real wood veneer like oak or walnut.

[@kandiscoaches9047]

The cost though!

[@Jabril80]

Awesome job! I'm trying to restore a couple of VE-12's. Now I'm looking for a crossover schema. Can you help me bro? Thanks!

[@dapbmw]

In Canada all D9's are black veneer.

[@SavingVegas]

I am in Canada and I would have to disagree.

[@ronbradshaw7404]

Great channel!. You should also Save Sound Dynamics!!!. I'm trying to find a solution to convert standard availlable grey foam replacement surrounds, to the OEM Yellow they had!...........

[@SavingVegas]

I actually have some Sound Dynamics parts. I intend on buying some whenI see some come up for sale. The Canadian Cerwin Vega lol.

[@ronbradshaw7404]

@@SavingVegas Cool!. The Yellow surrounds are the important, hard part. I alreaddy tried printer ink; Nahh :( . The spun aluminum horn tweeters are super easy to re-finish, i just remove the motor/ dome and spin them in a lathe or drill press, with sand paper, they come-up like new!...

[@SavingVegas]

That's funny because I did the same thing but I had to rig then up on my drill.

[@ronbradshaw7404]

@@SavingVegas I had found a supplier for replacement diaphragms, forgot where tho :( . They had silk black domes. They are commun tho. I will eventually try spray paint on new surrounds but, i'm scared it will make em stiffer. People use CV red foam on SD woofers but it just doesn't look right. They were "arch ennemies" back then! hahah!

[@SavingVegas]

Simply Speakers and Speaker Exchange have the black SS Audio replacment diaphragms. Not the same unfortunately.

[@spenzee1722]

Hi there, i am from aouth africa and i have 2 dc1515's and 2 vs120' really love them but they need new foam and i cannot find any here in RSA i was wondering if normal grey foam would work or will it degrade the quality of the sound, the only other place i could get the right foam was simply speakers but the shipping to my country alone is $300 thats a bit rough

[@SavingVegas]

Yikes! Yeah that's steep. Honestly even places like Simply Speakers have variances in their parts. As long as it is similar density foam color does not matter.

[@spenzee1722]

@@SavingVegas thank you i will do some research abt that and let you know

[@spenzee1722]

@@SavingVegas how can i check the density of the foam would it be specified on the website cuz i dont have a sample

[@frankmartines3595]

do you have a link for the veneer? I want to do my 380's but can't find what you were using on Amazon

[@SavingVegas]

I'm going to be doing an update video eventually on my D-9's mostly to show durability of the veneer. I probably won't use this product again because it has shrunk in some spots, mostly noticeable on the 45° cuts on the corners.

[@frankmartines3595]

@@SavingVegas Wow that sucks. I'm glad l couldn't find it. Thanks for responding. I'm probably going to ask some of the guys in the Vega groups what they recommend.

[@frankmartines3595]

@@SavingVegas did you redo the veneer on the d9s with thicker wrap. Asking because gonna wrap my 380s and I'm courious whats the best thickness

[@SavingVegas]

I have not yet. They're still up on the corner shelves in my shop. I use my tractor to get them down, it's a bit of a process lol. I have been swamped trying to get caught up with customer speakers which come first. Sorry I wish I could be of more help but I haven't even looked for a different type of veneer yet.

[@frankmartines3595]

@@SavingVegas do you have a link to what you used? Asking because of the ml thickness. Curious of the thickness that you used.

[@The-Only-Gubby]

when i do it i start at the bottom like you did but i do so the bottom has 2 layers. if the sun at eny point make it shrink a bit you dont get a fucked corner :)

[@SavingVegas]

Good tip! 👍

[@PoppinWheeliez]

Dude great work..stop over analyzing your work. Even factory speakers have imperfections if you look hard enough.