Best way to change 6x8/5x7 holes to fit 6 inch components?

[lukeman269]

I have some PG rsd 5x7's in the front doors of my car, but I feel like I am missing out on my mid bass tremendously. What is the best way to change my 6x8 hole to a 6 or 6.5 hole for components? Would just making like a 5/8" mdf board be sufficient? I was thinking about cutting a couple of boards that are wide enough to completely cover the 6x8 holes and then use construction adhesive to fasten the wood to the metal. Probably not the best idea, but I think components are the only way I am going to add that mid bass I need.

Also, If I were to add some components, what would be a budget friendly option? I am not an audiophile but I do enjoy pretty good sound. As long as they sound better than my coaxials, I am good.

[ttocs]

yup thats it mang! to make it easy, take out the 5 x 7s and trace their shape onto the wood. Now take the 6.5s and trace them on top of the 5 x 7 shape and then cut out the combined shape.

[Rold Gold]

I went to IKEA and got some cutting nylon boards and made plates. I chose that material instead of wood because it'll never warp or swell and is plenty strong.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20103728

[lukeman269]

yup thats it mang! to make it easy, take out the 5 x 7s and trace their shape onto the wood. Now take the 6.5s and trace them on top of the 5 x 7 shape and then cut out the combined shape.

Ahhh! That's a good plan. What would be some fairly decent components to get?

Also, would it be a good idea to fiberglass? Or is that overkill?

[lukeman269]

I went to IKEA and got some cutting nylon boards and made plates. I chose that material instead of wood because it'll never warp or swell and is plenty strong.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20103728

That's a good idea too! Does that stuff cut pretty well with a jigsaw?

[ttocs]

I just put a coat of primer/sealer on them and some black paint myself. just pulled out my baffles after 3 yrs and they look as good as new.

I am about to post my 3 way diamond audio hex 3 way componants up or sale. You could always use the 4 as your rear fill or find a place for them upfront, only wanting $300 for the set.

[lukeman269]

I just put a coat of primer/sealer on them and some black paint myself. just pulled out my baffles after 3 yrs and they look as good as new.

I am about to post my 3 way diamond audio hex 3 way componants up or sale. You could always use the 4 as your rear fill or find a place for them upfront, only wanting $300 for the set.

I would like to keep it PG. Yes it was a joke But I am sure your diamond audio components are very nice. Thanks for the tips man!

[todd217]

I have a set of 3/4 mdf 5x7 to 6.75 adapters.

[dvnt88]

I went to IKEA and got some cutting nylon boards and made plates. I chose that material instead of wood because it'll never warp or swell and is plenty strong.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20103728

That's a good idea too! Does that stuff cut pretty well with a jigsaw?

Yep ...used what Harold suggested for my Xenon 5.0 comps in the rear as the original cut-out is for a 6.75" woofer.

[dvnt88]

I just put a coat of primer/sealer on them and some black paint myself. just pulled out my baffles after 3 yrs and they look as good as new.

I am about to post my 3 way diamond audio hex 3 way componants up or sale. You could always use the 4 as your rear fill or find a place for them upfront, only wanting $300 for the set.

I would like to keep it PG. Yes it was a joke But I am sure your diamond audio components are very nice. Thanks for the tips man!

Got a set of TIElite 5.0 comps that would fit the bill, asking $225 shipped and has both mids, tweets, x-over and new grills / mounting rings from Woofersetc.com, lmk if ur interested.

[audiophyle_247]

I wouldnt just trace the original speaker for your mounting panel, if at all possible you should try to make it as large as it can be without interfering with the door panel.

Use a piece of cardboard as a template & with a razor you can quickly trim it down to fit perfectly where you need it. Then just trace the template onto a piece of MDF (or the cutting board), and you should be good. I would get some bathtub adhesive (stronger than just caulk) and use that to glue the panel to the door & let the 5x7 mounting screws hold the panel in place until the adhesive dries. That will give you a very solid mount & offer the best output without being permanent.

IDK about the cutting board, but a 5/8" or 3/4" MDF baffle would space the speaker out far enough that the basket of the larger speaker wont hit the original opening. Ive also never had any issues with MDF baffles & moisture in the doors if you paint them first.

[ttocs]

what benifit would the adhesive give? made alot of baffles but never glued them in place

[audiophyle_247]

Sheet metal is thin & flexes easily, and the larger the baffle contact area with the sheet metal the more strength it will add. If you ran a baffle cut out to the exact 5x7 & mounted it using the same 4 screws & then mounted the new 6.5" to the baffle, the baffle is doing nothing except allow the speaker to be used. It adds zero strength to the weak metal and any flex negates the woofers output. The mass alone from the baffle does little for the overall performance of the speaker, and lets face it almost every car leaves plenty to be desired in this area.

Now oversize that baffle, and give it a very good bond to the metal and you will make an insanely solid mounting plane, which will make a very noticeable difference in output The adhesive is designed to be weather proof & never hardens, and even though it is "soft" it dampens quite a bit & the baffle will still feel very much solidly mounted. The complete seal around the baffle from the adhesive also isolates the sound from the back wave. Many on DIYMA prefer modeling clay to do a similar task, but I hate how messy that ish can be and it doesnt last anywhere as long, especially in the desert heat I live in. The adhesive Im talking about can easily be cut with a razor & with a little muscle the baffle can be peeled off if it ever needs to be removed.

[ttocs]

By screwing a thick enough wood(I always go at least 1/2") into the metal will keep it from flexing. The added adhesive might have a very very sight damping effect but I would think that the ability of a 6.5 to flex 1/2" wood and sheet metal that is not an enclosure would be very minor. If you were sealing off the door I could understand the adhesive to keep it from whistling with air escaping but again I am willing to bet you, me or anyone else would have a hard time telling if glue was or was not used in the mounting. IMO the only thing it will do is make it harder to remove and I just took my baffles out myself a couple weeks ago and was glad that they were not glued.

[audiophyle_247]

Its not the wood that flexes, the wood & woofer are quite solid, BUT the entire woofer/baffle can move back & forth as the door metal flexes around it.
It does not take much flex to negatively impact speaker output, and with just screws you are putting all of the vibration of the speaker into those small contact points.

It is not a matter of sealing the door 100%, that is impossible. It is a matter of sound waves coming off the inner door skin & coming back through the baffle. The more isolation you can get the better the sound, and just like an IB setup the stiffer the baffle & mount the better. Remember every car is different, and there are some that have insanely flimsy door mounts. The worse the door the greater the benefit, and of course the stronger the door the less benefit, its not an end all must do for every vehicle.

Its not for everyone, and the pros/cons need to be weighted by each person. It may not be worth the effort to everyone, but there are many that would agree with me & be more than willing to do so on their cars. I am just sharing what I have found to be a great method of getting the most out of door speakers, and why it works well. I dont expect everyone to run out & do so.

[ttocs]

I guess if you are trying to save a few bucks and avoid sound damping the door(which would be 10x better then some glue IMO) you could. I have worked in a couple high-end shops where we made our own rca's and ran grounds to the back to have the deck grounded at the same place as the amps, but again at those shops we didn't cut corners and sound damping was a must-do. You are right that damping a door is a good thing to do but again that is what sound damping is for. Honestly this sounds like a DIY thing that I have seen done countless times online but always ends up lookin like poo-amature install. Use the damping for what it is made for, and the caulk as well and you will have great sound and no problems swapping them out later.

[audiophyle_247]

Easy bud, I think you are reading a little too much into my recommendation. Sound deadening a door is important, and it has its place, but it is NOT a substitute for a properly reinforced speaker baffle, just as it is not a substitute for a proper sound barrier.
I am not about to cheap-skate or ghetto anything. You dont know anything about me or my install history, so lets stop with the "I worked at a high end shop" claims.


You can call this whatever you want, but it is a pretty common practice among sound competitors and people do similar things to very expensive vehicles and with very expensive drivers. You are entitled to your own opinion and I respect that, but I do not care for your degrading the idea & brushing it off as ghetto or a cut corner when it seems to me you do not fully understand the principle behind the practice.

You wanna save a few bucks, then dont buy any adhesive & just screw the board to the door. This thread was not about sound deadening, so lets not thread jack here. OP asked about baffles to adapt to a different than OEM speaker size, and I made a recommendation to do just that as well as improve sound at the same time. Everyone here is free to take it or leave it

[dvnt88]

Easy bud, I think you are reading a little too much into my recommendation. Sound deadening a door is important, and it has its place, but it is NOT a substitute for a properly reinforced speaker baffle, just as it is not a substitute for a proper sound barrier.
I am not about to cheap-skate or ghetto anything. You dont know anything about me or my install history, so lets stop with the "I worked at a high end shop" claims.


You can call this whatever you want, but it is a pretty common practice among sound competitors and people do similar things to very expensive vehicles and with very expensive drivers. You are entitled to your own opinion and I respect that, but I do not care for your degrading the idea & brushing it off as ghetto or a cut corner when it seems to me you do not fully understand the principle behind the practice.

You wanna save a few bucks, then dont buy any adhesive & just screw the board to the door. This thread was not about sound deadening, so lets not thread jack here. OP asked about baffles to adapt to a different than OEM speaker size, and I made a recommendation to do just that as well as improve sound at the same time. Everyone here is free to take it or leave it

Exactly and to the point, each too his own.

[ttocs]

I agree but do you think that he is more likely to go compete with this sytem he is building or will he want to swap speakers out easily in a year or two? Some sound damping added will do just as good and not make it difficult later to swap out if you want something different. Also if he ever decided to sell the car I would consider sound damping added to doors an improvement to the vehicle where a baffle glued in might take away from it. But yes to each his own, I just like to keep options open later as we all know that sooner or later a "what if" moment will get him and he will swap speakers or maybe the next owner will when they wear out. I mean they always have the option to put another 6.5 in there and not many people will take a 6 out to put in a 9 like I am but again I prefer not to glue pieces to my car that I might later want to remove.

[lukeman269]

Thank you all for the fantastic input. I learned some new things, but it just took me about 10 minutes to read through all of the chit chat haha. I am probably going to use the adhesive when I do this modification, because I don't want to deal with rattle if the screws end up getting loose. They might not get loose, but I am probably not going to switch back to the 6x8's so I think the 6 or 6.5's will end up keeping their place in my ride.

One more thing to add, I have a 1" plastic spacer that my speaker is currently on, do I just rip it off when I decide to make the modification? I have a 95 Mercury Grand Marquis. I might have to do a couple 3/4 inch mdf baffles so that the window clears the speaker.

[audiophyle_247]

Yank the plastic spacer, it will only get in the way.

Like I said before, use cardboard to make a template for the largest flat panel you can mount to the door, and I would trace that to 5/8" MDF then use 3/4" MDF for rings to gain any extra spacing needed. If you make the base layer 3/4" you may not be able to make it cover as large of an area.
Just a thought.

[lukeman269]

Yank the plastic spacer, it will only get in the way.

Like I said before, use cardboard to make a template for the largest flat panel you can mount to the door, and I would trace that to 5/8" MDF then use 3/4" MDF for rings to gain any extra spacing needed. If you make the base layer 3/4" you may not be able to make it cover as large of an area.
Just a thought.

Ohh ok. Sounds like a plan! Thanks for all the help!

[BillM]

Go to your local Wal Mart and check out he Mainstays HDPE cutting boards for 3 bucks a piece. They are MEGA thick and cheap. I made adapter plates for all my speakers in my car with them.

[pimpinest123]

i use abs plastic