Taking care of lacquer wood finishes

Well I must have a good lacquer because I got my speakers in 11-11 and have put 4 coats of wax on them with no problems as far as looks or swirls. Yes out of the 5 pairs of signatures that came to the USA in the first shipment I got 1 pair 4 days after they arrived at the distributor.

That being said If I don't have a quality Lacquer what should I expect?

How would you know if you have a quality lacquer? I use to own second generation Dynaudio special 25's, and I had the same problem with them. They look perfect, but when you shine direct light on them, you can see the small scratches and minor imperfections. I never checked my pair of Sonus Faber Guarneri's I had a few years ago.

There is no way to know the kind of finish you have untill you have to repair them. The thickness of the finish is very very thin no matter how it is done so do not worry about it and don't bang them. As for the swirls, everyone gets them over time there is no way to avoid them. They show more on solid colors than on wood grain but they are still there. I have had both solid and woood finish and both get the dreaded swirls sooner or later. As I stated earlier never dust them off without a liquid to minimize scratches.

Taking care of a clear coat finish starts with one thing first - clean surface and clean cloths. Most dust is nothing more than tiny little bits of ground up rocks, so of course if they're rubbed into your finish, they're going to leave swirl marks. A clean microfiber will not leave swirls, but mircofibers are very good at picking up 'stuff' and holding them in the fibers. Keep your microfibers in a sealed bag, don't wash them with any other clothing, and only use them for a job once before they go back into the wash pile.

I personally like the blue Zymol for most waxing. It does have a mild cleaning agent that is swirl free, so it will remove that haze that can happen just from aersolized agents in the air settling on the paint ... and it's very easy on and off.

But what you use is really not as important as how you apply and remove it. Clean surface and clean rags!

Excellent advise by Vapor1. The cleaning cloths can cause problems if they are not absolutly clean. I have also used Zymol before but as stated in my post above I believe the Zaino show polish is a superior product based on my actual use. It's not available in stores and is only sold online.