Refinish speaker in different color

Andy, first of all a lot of people like the look of the black ash. That is why so many of the manufacturers make them, and sell so many. Choice one would be to sell them for a tidy profit and use the proceeds to get what you want. If you don't like that option, and you are handy and have woodworking and refinishing skills, my experience is that you can refinish black speakers. See my Alon's under my virtual system "time to listen." You need to totally disassemble the drivers and x-overs from the cabinet, then strip the black using a combination of a heavy duty stripper (multiple coats) and varying types of brushes and pads (plastic bristle mainly, but maybe brass bristle for tough spots). Mine were black laquer which is probably easier to remove than stain, because the stain would likely penetrate the wood deeper than laquer. You would probably want to refinish with a medium to dark stain to hide any nonuniform areas, so cherry or maple may not work on your ash. Also, you may not want to take them to a commercial stripper unless you are sure they will not dip them in a chemical vat, since that procedure could very well delaminate your veneer, as mentioned above. Finally, you may want to try a small test spot (like on the bottom) first before proceeding with the whole speaker. After stripping and staining, use several coats of a good sanding sealer to fill in grains on the ash, sand with very fine paper (some use steel wool) and my recommendation is multiple thin coats of laquer to look very nice. Good luck.