I am looking for some help finding some sturdy - paintable speaker grill material that I can use to cover my sub which will be built into the screen wall and would like to attempt to match the Klipsch inwall grilles. I am building the sub into the wall in the family room because there is an adjacent bedroom closet which lines up perfectly with the center speaker and would take up less important space in there. It is a Velodyne front firing slot loaded 15" sub with a fabric cover that would last about a week with my 3 boys playing around in the house. Any ideas would be appreciated.

http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/507/ScreenWallDwg.jpg


I am also looking for a corner A/V cabinet similar to this one but not costing so much. I need a corner cabinet that will hold a 32" CRT TV with shelves above & below the TV. The shelves above are for the expensive gear which feeds the projector to keep out of reach of children while the shelves below are for the kids to use with the CRT TV. Anyone seen such a thing? I like the fact that it can be all closed up with the bifold doors but $1800 is a bit high for my budget.
http://www.hookerfurniture.com/photos/large/HF32755461_3_06.jpg
http://www.hookerfurniture.com/photos/large/HF32755461op_3_06.jpg


Pretty amazing how much this forum has grown in such a short time. Thanks AVS.

You can put chicken wire in front of the sub, and then regular cloth (or jute, perhaps? A little sturdier)

That way, a boy foot poking into the sub will be stopped by the chicken wire, and if worse comes to worst, getting new cloth isn't the end of the world.

Just make sure the chicken wire is solidly attached to the frame around the sub, so it won't rattle. Bondo or Liquid Nail it all the way down to the edge, after you've stapled it for location.

Btw: it's a good idea to line up the front baffle of the speaker exactly with the surrounding wall. That way, the wall actually extends the baffle, for a half-space bass-boosting effect with zero comb filtering.

If chicken wire isn't your thing, you can get copper or steel mesh, say 16-gauge steel wire with 1/8" spacing. Again, you can cover it with cloth if you don't like the look (although steel mesh looks pretty spiffy :-)

Thanks for the tip - you got me thinking now. I could build a frame in the wall and then another smaller frame wrapped in steel mesh and covered in cloth that fits tightly inside the larger frame.

I looked at your theater project - wow it looks awesome! That is some fun work.

I called around to some wire mesh vendors and wound up getting in touch with a local vendor who offered me some scrap steel material with 1/8" diameter holes for $25. It's pretty hefty stuff, probably 16 gauge stock. He cut it to the exact size I needed and hooked me right up with what I needed. I will probably paint the mesh and border and use some roofing nails to mount it to the wall into the studs behind and then frame around the edges with some thin trim wood.

Thanks for the tip - I think this is going to make a huge difference in the room. I'll try to post a picture of the material tomorrow.





I also found the A/V corner cabinet I wanted and paid too much for it but at least I got what I wanted:

http://www.hookerfurniture.com/photos/large/HF32755461_3_06.jpg

Corner A/V Cabinet (http://www.hookerfurniture.com/index.cfm/go/catalog.show_product/product/327-55-461/corner-entertainment-center.cfm)

Got the subwoofer grille material from a local shop for $25. I found out that painting the Klipsch speaker grilles with a brush is just a bad idea because the holes fill up with paint even if you thin it real well. I bought a modeling paint sprayer and will see how that works with a real thin mix and a few ultra light coats.

http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/501/SubCoverStg1.JPG

I should have used a sprayer from the beginning. A model paint sprayer is way too tedious a task since it doesn't put out much paint but it is doing the trick - just time consuming. I have to thin the pain a lot - like 50/50 paint/water.

I was working on a similar but smaller cabinet project here in New Jersey and I used a local wire mesh manufacturer,

Belleville Wire Cloth

They were real helpful and gave me a really good price on a quantity of steel wire mesh. I used larger openings than you, but it worked out really well. Try them out if you need mesh.

OP, please post finishing product when you are done, I would like to see the end result, might have to do the same thing at some point....thanks in advance

I know this thread is old, ut I thought I would comment...Did this on my last house set up...For a sub, I used a ac return grill...It was 16" square...It looked like it just "belonged" in the wall and it was painted to match all the other AC grills...It did not stick out like a home made speaker grill.