finishing unfinished pine cabinets

[sadams]

I have a pair of AR-2ax speakers in unfinished pine cabinets. Other than leaving the cabinets alone, options available for finishing these cabinets include

(1) finishing the pine veneer

(2) veneering with your favorite veneer

(3) painting

Has anyone finished unfinished pine cabinets? What option did you select and what was the outcome?

Thanks.

[genek]

From a collectables point of view, finishing these will reduce their value. If that's important to you, just clean them and buff with plain wax.

[Mexicomike]

Totally agree with Gen - Leave the finish alone other than cleaning/wax. If you don't like the finish, sell them and pick up a pair in the good-old oiled walnut finish. You'll make some money on the deal though you might have to wait a while for a "collector" to come along.

[Naldo]

I have a pair of AR-2ax speakers in unfinished pine cabinets. Other than leaving the cabinets alone, options available for finishing these cabinets include

(1) finishing the pine veneer

(2) veneering with your favorite veneer

(3) painting

Has anyone finished unfinished pine cabinets? What option did you select and what was the outcome?

Thanks.

Factory unfinished Pine veneer? Very interesting. Even though it's classified a secondary wood and is a softwood, I and alot of other woodworkers I've known love the look and feel of knotty pine. Very warm look.

[genek]

It's unfinished pine plywood. Originally sold as a lower-priced alternative for buyers planning on painting the boxes.

[sadams]

A short story about the unfinished AR-2ax cabinets.

Immediately after receiving my undergraduate degree from Penn State, I purchased my first hi-fi system---a Fisher 500C, two AR-3 speakers and an AR turntable. Not wanting to wait until I arrived in Cincinnati to audition the system, I assembled it in my parent’s living room. After several listening sessions, the system had confirmed my expectations and my mother was so impressed that she wanted one for herself.

It would not be until the late sixties that I would help my mother purchase a similar system. By that time, Fisher had replaced the 500C with the 500T, its first generation transistor receiver, and AR had already brought out the AR-3a and was bringing out the AR-2ax. Based upon a recommendation that I would live to regret, my mother purchased the 500T and two AR-2ax speakers. It wasn’t after too many listening sessions that my mother made the following remark---the system didn’t sound as good as the one that I had purchased and I had to agree. Although I suspect that it had more to do with the 500T than it did with the AR-2ax speakers, I’ll never know as I never did a side by side comparison.

The AR-2ax speakers were purchased in unfinished cabinets as they would installed in a bookcase and the exposed trim would be painted white.

After many years of remorse, I replaced that system with Yamaha receiver and a pair of AR-91 speakers---and I could finally look my mother in her eyes and truthfully state that her system sounded better than mine.

I currently have all the components except for the Fisher receivers. The AR-2ax speakers are my computer speakers, the AR-3 speakers are part of a system that I listen to when working on my pipe organ and the AR-91 speakers are part of our HT system.

As for my original post, our den is furnished with stained pine furniture and my wife has indicated that “something has to be done with those speakers”! I been inclined to stain the cabinets to match existing furniture and sought advice from the forum before starting down that path.