What is your favorite speaker wood or veneer?

Sonus Faber walnut is beautiful. When I owned COncertinos I couldn't believe that gorgeous combination of wood and leather cost only $995 and could sound so good. Sonus Faber speakers look like artisens and old world craftsmen designed and built them.

I love the yew finish of my ProAc Response 2.5s and also the rosewood veneer of the 1SCs I once owned and the ebony of the Tablette 50 Signatures I still have. ProAc has simple cabinet designs, but beautiful veneers.

Another speaker cabinet I was very impressed with was the Vienna Acosutics beech veneer. Simple and elegant.

My other favorite woods for furniture and cabinetry are Hawaiian Koa and Padauk. I'm not so sure how I'd like them as speaker veneers though.

I always try to imagine how certain speakers and furniture would look inside of Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water.

bubinga or walnut both look great with no stain.

I like the deep red stained Maple of Sonus Faber Anniversarios and Stradivarius. Other interesting finishes can be found by going to the Avalonacoustics.com site and finding their page of different speaker finishes.

For darker stained wood, I personally like Tiger Maple. For lighter stains, I like Tiger or Birdseye Maple.

If you love maple - take a look at Sonus Faber.
I have had the Amati's in violin red & now have the Stradavari's in graphite.
Even through the 7 coats of lacquer you can see all the beauty & grain of the wood.
I have never seen a finer finish on any speaker.

You should go into Salk Sound and look at the work he does on hand crafted speakers .He builds them them all by hand and his cabinet quality is unbeleivable.He has many pictures of his speakers with all different veneers.He even has a step by step view of his speakers being built...
My choice is walnut!

Hi David, I love burl walnut. Speaking of looks, why not do something about those Teal echo busters? Recover them with a warmer silk pattern or maybe have a local artist paint a van gogh or maybe a monet? You have an excellent rig and room, I think that would look nicer against the brick wall. JMO, Regards John

Well tastes and styles change a bit over time with the up to date style for room furniture I think. I also noted that speaker manufacturers sometimes roll out a new veneer style with a new line to put emphasis on the new speakers with a fresh appearance as well.

My preferred one is maple (see the Tidal speakers in my system :-)). But I also like the mappa burl, sycamore, macassar ebony (the one with red-brown streaks in the black ebony). Even spalted maple sometimes looks great, albeit a bit over dramatic on big surfaces.

I love that B&W Tiger Eye on the 800s. Wow. I used to love Rosewood but it is too soft. How about someone using a burled Pecan. I have some furniture made of Pecan that I love. Never seen it in a speakers

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, for what its worth, my opinion is that burled maple is an exceptionally attractive wood veneer. Bird's eye maple is also very attractive. Regular plain old maple in itself is somewhat plain and boring. However, it contrasts very attractively with black drivers on the speaker. Also, it looks very good if your decor is modern and/or minimalist, particularly the downtown, yuppie, loft condo type of decor.

For me, the choice of speaker veneer isn't driven by a personal, absolute favourite. It is driven more by what goes best with the rest of my furnishings. At least it will in the future. I bought speakers with a cherry veneer, because I thought it was the nicest looking choice available for the brand of sepaker which I bought. I had a rosewood rack, because I thought that was the nicest looking choice for the brand of rack which I bought. When I put the cherry speaker beside the rosewood rack, it's an awful contrast. So something has to go in the interests of decor and esthetic. Thus, I'm shopping for a new rack. The lesson I learned was that the speaker veneer should complement the rest of the decor, even if the veneer isn't your absolute favourite when viewed in isolation.

This presumes, of course, that you care about such things as overall decor when choosing a speaker veneer. Many audiophiles may not give a rat's tail what colour the speaker is, so long as it fits their system and sonic taste.

Consider this Machiavellian thought however. If a speaker comes in alternative veneers, and if you have a significant other who is more interested in decor and appearance, then why not indulge your significant other's veneer preference? After all, it doesn't affect the sound of the unit so it's no difference to you. And if you let her choose what appeals to her, involving her in the process, then it may pay dividends. For example, there may be less resistance by her in allowing you to buy that new speaker since it fits "her" decor.

I'd better not let my wife see this post.