Metra and American Int'l speaker mounting rings compared

[josby]

I bought both the American International HSB524 and Metra 82-7805 speaker mounting rings for our Civic since I wasn't sure which would work better for me. I figured I'd share a comparison.

(click pics for larger)


The designs are clearly a little different

 

[josby]

The outside diameter of the American International rings is 6.5" and the inside diameter is a little less than 5.75". I'm guessing the stepped ring down inside it is for meant for mounting 5.25" mids and the upper outer ring is meant for mounting 6.5" ones.

 

[josby]

The Metra is a little over 6.75" outside diameter and a little under 5.75" inside diameter. I'm guessing the tabs on the inside are for mounting a 5.25" speaker, and could be cut out if needed for clearing the basket of a 6.5" speaker, though you'll probably need a Dremel or something.

 

[josby]

The two teeth that hold the ring into the door/rear deck are beefier on the American International rings, though I don't think it will really matter. Both fit fine in our doors and rear deck. The Metra seals to the door on the outside ring and it's thinner than the AI one, but that surface on our car is flat. Using some kind of thin foam as a gasket is probably a good idea with either.

 

[josby]

One difference is that the American International comes with new bolts (the shorter ones above). The longer ones are the factory ones. Both sets of rings are considerably thinner (i.e. not as tall) than the factory speakers, and the factory bolt is too long to hold these rings in. That is, when you screw it in it bottoms out 1/2" or more before it's far enough in to hold the speaker ring down.

So if you buy the Metra kit, you're going to need a big stack of washers to bridge that gap, or to buy some shorter bolts somewhere.

 

[josby]

One issue with the American International's smaller outside diameter is that there's a place at the bottom of the factory speaker holes (shown here in the doors, but also present in the rear deck) that they don't cover. So there's a space there for the air pressure from the back side of the speaker (i.e. the back wave) to leak past. So you'll need to stuff something in there to fill it. I used some closed-cell foam I had (not pictured).

The Metra rings don't have that problem.

 

[josby]

I ended up using the American International ones to mount these Audiofrog GB60's. They were just a better fit for these speakers, despite having that air gap at the bottom that needed to be filled.




I also used them in the rear deck to mount some Audiofrog GS42's, though I had to make an MDF adapter ring to make the 4" speakers fit. (foam stuffed in to fill that gap I mentioned is visible here at the front)

 

[josby]

The nice thing with the rings being not as tall than the factory speakers is that even though your aftermarket speakers will probably have more excursion than the factory ones, you don't have to worry about the cones coming out far enough to hit the door panel. And there's really nothing behind the speakers inside the door to get in the way, so you don't need them spaced out (unless maybe you're running mids with some REALLY huge baskets/magnets)

 

[Billy4202]

This may just be a stupid post, so forgive me if it is. But I appreciate your contributions in regards to audio. This may be something I look into down the line when the car is a little older and I feel slightly less guilty about tearing it apart lol, but you clearly have a ton of knowledge, and thanks for sharing it for everyone.

Thanks, brother

 

[josby]

You're welcome! Thanks for the kind words. It's kind of fun getting to figure this stuff out on a new car model

And I know what you mean about tearing it apart. I try to be careful but I've already broken a few plastic clips and stuff on the door panels and tweeter sail panels and stuff. So annoying

 

[Space Lord]

I used the AI adapters as well for my speaker install. Have you looked at the Scosche adapters? I tried them but I didn't like them so I used the AI. Great information as always, josby I was wondering the same thing the other day.

 

[josby]

I looked a little to see if Scosche made adapters, but didn't have any luck finding some. Since most Hondas seem to use the same rings and there are so many Hondas out there, I should've known they would though.

 

[integra15]

I looked a little to see if Scosche made adapters, but didn't have any luck finding some. Since most Hondas seem to use the same rings and there are so many Hondas out there, I should've known they would though.

How difficult was it for you to remove the rear deck plastics? looks like you did coax in the rear. How did you wire them?

 

[josby]

How difficult was it for you to remove the rear deck plastics? looks like you did coax in the rear. How did you wire them?

I watched a Youtube video on the job (this one or one like it):



It's not the worst job ever, but it is kind of a pain. One mistake I made was not being careful moving the large rear deck plastic piece around in the car - I ended up scratching the tint on my back window with it.

Make note of the green thing at the top right corner at the 3:55 mark. Notice how he left that in the car and kind of unhooked the trim piece from it as he pulled it out? I didn't notice that and pulled it out with the trim piece. It's really hard to get out, and is not meant to be pulled out like that. So yeah, that's the only real gotcha I ran across in doing it.

As for the coax speakers, I initially just wired them to the factory mid-range signal and unplugged the factory tweeters. Treble isn't as important for rear fill, IMO. But also I knew that my ultimate goal was a new DSP/amp, and once I got that in place, I just did a full-range output from the DSP to them.

 

[87elco]

One difference is that the American International comes with new bolts (the shorter ones above). The longer ones are the factory ones. Both sets of rings are considerably thinner (i.e. not as tall) than the factory speakers, and the factory bolt is too long to hold these rings in. That is, when you screw it in it bottoms out 1/2" or more before it's far enough in to hold the speaker ring down.

So if you buy the Metra kit, you're going to need a big stack of washers to bridge that gap, or to buy some shorter bolts somewhere.

I wonder what the thread on this is

Sponsored