Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Ebony vinyl finish any good?

In addition to the standard oak and cherry finish, Axiom has been offering ebony vinyl as well. I've been thinking of going down this route with future purchases. Do you like ebony?

Have you requested a sample?

Good thought. Thanks, Blair. I'll wait a bit because everyone there is working double time and a half to fulfil orders for active LFRs and N2s while dealing with routine production.

I requested a sample on my M50s.

It's not as black as black oak. It looks more modern than black oak. It doesn't have any grain. It kind of looks and feels like bead-blasted aluminum.

I like it.

Some of my speakers are the vinyl ebony, I also like it over the wood grain look.

Never really liked ebony. have worked with Gabon Ebony for some projects and it really doesn't have any feel to it. Turning it is hazardous as it produces a fine powder as it's to brittle I guess. The dust floats about in the air and you really need a good filter to pull it out. The cyclone won't separate it and it just gets thrown into the exhaust filters that are a hassle to clean.

I will say that African Blackwood is much nicer but if you want something fancy, take a look at Black & White ebony from Laos. That on the side of a speaker would be a conversation starter. Much like rosewood or cocobolo.

The ebony I have is vinyl.

Then it really should be called 'ebony coloured vinyl'. I don't use vinyl much in my profession. I prefer to use real wood. But I do use some acrylics and resins when needed to enhance the wood.

It is funny but when you look at real wood veneer speakers, they are inevitably covered in a polyurethane high gloss finish. Effectively covered in plastic. It seems a bit of a waste to take some beautiful wood and then encase it in plastic. at that case you might as well get vinyl to begin with.

No, it's not "ebony coloured vinyl". Like the title of my question says, it's "ebony vinyl". The ebony is extracted from the wood and mixed with vinylencium to make the finest Valencia Ebony Vinyl money can buy. I guess you know about this process since you're in the business.



Yaaaa! That's why I didn't go with real wood veneer.

Gents - If one orders the low satin finish option on the real wood finish of Axiom speakers, a very thin coat of a durable sealant is applied. This prevents colouration, but still lets all the wood grain through.

It is completely unlike what one sees coming from China, which has more coats of goop on them than Miley Cyrus on stage.