5x7= devil

[tsunami]

damn it all, finaly figured out that the door speakers on my new 3 are 5x7... i hate 5x7, any one know of any way to convert the hole to a 6 1/4 cause thats what i want it to be? i guess i could call up my stereo guy.... even more money for what i want.... i really want to put the boston z series in my front doors, i guess i could go kick panels, but i would much rather not have to.... f-in ford.... they love their 5x7's, they can take em and.... ahhhh... anyways... anyhelp would be muchly apreciated.... (%^$%$@#%#^#%$@^%*$@%^!!!!)

[poseur]

Easy, just cutout a piece of wood or whatever, in an oval shape and cut a circle hole in the middle. You might have to trim back your interior panels a bit to allow for the extra protrusion, but I'm nto toofamiliar with a 3.

[tsunami]

yeah thats what i was thinking after the initial rage factor...hope there would be enough room to do that.... though a lil fiberglass and some paint can go a long way....also i am going to have to take a look and see how much i would have to cut out of the door and if it will be in the way of the window or something stupid...

[poseur]

if you're gonna play the fiberglass game, whynot just make kicks?

as far as cutting, unless you have to sink something in, you shouldn't need to do any metal cutting. I ran oversized CDT mids in my 5x7 holes just fine with a 1/2" mdf baffle. I'd show you pics, but my camera's apparantly missing.

[poseur]

ah! found my pics that I'd uploaded. Here's the baffles I made, fit just fine, had plenty of clearance, and I actualyl re-used the rainguards. The pic of the ring being trimmed is the interior panel that needed to be trimmed to allow for cforward clearance. THis is in a P5, hopefully not toodifferent than a 3, but it's hard to say. one way to find out, I guess.

[poseur]

take note that I had to recess the holes for mounting the ring to the door so that the screws don't contact the speaker's frame. I did this by simply using a larger drill bit to openup the holes.

[Kevin]

you can BUY abs adapter plates for jumping from 5x7 to 6 1/2.. i haven't a clue why everyone rips out the cash to fabricate mdf adapter plates.. i'll find out the manufacturer and specific model number if someone is that interested.. but they ARE made
kevin

[poseur]

umm, cash? If you've got spare mdf laying around all it takes is a jigsaw and a very tiny bit of your time. I guess if you don't have a jigsaw or room to work on it, whatever it mightmatter, or you could just find a friend who does.... And actually, the ABS plates have a couple of drawbacks in that they introduce resonance, as well as the fact that they're just generic and won't fit every speaker right, and for many oversized ones, you'd need to modify them anyway.

Thatsaid, I havne't seen them for 6" I've seen plenty that do 5's, but that's weak. The other benefit of MDF plates isthat you can "raise" your speaker out from the door with them allowing more depth for clearance.

[MisterT]

Wow, did you cut the door panel as well? I was fortunate in that the mounting depth to the SoundStream 6 1/2" midbass was so that it didn't interfere with anything. I just ordered acoustic baffles from crutchfield for the splash guard. I didn't even make a ring, but shaved some of the metal and then drilled holes for the speaker to mount.

[tsunami]

thanks for the info poseur.... i was thinking if it stuck out of the door to far to just mold some fiberglass over it to make it blend better, not going as far as making kicks.... though it looks like you didn't have to much trouble just using the mdf..... i just picked up a part time job... a valet.... to pay for new toys on my new toy, so i will let you know how it went in a couple of weeks when i acquire all my components and get them installed... feeling better now about the 6 1/2s .... thank god cause thats i alot of money in speakers....

[poseur]

nope no trimming of metal at all. I should've gotten a ic f the overlap with the rings in placeonteh door but no speaker in them. There s a bit but fortunately with 1/2" of outspace, the vast majority of mids will have tapered down enough to clear by that point.

THose baffles were STUPID simple, I prettymuch just traced my stock speaker, then I traced my new ones ontop of that and cutout the wood to roughlythe outside dimensions. mdf that thin just gets a little fragile, so be careful. I'd recommend you drill all of the monting holes before cutting everything out as drills introduce a good bit of vibration and such. (I cracked one of my rings, and just sorta glued it back together 'cause I'm ghetto likethat) Butyea, those rings took me like half an hour to make. and most of that was that I didn't have a compass on hand somehow to draw an inner circle to cut around.

[blue LEDz]

MDF or other wooden or even plexi adapters are the way to go. the ABS ones are flimsy and very cheap. not to mention they cost more than making your own, if you've got the tools.

[bougha]

Here's how to make an adapter 5x7 -> 6.5"

Measures are in mm's so divide them by 25.4 and you'll get inches
Drawing

[blue LEDz]

that's a good template

[tsunami]

thanks man.... should come in handy, in probably two more weeks i should have scrounged enough dough to get the ball rolling on the stereo install...