Project Arcade Speaker Placement (HELP!)

[zero_koop]

Hello.  I'm in the middle of building my Project Arcade cabinet.  I'm using the old book, not the new one.  I haven't started putting it together yet, but I have all the pieces cut.  Right now I'm trying to find some speaker grills to go with my speakers.  I've been having trouble finding any locally that aren't 10" or more.  But I did find some that are 6" in diameter (the hole to cut is only 4 1/2" diameter).  The speakers I'm using are in a square case and are 4 1/2" x 4 1/2".  I actually have 4 speakers that I'd like to use, but if I have to I can cut it down to just 2.

What I'm wondering is if the speaker grills I have will work in the Project Arcade.  The Project Arcade book says on page 260 "You'll have about 6 1/2 inches from the edge of the shelf to the point where the monitor Plexiglas rests...".  It also says to leave some room from the edge of the speaker shelf for the marquee.  I'm really cutting it close with the 6" speaker grills.  I think I can do it, but I have 2 questions.
1) I want to cut the holes before assembly if possible.  But it's hard to know for sure if it will work before assembly.  Does anyone have a suggestion on how to do this?  Or do you suggest I just get it assembled first and then cut the holes once I'm sure?
2) The Project Arcade builds a monitor bezel (Plexiglas) that is parallel with the edge of the side panel.  If I were to tilt the monitor bezel back a little so that it intersected with the speaker panel further back, this could give me an extra inch or two to work with for my speaker placement.  I think this is possible, but I'm not sure if I'm not thinking of a problem that could arise from doing this.  Anyone know if this is possible?

I laid out my 4 speakers grills and they just barely fit side by side within the width of the speaker panel.  Since the holes I would cut are a good 1 1/2" from the edge of the speaker grill (6" minus 4 1/2" = 1 1/2") the holes should be about 3" apart so I don't think the wood would be too weak to make these cuts.

Finally, if I could find smaller speaker grills I could alleviate some of my problems.  I know you don't know my local stores, but does anyone have a suggestion for the types of places I should look to find speaker grills.  Car audio stores always seem to have speaker grills that are too big.  Online stores are too expensive with shipping.

Thanks.

[alfonzotan]

I had the same problem.  Finally located reasonably-sized speaker grills here:

http://electronicplus.com/content/ProductPage.asp?maincat=SP&subcat=SGR

[zero_koop]

Thanks alfonzotan.

This is a great find.  And shipping is very reasonable ($6.95).  For 4 grills [model: 4-1/2" BLACK METAL SPEAKER GRILL (CIRCULAR)] the total is $25.95.  The grills I found locally cost $19.17 total.

I think getting the smaller grills will be a smart choice as far as making my life easier.  I think I'm going to order, once I ensure that I can take back the grills I bought (shouldn't be a problem).  If anyone else has another suggestion though, please do!

[kahlid74]

I had the same problem.  Finally located reasonably-sized speaker grills here:

http://electronicplus.com/content/ProductPage.asp?maincat=SP&subcat=SGR

Great find man!  Will help me a bunch on future projects.

[alfonzotan]

I had the same problem.  Finally located reasonably-sized speaker grills here:

http://electronicplus.com/content/ProductPage.asp?maincat=SP&subcat=SGR

Great find man!  Will help me a bunch on future projects.

Happy to pass it on.  Took me forever to locate those.  I was shocked at how hard it is to find simple speaker grills these days... when I was a teenager, it just took a quick trip to Radio Shack for that kind of thing.  

[zero_koop]

My speakers have arrived and they look really good!  The mount and the grill have a really tight fit.  Almost too tight really.  I have trouble getting them together, but I'm sure I'll get it eventually.  Also, they didn't ship with any screws which is kind of annoying because now I have to go back to the home improvement store to buy silly black screws.

I went ahead and pre-cut my speaker holes.  Hopefully when I assemble the cabinet everything will be in place according to plan and I won't have mis-measured something.

[zero_koop]

Hey Alfonzotan,
I have a question for you.  When you mounted the part of the speaker grill that you screw down, did you place it so that the flat end was pressed up against the wood, or did you mount it so that only the edge of the mounting plate was touching the wood.  It's hard to explain what I'm talking about, but basically I'm wondering which side was facing the wood and which side was facing the outside.

The reason I'm asking is because I thought the correct way to mount them is so the flat side is touching the wood.  But I cannot get the speaker grills to slide on from that direction.  They only seem to fit together from the other direction.

Sorry if that didn't make sense, but I can try to explain again if you need me to.  Thanks!

[alfonzotan]

I'm not 100% sure I understand your question, but in my case I mounted the speaker cones on one side of the board (the inside, behind the marquee and light) and the speaker grills on the other (the outside).  So the speakers themselves are not in contact with the grills at all.  Of course, there are holes cut out of the wood so you can hear the speakers!  I just used a glue gun to fasten the speaker cones to the wood.

Crappy ASCII diagram:

      /\    <- speaker cone
___    ____  <- board the speakers are mounted to
  -------     <- speaker grill

You can see the actual board with the speaker holes cut out here... I didn't take a picture of the interior after I mounted the speakers.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=111782.msg1187362#msg1187362

It's been nearly a year since I installed them, but I want to say the grills I bought did not have mounting plates; you may have a different model than I do.  I just screwed the covers directly to the wood.