I have four Cerwin Vega 10" 3-ways that I use for front and rear surround. Over the last 14 years, one of the backs pulled out of one of these speakers requiring it to be taken down (it almost fell 16').



I was able to repair the damaged CV speaker cabinet and, as the woofer foams needed replacing anyway, decided to replace the components with W10GTIs and 2425Js. I figured out a way to reinforce the cabinets for the added weight so they won't fall in the future.

The cabinets are 3/4" particle board and the woofer hole is routed down about 3/16" so that the woofer sits into the cabinet. Unforetunately, the routed area is about 1/20" too small for the W10GTI's diameter.

My options are:

Use a dremel with a sanding wheel and try to route out the existing recess a hair (no I don't have a real router),

Fill in the routed area with something solid (or glue???) to bring it up level with the face,

Fill in the routed area with something soft (weatherstripping or ?) so the woofer "floats", or

???

Anyone ?

Also, the back of the woofer sits about 1/4" from the back of the cabinet (just clears). It seems to me that this could compromise the rear speaker vent. I'm thinking of drilling a hole though the cabinet (3-1/8" diameter) at the spot of the vent and gluing a piece of wood to the back of the cabinet so the vent has a little more room to "breathe." (More work, but could have sonic benefits.)

Any opinions?