DIY Novice, need help

[01svtL]

Alright, my wife has a pair of hand-me-down Sony SS-MF400H speakers that are in great condition (no dinged corners or anything). We were going to see if we could get $50 for them and get them out of the house, but I'm kinda thinking I want to use them to learn how to do some veneering and would also like to swap the drivers out and maybe get a little better sound out of them. About the extent of my handiness has been building our tv stand in the living room since I couldn't find one that would house my giant Klipsch RC-7 center. I included a pic of it below.

I've never tried my hand at veneering. I don't know what kind to get or what's involved. I have ordered a couple of free 8x10 samples from the "Re-Cover" line from Wilsonart, but have no idea if that's even the right line. I've included pics of the speakers below. I'm assuming the cabinets are MDF, but can't tell what they are coated with. Maybe it's just paint, no idea. Can anyone tell from the pics? What would I need to do to veneer over top of this?

Now, on to the driver replacements: 1" tweeter, 3" mid, 6.5" woofer. Any suggestions for parts that would most likely be upgrades? The mid feels very very cheap. The only 3" replacements I have found are rated at VERY low wattages (15-25) and are suggested for use in things like sound bars and TV speakers. I've looked at Parts Express and GR Research. I think I could open up the tweeter hole a little if needed to fit a 1 1/8" tweeter in there. I also briefly looked at the 3-way crossovers on PE. I do have a soldering iron, but am not at all familiar with speaker internals. I could probably figure out what attaches where by copying the stock XO's though. I would imagine major upgraded components would kinda be pointless since the cabinet dimensions aren't very large: 9"D x 8.5"W x 33.5"T (looks like they have 1/2" thick panels). The ID of the front port tube is 2.5", so I could open up the hole a little and get a slightly larger one if suggested. I was thinking I could add more glue/caulk/whatever inside the cabinets for a little more reinforcement if it looks like it's needed, polyfill, etc.

Any/all pointers would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking if this turns out well, I may give them to my little brother since I damaged one of his Athena bookshelf speakers that he uses for L/R mains when I tripped and fell while helping him move. Don't ask.

 

[ARES24]

Re-veneering those would be somewhat of a PITA. Simple peel and stick veneer should work fine but all the angles just make it more challenging to get a clean look.
Changing out drivers in speakers is most often a waste of time. Speakers are designed with the specific driver(s) with specific characteristics. Different drivers will not work in the same way. There are some examples of people reworking speakers with new drivers but very rarely and almost always done by someone very knowledgeable.
New drivers likely need new crossovers.
Now you're looking for a speaker project that would use that size cabinet and similar sized drivers....

Summarized; new drivers, new crossover, new veneer to maybe save used cabinets.

I hate to dissuade someone from a project but I don't know if this one will be worth your time.

Think about a simple kit perhaps.

 

[fuzz092888]

Re-veneering those would be somewhat of a PITA. Simple peel and stick veneer should work fine but all the angles just make it more challenging to get a clean look.

Ditto to what Ares said. It's going to be more trouble than it's worth right off the bat, to get that stuff off. Plus you risk damaging those cabs, which probably aren't top notch anyways.

Changing out drivers in speakers is most often a waste of time. Speakers are designed with the specific driver(s) with specific characteristics. Different drivers will not work in the same way. There are some examples of people reworking speakers with new drivers but very rarely and almost always done by someone very knowledgeable.

Ditto again. Changing any of those drivers is going to require a complete crossover reworking. Especially because you would have to find drivers that would not only work perfectly in whatever alignment those drives are in, but in the exact airspace they're in, in the exact driver positions they're in, with the exact baffle width that's already there. I don't know if that was clear or not, but to put it more clearly; it's going to be like trying to thread coconut through a key hole.

This project is a goner before you ever get started. If you want a project go to one of the below and buy a kit. They kits are awesome, the websites are easy to work with, and you'll get a ton of bang for your buck.

http://www.parts-express.com/cat/speaker-kits/286

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/speaker-kits/

http://meniscusaudio.com/kits-c-133.html

http://www.diysoundgroup.com/