MDF rings for front speakers?

[OKANG]

I know this has been done before, so let me ask. How thick should the MDF be for the front speaker mounting rings? Does anyone have a pic of theirs? A pattern? I'd just like an idea of what other people have used and anything I might want to consider when making mine.

[OKANG]

*bump*

Anyone?

[SleeperSolara]

I'm usin' 1/2" for my rear but usin' factory for the front all i did to the front was add dead skin from Lighting Audio.

[firegate]

1/2" works well for the Solara (1st gen at least) because of the little tube that is supposed to press up against the adapter - with something thicker, you might have to grind the grill area of the door panel down a bit. You can just trace the OEM adapter onto some MDF to get the shape down and cut it with a jigsaw - I'd reccomend lining the back of the mounting ring with a thin layer of non-hardening modeling clay to help seal it better.

[SleeperSolara]

1/2" works well for the Solara (1st gen at least) because of the little tube that is supposed to press up against the adapter - with something thicker, you might have to grind the grill area of the door panel down a bit. You can just trace the OEM adapter onto some MDF to get the shape down and cut it with a jigsaw - I'd reccomend lining the back of the mounting ring with a thin layer of non-hardening modeling clay to help seal it better.

Or you can use Dynamat to seal it off too.

[firegate]

Or you can use Dynamat to seal it off too.

Actually, Dynamat won't really make the seal any better than the spacer against the door. The idea behind using modeling clay is that, as you screw the speaker down, it'll compress outward on both the inside and outside and form an air-tight seal, whereas dynamat is just another flat surface. Using the clay also helps decouple the speaker from the door panel to reduce resonance.

Putting damping mat like Dynamat around the area is still a good idea though. Since the speaker has to mount there, deadening the area will help a lot toward reducing resonance from lower frequencies.