Where can I get these? I did a search but nothing really came up - well nothing in relation to buying the rings... I would make them on my own but I dont have the tools...

Actually... I have another questions... Where can I have MDF cut to make rings?

Thanks in advance...

Ritz

 

just go to a stereo shop, theyll be able to help you out if theyre at all competent

 

Thats what I was thinking... See there is the "compitency" part that Im worried about...

Thanks for the reply...

Anyone else care to make a suggestion?

 

are you making rings for speakers in the door or what?

 

Yeah they are for the doors... I used the stockies as spacers but its not enough to clear the window...

Im thinking I should just move the speaker an inch to the right... I have one ring from an old install and it fits just fine with no rubbing on the window or the rear side of the door panel...

 

Oh yeah I have the Alpine SPR 17LS... Im almost done with my install its just the fronts that are "ghetto rigged" in place and Im not happy with that...

 

dude, make your own rings. I've had to do that 4 3 sets of 6.5s for the doors and they always come out just fine. Go to Lowe's or Home Dept, preferably you can find 3/4" or 1" scraps of MDF in the lumber area. If not, either buy a 2x1' MDF shelf or have them cut up a 10x4' sheet. Different speakers will need different thicknesses (from 1/2" to 1 1/2"), you may have to glue two pieces together to get the best thickness.

Use your stock spacer as a outer guide pattern for the MDF. To make the inner hole you may be able to experiment and move the hole up and back an inch or so. This will better position the driver in the door panel..but may end up causing the magnet to hit the glass. You have to play around to get the best alignment.

Have a drill and dremel ready and jigsaw to cutout the MDF. Use #10 or #8 T-nuts on the back side of the MDF (counter-sunk) to hold the speaker in place and lock washers on the top. Lock nuts and washers will work well on the outer three holes attaching the spacer to the door. 1/8" Neoprene gasket material works great between speaker and MDF and MDF and door. That's about it..paint it textured black for a nice effect.

 

Metra makes 1" plastic speaker spacers you can buy. Look online.

 

I tried that guy at first and it wasn't deep enough buy about 1/4" so I went with the wood route.

Looks like someone ought to do a how-to on this as it seems a rather popular issue here. I didn't bother to document my efforts as I figured they still taught wood shop in 8th grade (and my efforts weren't that good!).

 

Having tried 4 different speaker sets, all I can say is there is no consistancy between different products from different manufacturers. Magnet size, casing, cutout size, diameter, depth, mounting holes, etc will all effect the proportions and overall look of the ultimate spacer in MDF.

As a general rule of thumb I would gauge your spacer depth by the 6.5 top-mount depth. The shallowest speaker I mounted was 2", it was a beautiful thing and very easy to not only install but I was also able to move it up and back about 1/2 inch for better positioning with the door grill opening. The deepest speaker I mounted was 2.75 inch deep and was a royal pain in the neck. It required angle cross-cutting MDF at an extreme angle to prevent the magnet from hitting the window.

I would say 2" of depth will require 3/4" MDF spacer, 2.75" will require >=1.5" or angle cutting. You can pretty much gauge the size you need between those two extremes.

If you aren't angle cutting then cutting out your MDF is a piece of cake. I would suggest getting some 1/8" hardboard at Lowes to make a template. This stuff cuts like butter with a hand jigsaw. Once you make your template you can experiment with offsetting the mounting hole to raise the speaker up if you want to. After all of that is said and done, you can trace out the template pattern on a sheet of MDF and also cut away with a jigsaw. If you have really deep speakers you will likely need to glue two cutouts together.