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Yellowing ceiling speakers

6 years ago

I have a whole house sound system with the round JBL speakers throughout the ceilings. The trim has yellowed and looks awful. I tried cleaning them but no success. They appear to be a plastic trim and the grills are metal and have not yellowed. Any suggestions or advice would be so appreciated!!

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Amber
Original Author

6 years ago

Thanks. I did it and it worked great!

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Comments (10)

PRO
Square Peg Audio/Video
6 years ago
Mostly all in-ceiling/in-wall speaker grills can be painted. It doesn't look like you have magnetic grills, so first remove the grill (try hooking a paper-clip in one of the holes on the grill) pull down gently and evenly around the edge - you can also try a utility knife on the edge to get things started.

On the back of the grill is a cloth which is held in place by an adhesive. You will need to pull this off before painting. This can be a little tricky if the speakers have been in place for a while. It's important that you do this or the paint will soak into the cloth and gum up the works so to speak. Once it's off, I would suggest using spay paint. When completely dry, replace the cloth. If you have problems securing the cloth back in place, try using a little fabric spray adhesive (lightly spray the cloth, not the grill).

As for the speaker trim, paint in place. New speakers usually come with a paint mask to protect speaker driver/tweeter. If you don't have them, you can create a round cardboard mask and tape in place, that should work fine. A foam brush should work fine for painting the trim. Good Luck!

- Frank P.
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Coincidentally I have exact same rooms wired for sound. Family Room is also our main movie area - couldn't dedicate floorspace to a media room. Main channels and center are free standing, prewired for upper front surround (frivolous to most but I dig them - newer surround modes utilize front 'height' channels) and RBH ceiling speakers in the rear. Didn't bother with side channels. The ceilings are adequate and unobtrusive visually but I wouldn't put them in near the same league in terms of sound quality as my other speakers. Powered REL sub is off to the side. Master has in-wall front channels, no center (prewired for a free standing one) and in-ceiling surround. All RBH. Powered sub is off to the side. The system sounds surprisingly good after Audyssey calibration. Good room calibration software makes a tremendous difference and provided proper initial speaker positioning, can help correct all sorts of room-related response anomolies. Basement playroom is pretty similar to Master but I've never actually used it. In-wall speakers will always be a compromise - the wall acts as a huge baffle and causes response issues that are difficult to address through speaker driver/crossover engineering. But we live in the real world where wives matter and budgets rule so that's why I have them. Also be sure you run network to TV locations as well as receiver/processor locations. I store movies on a Network Attached Server and can essentially feed movies/shows to any location in the house. Good luck! Good sound is good for the soul. Bad sound may land you in Bose purgatory.
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As part of my kitchen remodel, I lost space for my beloved floor standing Monitor Audio speakers. I replaced them with ceiling speakers from Niles, model CM963. I paid $750 for the pair. They are 3-way speakers with a 9'' woofer. The tweeter sits on an adjustable member to allow directional adjustment up to 20 deg. Although the base response of these speakers is pretty good, I decided to finally add a subwoofer to my system. I knew I would prefer to place the SW in my bookshelf so I wanted a speaker that was no deeper than 13''. After some auditions, I bought a Monitor Audio VW8 for $365. It is a powered amplifier (so it needs to be plugged in to an outlet). Cross-over frequency can be adjusted, and it has a separate volume control. I found this small subwoofer did a very nice job of adding some needed base without drawing attention to itself. I have only had these speakers installed for a few days now, and so far I find them a pleasure to listen to. I would not go so far to say they are as good as the floor standing speakers they replaced. When I listen to music, I'm typically moving around the house, so perfect speaker placement and quality isn't as important (unlike my younger days!). When watching movies, a hefty portion of the sound comes from the center speaker, so if you have a good one the left/right ceiling speakers are not as critical. Sorry for this last bit if I offend anyone, but I really dislike the Bose brand. I think they are way over hyped. Jon
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If installing a TV, spec out your TV size, determine vert. & horiz lengths, pull a wire left & right and center (above or below TV depending on TV location, fireplace, etc.). Leave extra wire so you can decide on whether or not you want in-wall or "on-wall" speakers. For "in-ceiling" LCRs, space accordingly in reference to your TV center. Install left and right in-ceiling or in-wall surrounds in reference to your seating area. Without knowing the layout of your room, I can't specify exact distances, the above are just generalities and are based upon a installing a flat panel TV, not a projection screen. Sub-woofer placement - although low frequencies are omni-directional, they always have a "sweet spot" - to be on the safe side, for powered subs, pull two RG6 cables, far left & right corner front of room. Also, maybe pull two 14/2 wires in the event you're using an in-wall mono-sub with an external amp. This will allow you to use either location for the best placement of sub. Two subs are always better but not always needed. make sure the contractor installs AC receptacles in these areas as well. Room aesthetics are most certainly are a factor - know where the furniture is being placed. There are also wireless options if things get rough and go south after the fact - Sunfire makes a decent wireless sub kit if you have to go that route. There are lots of others options to consider for speakers such as installing "back' speakers for 7.1, Dolby Atmos front height speakers, it all depends upon your final design. And yes #16 wire will work, but have your contractor pull at least #14 speaker wire. Don't forget a few CAT6 wires (for HDMI extenders if needed, network data & control) behind the TV. A dedicated media closet would be nice for your components, but a quality low profile audio cabinet will work fine - such as Salamander Design. Pre-wire as much as you can - pre-wiring is cheaper than opening up walls later on - it's all up to you. Plan the work, work the plan. -FP
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PRO
Square Peg Audio/Video
6 years ago
Wow, you're fast - LOL
Amber
Original Author
6 years ago
Lol. I had the paint ready and used the paper clip to remove the grill. Great tip because that grill would not budge! My daughter washed the grill to get the bug gack and dust off (it was not yellowed because it was metal). I painted the yellowed trim (because it was plastic). I have 9 more to go that I’ll tackle tomorrow
PRO
Square Peg Audio/Video
6 years ago
Looks great - keep going!
PRO
Synergy Florida
6 years ago
The touch up looks great!
Jericko filova
5 years ago
Yellowed plastics can be renewed by coating them in a pastey form of hydrogen peroxide and exposing it to ultraviolet light, either an indoor source you buy (UVA bulb)and set up or simply direct sunlight. Regular hydrogen peroxide solution you get at the grocery store is really weak and very liquidy leading to lots of wasted solution.. A stronger and not too drippy alternative is hydrogen peroxide hair dye developer which can be cheaply acquired at a drug store and stays where you put it on the plastic.

You can't use this on anything where you aren't able to remove the plastic parts from other electronic or electric parts.

Notepad++ Malwarebytes FileZilla

Remember the key is ultraviolet light exposure after application of the hydrogen peroxide.

Do this with appropriate gloves, eye protection and ventilation.
Jennifer Chen
3 years ago
Hi Amber - That looks awesome! I'm facing the same problem, but I'm wondering if you remember what paint and brush you used? Also, how has the paint held up? Thanks!
Liang Tanaya
2 years ago

I Have Bosch Philips Ceiling Speakers Using Sticky Double-Tapes And Wires To Install it to stick to my ceiling!!!
PRO
Square Peg Audio/Video
2 years ago
That’s an interesting installation Liang😊

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