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Black Duratex for the win.
Real wood or veneer, stain, wipe on poly. If it's small enough rattle can lacquer or shellac. Paint needs more time to look good.
Duratex type shit or any thick non shiny finish
If you are not afraid to spray finish, there are some activated truck bed liners that are pretty nice. Have a kind of a soft glow to them.
If you are looking for maximum "hide" and are not afraid of elbow grease/time, then filler putty on the seams plus sanding plus three heavy coats (sanding in-between) of Duratex along said seams before top coating works pretty well. Duratex makes a great filler primer. Feather each coat a little farther from the seam. Usually takes two top coats for full coverage. Use a heavy nap roller for a highly textured finish which will guaranteed hide seams, my approach works really well - but it is all in the prep.
If you just want them to more or less disappear in to the background then a quick coat with satin black indoor latex will suffice. Cheap, quick, and stops smelling after just a few days.
Any thoughts about covering the drivers with a layer of ground-cloth/weed blocker or speaker grill cloth?
You can try draping them with grill cloth, I suppose. Building grilles introduces diffraction concerns and it takes special grill techniques to avoid that.
Yup - I really like what BIC America and others here have done with their grilles to deal with the diffraction effects.
The work they [BIC] did on the baffle covers is part of the diffraction control that they employ and they sound excellent from everywhere in the room as I walk around, even 30+ feet away - I can hear both channels equally.
It's just a lot of of extra work to emulate this.
https://www.bicamerica.com/product-page/formula-series-fh-65b
Landscape fabric is not acoustically transparent. Use grill cloth which even doubled up will still be fine.
You could build the speaker with a plinth and capital and just surround the entire thing in a giant grill cloth sock.
Definitive Technology has a couple speakers that have a "sock".
Vandersteen uses socks on many models. Also keeps tiny fingers from poking at the tweeters!
For fast, but good looking finish on MDF hammered Rust-Oleum from Menard is great. Can be rolled or sprayed. Single coat looks good, two sprayed coats looks great. No primer needed. Hammered Rust-Oleum drys much faster than solid oil paint and hides all imperfections.
Although I have yet to paint speakers with it, I have had nice (and super easy) results for a consistent matte finish on doors with house paint and and airless paint pump sprayer. Fill the imperfections with spackle, wood putty, or glazing putty first, a heavy primer, then paint, looks nice.
Seal and prime, then Chalkboard black, and VHT Night Eyes topcoat.
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