SR 12 Grill Cover

[KaosTsoc]

So I am pretty sure this has been asked before. Which one of the grill covers will work for the SR's? The DB series, or the MM series? If neither one of these then what would be a good suggestion?


Thanks.

[Vital]

I know someone modded MM grill but according to Polk's guy i spoke to a while ago neither of these would work if you plan on using SR sub to it's full potential. It's high excursion sub which means it will (might) hit the grill on bass heavy songs at loud volumes.

I use "bar grill" on mine which does the job real well but i wish it had 5 bars instead of 4 so it would protect lower part of the sub better. Other then that this bar grill is reall nice.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG0874.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG0871.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG0872.jpg

[KaosTsoc]

Yeah the bar grill is good, and i am with you as far as wanting more bars so that it covers the whole sub, up, and down. For your application the bar grill works, but for me. The subs will be right behind my seats, and there is a real high potential for someone to reach into the back of my cab, and hit the sub with an elbow, or if they put something back there it might scratch the sub. So, the bar grill wont work unless I have more bars, or make a custom one. The other option would be to get the DB grills, and make an MDF spacer that would go on top of the sub, and then put the grill on that, and bolt it down. That would give me hight, and depth. Thoughts????


Thanks.

[Vital]

mdf spacer with db/mm grill will work, irrc that's what was done by the guy i menationed in my previous post to fit mm grill.

When looking for a grill for my SR i was told i could get 2 of JL's bar grills to get more coverage. They come with 3 bars each so u'll get 6 bars alltogether and you can mount them whichever way you want to. At least that's what i was told. One thing that stopped me from doing that is the price as each of JLs grills was $30 a piece. I've seebn them cheaper a few months ago but here's what i'm talking about

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JL-AUDIO-SGR-12W7-12-SUB-SUBWOOFER-BAR-GRILL-SGR12W7-/170721628897?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bfcd52e1

[KaosTsoc]

I did come across those bar's, but your right. They are expensive, and I would need 12, and that would come out to $360.00 for some grills. Yeeaahh... Not happening LOL. I think I will go with the either the DB, or MM grills. I am sure I can get them fairly cheep, so I think I will go that route. Do you know what thread that was on for the other guy so that I can take a look?


Thanks.

[Vital]

Wait, WHAT??? You have 12 SR subs???? Am i reading this correctly??

And i just skimmed thru some threads looking for that one but honestly i don't remember key words to look for. As you can imagine when looking for SR and MM u'll get millions of threads lol.

[KaosTsoc]

LOL.....LOL..... Oh man, no sir. I only have two SR 12's. I can see how you read that though, sorry about that. If I did have that many I would sell some of them for sure. The reason I said i would need 12 bars, is I would want to put six bars on each sub, so that it would cover the whole sub up, and down, left to right. So, last time I check my math 6 + 6 = 12, and I think that is still right......LOL. It is all good though. Thanks for at least trying to find it though. I was doing a search too, and yeah there is alot of stuff that comes back, but i will look, and see if I can find it. I am 100% sure though that it is not hard to do, and just need to plan it carefully so that I dont damage anything.



Thanks.

[Vital]

HAHA!
Well, they come in a set of 3 bars so all you need is 4 sets to get a nice coverage of 2 subs. That comes out to $120 (again, i'm sure you can find them cheaper somewhere, i simply posted a quick link)

They actually look real good imo

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQUgjhDPDZLiCaiTdkr2MwGys1omYBKj 76XRGQmecc1puTOWW3h-A

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc252/cailgirl2k/a5c4_3.jpg

[KaosTsoc]

Yes. They do look nice, but just not enough coverage for me. I tend to sometimes have bad luck, and with that in mind if I can get something that would cover more of it that would work. Now I did some google searching, and found someone used the DB grills:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.polkaudio.com/images/car/systems/97_6_big.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/installs/view.php%3Fid%3D97&usg=__kWlVuxqRS9jWdLIaLOLrWPxU8G8=&h=482&w=642&sz=88&hl=en&start=68&zoom=1&tbnid=x0VCUSLBZwrB3M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&ei=FWC8To7_LY3PsgalutWCAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3DPolk%2BAudio%2BSR124%2Binstall%26star t%3D63%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.mic rosoft:en-US%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1

They dont say how they did it, but I am assuming they either used a spacer for it, or they seated the sub far enough back in the box they did not need a spacer. Not sure, but if they were able to do it. I am sure I can too.

Thanks.

[KaosTsoc]

Vital, I also so your post on here as well, and see that you used the MM ones, but opted to use the one you have in the pic above. So, remind me why of why you did not keep the MM one's on?



Thanks.

[Vital]

HHHhhhmmmm.... i never had MM grills, not sure where you got that from. I said i saw a thread on this forum where someone did use MM grills on SR subs, i didn't say it was me.

And what i have is not the same as what is pictured in my previous post.
I have 4 bar no-name/universal grill.
What's pictured is 3 bar JL AUDIO grill.

[KaosTsoc]

The thread is yours, but a there is a pic from pioneercrazed who used the MM grill. So, I think that might be what you are talking about.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php%3Fattachmentid%3D54175%26stc%3D1%26 d%3D1293293655&imgrefurl=http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php%3F110883-Which-grills-do-you-use-for-your-SR-subs&usg=__ZO9FP4rNspZSOpqdGiNpHU8Lp38=&h=1785&w=2380&sz=568&hl=en&start=18&zoom=1&tbnid=rdiFUuQTSxaGjM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&ei=U0m9TouuHMad8gOQhpWvBA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DPolk%2BAudio%2BSR124%2Bwith%2BMM%2BGr ill%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.micros oft:en-US%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1

The four bar would be good to if I could find them as seperate pieces, and not attached to a bracket. That would work too, but I like the look of the DB grill too. I would paint it black, or a redish color so that it would blend in with my theam.

Thanks.

[DSkip]

Why not put an extra 1/2" to 1" mdf on top of the box and put a grill over that? You might be able to find a 15" version or something. Not sure how it'd look, but it'd solve your problem.

[Vital]

The thread is yours, but a there is a pic from pioneercrazed who used the MM grill. So, I think that might be what you are talking about.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php%3Fattachmentid%3D54175%26stc%3D1%26 d%3D1293293655&imgrefurl=http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php%3F110883-Which-grills-do-you-use-for-your-SR-subs&usg=__ZO9FP4rNspZSOpqdGiNpHU8Lp38=&h=1785&w=2380&sz=568&hl=en&start=18&zoom=1&tbnid=rdiFUuQTSxaGjM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&ei=U0m9TouuHMad8gOQhpWvBA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DPolk%2BAudio%2BSR124%2Bwith%2BMM%2BGr ill%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.micros oft:en-US%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1

The four bar would be good to if I could find them as seperate pieces, and not attached to a bracket. That would work too, but I like the look of the DB grill too. I would paint it black, or a redish color so that it would blend in with my theam.

Thanks.

Yap, that's the thread/picture i was talking about.
Keep in mind he said that the only reason this grill worked is that his sub is recessed 3/4" to begin with AND it still took a lot of dremeling.
I'm sure it's doible if you're handy but you WILL need to work it. MM grill looks real damn good btw, i wish Polk made the same grill to fit SR subs....

[the88thpianoman]

I can put up a picture soon here if anyone wants it, but I just mounted my SR124 in the enclosure with the MM grille and a 3/4" MDF spacer. Putting the spacer between the sub and the grille allows more than enough room for full excursion. I'd say I have about an inch between the sub and grille, and the max possible excursion is .62" IIRC. Picked up the spacer on ebay for around $15 shipped, and the grille was around $20 shipped from polk's ebay store. I somewhat wish I'd also painted the spacer black to match everything else, but short of that, I'd highly suggest going this route for anyone still unsure.

[Vital]

Please do post a pic. And a link to exact spacer you got, i'd love to switch my grill to MM

[KaosTsoc]

Yes. Please do post a pic of that. As for the method it's self. It sounds like sure fire way to do it. It makes the most sense, and would not involve all that much work to be done. I would venture to say that if I go this route I can do either the MM grill or the DB. So nice to have choices.

Thanks.

[the88thpianoman]

Ok, sorry this took me a few days. Here's the pictures of the sub mounted up with the spacer:

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll160/the88thpianoman/2012-01-24_17-13-33_130.jpg

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll160/the88thpianoman/2012-01-24_17-13-23_807.jpg

The sub is mounted a little crooked because that box has been used and I wanted to tap new holes into it rather than risk the sub falling out. That works out anyway because with the MM grille, if the sub is perfectly straight, the grille won't be symmetrical because of where the mounting holes are. Also, if I were extremely concerned with the looks of it, it would have been worth painting the spacer black to match, but it doesn't look terrible and it definitely provides more than enough clearance for the sub.

If this link works, this is the ebay auction I purchased the spacer from: http://www.ebay.com/itm/280725349042?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Hope this helps some of you out.

[Vital]

Not sure i follow locations of mounting holes.

So sub gets pressed down by bolts going thru the spacer all the way into the enclosure? And then just some tap screws to secure the grill onto the spacer, right?

According to ebay link's info that spacer is fiberglass - is it really really?

EDIT: btw this set up looks absolutely great!

[the88thpianoman]

There are only four mounting screw holes in the grille itself; I circled them here:

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll160/the88thpianoman/2012-01-24_17-13-23_807-1.jpg

The other four screws first secure the sub to the box. What I did then was screw the grille to the spacer, with the screws sticking just out the bottom of the spacer, then set that assembly onto the sub to drive them the rest of the way in. So you've got four screws through just the sub, and four more through the grille and sub. I used 2" long wood screws for all of them to ensure I'd have enough length to mount through all layers.

[Vital]

Just purchased MM grill and spacer you linked, let's see how it turns out.

So is it really fiberglass spacer? How easy was it to drill holes? Is it as nice and smooth as u'd need it to be to paint it?

[KaosTsoc]

the88thpianoman.
That looks really good. Better than I thought it would. As for painiting the spacer, I agree with you. You can not really see it from straight on, and since it will be in the trunk you wont see it much that either. So, there is no real reason to paint it.

Vital,
I dont think the spacer is fiberglass. At least not from what I can see in the ebay pic, and the ones on here. I think they ment that it is a spacer to be used for or with fiberglassing. It looks like it is just 3/4" MDF.

Thanks.

[the88thpianoman]

It's actually MDF, same as the box. I think the fiberglass in the title was just to come up in searches as a lot of people do custom enclosures with fiberglass. Being MDF, drilling is super easy, and it's pretty much ready to paint. I would suggest a quick go over with about 800 grit sand paper to help with paint adhesion.

[Vital]

Ok, so i got my grill and mdf ring and to my surprise this 3/4'' ring stands out a LOT more then in your pictures. Actually in your pics you can't even see it in between enclosure and MM's grill but in reality it sticks out a good 1/4''
Add another 1/4'' for the sub itself and you get a full half an inch there - not cool at all.

How come yours is flushed?? I don't get it.....

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1283.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1284.jpg

So i tried to simply placed the grill on the sub without a spacer and booyakasha!!
Had some small difficulties finding screws that would be long enough for this setup (my enclosure alone is 1 1/2'' think) in specifically 10-24 thread size (since that's what my tee nuts are) and would also have a head small enough to fit in grill's hole opening but i got it figured out - since there's really only 2 screws needed to hold the grill i just sacrificed 2 of the screws holding my sub.
So basically sub is held by 6 out 8 screws and grill is held by remaining 2.

Now as for clearance - i do not know how exactly much this sub "comes out" but after install i played a few bass heavy songs at max volume and still had some space between sub and grill. I'm sure if i had ported box and played test tones made to make your sub work to it's full potential till it's blown i'd run into clearance issues but a few bass heavy dubstep tracks at max volume at full RMS wattage is enough for me to not be concerned about clearance.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1293.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1299.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1294.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1296.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1300.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1307.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1302.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1301.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/vitalpics/IMAG1309.jpg

[the88thpianoman]

I didn't even realize it, but those pictures that I posted actually do make it look like the grille sits flush with the enclosure. It actually doesn't. I have a good 5/8" gap between the enclosure and grille, and the spacer is visible in that gap, maybe about 1/4" or so. Basically identical to the second picture you posted of yours. I agree flush would look better, but I don't mind the way this sits.

[Vital]

Not sure how your mounting holes/screws are but you can make it flushed by simply getting rid of that spacer.
As i mentioned above I still have enought clearance to feel safe even with the most bass heavy songs at max volume, just sacrifize 2 of 8 screws holding your sub, prefferably on the sides (left/right) since in reality all the weight of the sub falls on the bottom screw.