I'm starting to plan my VPIN and I'm struggling with the backbox. I want to do the speaker box like Meisterjim did on his Iron Maiden VPIN using the Stern Spike 2 metal panel. I've been told this panel is 26" wide. A standard backbox has 27.3" width which leaves a 1/2" or so gap on either side. Do people leave that gap or make the backbox thinner? Everyone keeps saying they use a 32" backbox monitor. Looking at @meisterjim's Iron Maiden pics I can see the frame on the monitor so it wasn't decased however every 32" monitor I look at is around 28.5" wide. Definitely won't fit if the backbox is shrunk to 26". Even if left at 27.3, that's a deep channel groove on both sides to get it to fit but looking at the iron maiden pinball photos posted, it doesn't appear to be in a channel groove on either side. Is that what people are doing to make a 32" fit or what am I missing in my calculations/thinking. Any help anyone can provide would be much appreciated!

Oh OK. In his description of the specs of the Iron Maiden machine it said 32“ LG Monitor Backbox, so I assumed he was using a 32" one somehow.

I looked up the dimensions of a 28" and it's a close to perfect fit for the space. Thanks so much - I'll look for a 28" versus trying to cram in a 32"