Just bought a set of Orion 3ohm Cobalt series 6.5's the other day to replace one set of speakers in my 01 RS. After they were bought and payed for the salesman told me that they were too deep for the front doors and that i would have to use spacers to make them fit. So i fiqured i would put them in the rear deck, after i took out the factory ones i couldnt get the new ones in. They are both 6.5's but the basket on the new ones are wider and the plate that they screw into isnt wide enough they wont set down flush. Now i need to cut the plates to make them fit. I always thought all 6.5's were the same except for depth of mounting. They should make a hell of a diffrence, the factory ones were the cheapest looking speakers i have ever seen.

Instead of trying to cut the metal adapter plate, you could make a new set of adapter plates from thin MDF, or hardboard. Hardboard isn't as strong as MDF but it is a lot easier to work with.

Just use the metal plates as a template to determine the overall shape of your new adapter plate and cut the round hole to what ever size you need for the speaker basket.

Keep in mind that the stock speaker grill provides very limited top-mount clearance. You may have to attach your speakers in bottom-mount fashion if you want to retain the stock grills.

I cut mine to fit a set of PPI coaxials in there. It was a pain to do, but works well cosidering I didn't have access to a shop at the time.

Chances are you can fit those Orions in your door. Most speakers require a spacer to fit in the Imprezas. Even my skinny DEI's needed a spacer.

-Jon
www.nothingserious.net