No more Tuff Cab!?
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URL: https://forum.speakerplans.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=109210
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Topic: No more Tuff Cab!?
Posted By: Meat Substitute
Subject: No more Tuff Cab!?
Date Posted: 02 September 2025 at 6:20am
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Was going to order some Tuff Cab paint for a refurb the other day but it said discontinued. Anyone know what's happening? Is this a short pause or am I about to start extolling the virtues of Warnex while complaining my paint bill has gone through the roof? I was really happy with the last time I used Tuff Cab. Pretty unbeatable at the price.
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Replies:
Posted By: GEB
Date Posted: 02 September 2025 at 6:39am
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Tbh I ordered some Tuffcab a couple of months ago. It was utter sh!te compared to the previous time I used it. Had lumps in it which made application difficult as kept having to pick the lumps off the paintwork. This time (couple of weeks ago) I used Aldcrofts (who make it for BlueAran). The difference in quality was night and day. I paid £70 for 5kg via eBay. I would go Aldcrofts every time now as it's not a cheap paint to take chances on quality and consistency. Just my personal opinion and findings.
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Posted By: Meat Substitute
Date Posted: 02 September 2025 at 9:28am
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Ok, so we're just back to the olden days and buying direct. That's easy then! Thanks for the steer, you've probably saved me a lot of money in paint there.
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Posted By: jbl_man
Date Posted: 28 September 2025 at 11:19am
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Here's the direct link to their site. https://www.aldcrofts.com/speaker-paint" rel="nofollow - https://www.aldcrofts.com/speaker-paint ------------- Be seeing you. |
Posted By: colint
Date Posted: 28 September 2025 at 9:11pm
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Failing that your back to Warnex which is what I used to deliver to both Martin audio and turdosound ------------- Never criticise another man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. Once you have, call him what you like, you're a mile away and you've got his shoes! |
Posted By: GEB
Date Posted: 29 September 2025 at 12:33pm
| Is Andy Kos still a member? Maybe he could chip in and shed some light as to why BlueAran are struggling with stock? |
Posted By: KDW32
Date Posted: 29 September 2025 at 2:29pm
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I ended up buying a expensive tin of warnex structure paint the other week because of this. Tuff Cab was ok if you read the instructions. Good to know you can still get it. I have had good results with HMG c71 Speedline paint which you can get colour matched and is a general purpose machinery and agriculture paint. Use a marine primer if on bare wood. baked on warnex doe seen to be the best though. Which will be why most of the brig companies use it. |
Posted By: smithers
Date Posted: 29 September 2025 at 11:41pm
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I emailed Blue Aran last week for an update on tuff cab and they don’t expect anything soon, they have been out of stock for months. Ive just spent the weekend painting a system using Granotone speaker paint, it seems ok tbh, straight to bare wood with a thin’ish coat, then textured roller top coats. I was quite surprised how good the finish is actually. So far it appears to quite hard wearing, Ive got a gig this weekend so I’ll report back when the boxes have been moved around in a real word scenario
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Posted By: stevie
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 11:12am
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Blue Aran are out of stock of most colours and have been for a while. There's no indication of when it'll be back in stock. Aldcroft ignore emails and their phone is currently unavailable. Does anyone know what's actually going on here? I've also had problems with lumps in Tuff Cab - specifically in the white. Has anyone tried the alternative from Penn? They say it's made in the UK - so it could be from Aldcroft.
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Posted By: cravings
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 1:20pm
| I remember ordering from aldcroft before blue aran was stocking them, and I don't remember specifics, but I seem to remember it was difficult, or slow, or something, and that it was definitely good that blue aran were handling the paint orders. |
Posted By: stevie
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 2:33pm
| Agreed - Blue Aran are great to deal with and I'd definitely prefer to give them my business. But I'm about to run out and need to get the paint from somewhere. |
Posted By: FOO
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 2:59pm
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Why all the fuzz? Just use Warnex. It's just as good and easy to use. Or else go with Warnex Pro. Just not as easy to work with.
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Posted By: cravings
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 4:56pm
| Without actually looking, I feel like warnex is a lot more expensive and in my experience not much if at all better. |
Posted By: stevie
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 5:04pm
| It's twice the price in the UK. Denmark might be different. |
Posted By: colint
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 5:40pm
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Its not cheep but is used by a fair few of the larger speaker manufacturers ------------- Never criticise another man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. Once you have, call him what you like, you're a mile away and you've got his shoes! |
Posted By: GEB
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 6:37pm
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I just ordered mine directly from Aldcrofts. No issues whatsoever. Was delivered quick and it definitely wasn't lumpy. https://www.aldcrofts.com/product-page/c64-31-matt-black-speaker-paint" rel="nofollow - https://www.aldcrofts.com/product-page/c64-31-matt-black-speaker-paint |
Posted By: FOO
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 8:26pm
Same here in Denmark. But it works great. Worth every cent.
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stevie wrote:Posted By: stevie
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 8:49pm
| Reports (on this forum) are that there's not much difference between Tuff Cab and Warnex. What exactly makes it worth twice the price for you? |
Posted By: FOO
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 10:52pm
| Finish, durability, ease of use, availability and no need to search for it. Plenty of places to buy it. |
Posted By: Meat Substitute
Date Posted: 23 October 2025 at 11:28pm
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I've used both. Warnex needed less coats for a good finish. I just placed an order with Aldcrofts. Need to get some cabs painted before the temperature drops any further.
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Posted By: Meat Substitute
Date Posted: 27 October 2025 at 8:45pm
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Well, this is somewhat less simple than I'd initially thought. I ordered the paint a week ago. Immediate response saying my order has been registered, they'd email when shipping. Since then nothing. Tried calling on both supplied numbers which weren't working/connecting and the supplied email address has returned my mail. I'm going to call my card company for a chargeback and order some expensive German paint. Pretty disappointed. Dunno how any of you have got on with them but the lack of contacts is just a massive red flag and I don't feel like I've got a choice. I would have much preferred buying paint which I've had good results with before from less than 25 miles away but...  Any one got any feedback on the curing of Warnex at low temperatures? Does it cure properly?
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Posted By: stevie
Date Posted: 27 October 2025 at 9:38pm
| I'm reluctant to spend money with a company that ignores emails and whose phone is continually out of order. Penn and Lean Business are now selling Tuff Cab-style paint. Their prices are higher than Blue Aran's but still much lower than Warnex. No feedback on either of those two options though. |
Posted By: FOO
Date Posted: 28 October 2025 at 9:27am
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And that's why I use Warnex. No BS with dealers or anything. Just a quick order and a couple of days later you good to go. Regarding curing.. have never used it below 18 degrees Celsius. But it cures up fine. https://www.lautsprechershop.de/pdf/adam_hall/adam_hall_lautsprecher_material_strukturlack_0131_technische%20daten.pdf" rel="nofollow - https://www.lautsprechershop.de/pdf/adam_hall/adam_hall_lautsprecher_material_strukturlack_0131_technische%20daten.pdf
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Posted By: stevie
Date Posted: 28 October 2025 at 4:20pm
| I've just ordered a couple of litres of the Penn textured paint to try it. I'll report back. |
Posted By: stevie
Date Posted: 02 November 2025 at 7:36pm
| Penn's Armacab seems quite good. It goes on easier and is thicker than Tuffcab. It's difficult to say much more without spending some more time with it. The big downside for me is that it's not semi-matt, as claimed. It's glossy. I've dialled down the glossyness a bit by adding ten percent matte acrylic medium but it's still shinier than the matt Tuffcab. |
Posted By: Jimmer303
Date Posted: 13 November 2025 at 9:48am
| Penn Elcom has Armacab, I have used both that and TC. They both have their slight quirks. I can get good results with AC, however I have noticed that in the cold it dries a bit streaky and have been using a heated drying tent for better results. |
Posted By: Meat Substitute
Date Posted: 13 November 2025 at 1:25pm
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I got my Warnex and did a couple of bins. Curing was outside under my car port night time temperatures we 10C minimum and it cured ok. Aldcrofts got back to me eventually by text. I advised them it was too late now and I needed refunding. Shame their customer service is so bad when their product is decent (when you can get it!).
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Posted By: smash-monkY
Date Posted: 25 January 2026 at 7:46pm
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Can anyone advise on which brand to buy to match a tuff cab finish? - or is it all similar? I did a couple of bins with black tuff cab a while ago and they still look immaculate, I need to sand down and repaint the two tops to match, in order to sell - hence looking for a match.
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Posted By: KDW32
Date Posted: 25 January 2026 at 7:58pm
| Go to your big paint dealer and ask about agrtutral paint or img speedline etc ask them what the local fair ground business use for paint? |
Posted By: jacethebase
Date Posted: 25 January 2026 at 9:57pm
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Try Raptor. Have sprayed a few things with it and has been good. Its a good substitute to Line-X if you dont want to spend big bucks. ------------- www.wedding-production.co.uk www.stage2sound.com |
Posted By: woody2
Date Posted: 26 January 2026 at 8:30pm
Craftmaster...
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Posted By: KDW32
Date Posted: 27 January 2026 at 1:23pm
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Just bought some 18 sound from lean audio and noticed they have some paint called montage https://leanaudio.co.uk/product-category/speaker-cabinet-paint-montage/" rel="nofollow - https://leanaudio.co.uk/product-category/speaker-cabinet-paint-montage/
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Posted By: KDW32
Date Posted: 27 January 2026 at 1:28pm
 Just googled them. Says they are backed up by HMG paints in Manchester. I used HMG speedline on a refurb and was happy with it. |
Posted By: BAAUDIO
Date Posted: 29 January 2026 at 11:49am
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Hello, I hope you’re all well. Has anyone here painted directly over Tuffcab, if so which brand of paint did you use and were you happy with the results. I need to re-coat some cabs and really don’t have the time to sand them back to bare wood. Many thanks. All the best.
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Posted By: stevie
Date Posted: 29 January 2026 at 12:00pm
| I've found the Penn paint to be very good and compatible with Tuffcab. |
Posted By: BAAUDIO
Date Posted: 30 January 2026 at 12:01pm
| Fantastic, thank you Stevie, that’s super useful. All the best. |
Posted By: snowflake
Date Posted: 24 February 2026 at 6:37pm
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tested my last pot of tuffcab and it doesn't seem to cure very hard - think it may have frozen at some point. will probably buy Warnex rather than Armacab or Aldcroft as the Warnex isn't that much more expensive any more from Bax. wondering if anyone has ever used Granotone or Duratex? |