# Anyone ever see an 8 inch to 6.5 inch speaker adapter



## nanohead (Oct 21, 2013)

I can't seem to find anything that will work. Application is Mustang Front door, replacing the 8 inch sub with a 6.5 inch driver.

I made a nice set out of 3/8 MDF, but they're too thick and the whole assembly doesn't fit the door correctly.

I can probably make a set from aluminum or PVC, but didn't know if there is a commercial alternative I haven't seen


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

Most of us would be thrilled to have an OEM spot for 8" woofers. I don't know of any specific adapters, but making them shouldn't be too difficult, you just might have to get a bit more creative than a simple ring. Is there any way you could cut a ring with an outer diameter small enough to fit into the existing hole?


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## nanohead (Oct 21, 2013)

gijoe said:


> Most of us would be thrilled to have an OEM spot for 8" woofers. I don't know of any specific adapters, but making them shouldn't be too difficult, you just might have to get a bit more creative than a simple ring. Is there any way you could cut a ring with an outer diameter small enough to fit into the existing hole?


Thanks Joe! Now that's an interesting fantastic idea!!!. I was looking at getting another 8 incher to replace the $4 woofers that came stock. I looked at every 8 inch midwoof on Parts Express and Madisound, and there are some great ones for sure. But the diameter has to be pretty close to what's there now, otherwise, the entire stock grill assembly won't fit. Most were either too big, just small enough where it would be a pain in the arse to fit, they are way too deep dimensionaly, or they roll off at 600hz, which is a little lower than I'd like.

I want the install to be stealth and not look any different than stock, so I figured I'd just adapt.

I'm actually gonna go see if your suggestion can work (or I can make it work!!)


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

nanohead said:


> Thanks Joe! Now that's an interesting fantastic idea!!!. I was looking at getting another 8 incher to replace the $4 woofers that came stock. I looked at every 8 inch midwoof on Parts Express and Madisound, and there are some great ones for sure. But the diameter has to be pretty close to what's there now, otherwise, the entire stock grill assembly won't fit. Most were either too big, just small enough where it would be a pain in the arse to fit, they are way too deep dimensionaly, or they roll off at 600hz, which is a little lower than I'd like.
> 
> I want the install to be stealth and not look any different than stock, so I figured I'd just adapt.
> 
> I'm actually gonna go see if your suggestion can work (or I can make it work!!)


I have a pair of excellent condition Dynaudio MW170 mid woofers that use a 6.77" cutout and are only 3.07" deep (172mm cutout x 78mm deep). 

These are excellent midwoodfers that I can make you a fair deal on. Pm me if interested.


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## nanohead (Oct 21, 2013)

Thanks Ralph. The outer mounting ring diameter is the crucial dimension here. No more than 220mm


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

This is a tricky problem to address without being able to get hands on and see what's really going on.  If you can upload some photos it may help, but chances are you'll just have to dig in. 

If you can fit a ring into the existing hole, so that you can set it mostly flush, that may be a good option, but you'll still need a good, solid way to secure it to the door. A larger woofer could be a good option, but an 8" is not going to work very well in a 2-way setup, so that could be a real limiting factor.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

there is a sponsored speaker adapter on the forum, I bet they can build you something out of ABS plastic that is stronger/thicker than the Metra adapters and not out of wood so you can relax about swelling them from moisture.

they may already have a template for what you want, and if not can make something for you?


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## nanohead (Oct 21, 2013)

gijoe said:


> This is a tricky problem to address without being able to get hands on and see what's really going on. If you can upload some photos it may help, but chances are you'll just have to dig in.
> 
> If you can fit a ring into the existing hole, so that you can set it mostly flush, that may be a good option, but you'll still need a good, solid way to secure it to the door. A larger woofer could be a good option, but an 8" is not going to work very well in a 2-way setup, so that could be a real limiting factor.


I'll put some pics up. This is not unique to me, as most Mustang owners want to do the same thing, so this might be a good exercise in general. To your point though, I'm actually running 3 Way, so I may at a later date, try an 8" The only thing I found that should work is dimensionally is the Fountek FW200 at partsexpress. All others would require surgery. Its 8 ohm (no big deal really) but the outer diameter and bolt circle are good enough for government work. And they're claiming 35 to 3,000 Hz as its range, so that could work as well. It does though, have an aluminum cone, so I have no idea what a midbass with that construction might sound like. There is also a PRV Audio 8MB450-4 at partsexpress also that "could" work, but would require some surgery on the mounting ring (I'd have to grind off the flange on the edge of the speaker).



cajunner said:


> there is a sponsored speaker adapter on the forum, I bet they can build you something out of ABS plastic that is stronger/thicker than the Metra adapters and not out of wood so you can relax about swelling them from moisture.
> 
> they may already have a template for what you want, and if not can make something for you?


Thanks! I forgot about them. I actually made my own yesterday out of Steel, which I'll put pics up of in a bit. I have ABS also, but its too thick. The fundamental design challenge here, is to have the adapter be no more than 16-18ga steel thickness. My ABS is about 1/8. I could probably find 1/16 ABS though, which might work.

BTW, I bought this cooky contraption called the Rockwell Blade Runner, which has the BEST circle cutter I've ever used (and I have like 20 different designs). The saw itself is pretty cheaply made, but for circle cutting, its fantastic, simple to setup and cuts quickly. Its basically an upside down Jigsaw.


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## BoostedOne (Nov 15, 2012)

nanohead said:


> I'll put some pics up. This is not unique to me, as most Mustang owners want to do the same thing, so this might be a good exercise in general.


Yes. I have a 2012 and I hate those door woofers.. Its a cool idea, but lousy in practice because it makes those nice long door pockets usesless for anything made of metal or plastic, wood etc.. With the pockets being angled to the front slightly, loose stuff collects in the front of the pocket.. With the sub also in the front, with every bass note(as unimpressive as it is with the factory shaker) the rattling of the junk in the door panels is as loud as the music. The car is rather limited on storage space(small glove box, just a decent center console box thats too far back to reach conveniently) so I always have pens, my toll transponder, some limited use keys, etc in there..

I havent had the door panel off yet, but why isnt it as simple as a 1/4" piece of ABS with an 8" nominal OD and a 6.5" ID?


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## nanohead (Oct 21, 2013)

BoostedOne said:


> Yes. I have a 2012 and I hate those door woofers.. Its a cool idea, but lousy in practice because it makes those nice long door pockets usesless for anything made of metal or plastic, wood etc.. With the pockets being angled to the front slightly, loose stuff collects in the front of the pocket.. With the sub also in the front, with every bass note(as unimpressive as it is with the factory shaker) the rattling of the junk in the door panels is as loud as the music. The car is rather limited on storage space(small glove box, just a decent center console box thats too far back to reach conveniently) so I always have pens, my toll transponder, some limited use keys, etc in there..
> 
> I havent had the door panel off yet, but why isnt it as simple as a 1/4" piece of ABS with an 8" nominal OD and a 6.5" ID?


Yes to everything. Here's some pics of the whole assembly. You can see I replaced the upper 6x8 with a 1/4 MDF panel and mounted the PHD Mids and Tweets. 

Also, both the 1/4 MDF and Steel speaker adapter, to fit a 6.5 to the 8 inch hole. You can also see the whole thing assembled with the 1/4 MDF adapter in place, where the speaker baffle and trim won't sit against the door correctly, because everything stacks on top of the actual speaker frame (grill, bezel, etc) so the entire thing stands about 3/16 proud with the MDF. I made a steel adapter and that fits fine. You can also see the 6.5 sitting in the steel adapter.

Also, you can see the obscure shape of the sub baffle in the door. I'm going to hole saw the baffle back off, to open it up into the door, which will be sealed with CLD (I ordered some stuff off amazon last night, not even sure which brand!)


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## lv_v (Aug 24, 2005)

If you're running a 3-way why would you want response above 600Hz out of the woofer? Curious what mid you're planning on using.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

I made my own out of HDPE cutting boards when I owned a 2006 Mustang GT:






As for those blasting the OP for wanting to put a 6.5 in the 8" spot... There are a lot more 6.5s that will fit and sound good versus 8s that will require a much thicker ring, thereby making the factory grill protrude out more!


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## nanohead (Oct 21, 2013)

lv_v said:


> If you're running a 3-way why would you want response above 600Hz out of the woofer? Curious what mid you're planning on using.


Its a good point, but I suspect most of us never believe the driver manufacturers specs 

I was mainly looking for flexibility and range on the drivers. As I run everything active, I always find that crossover points are never what I anticipate when tuning. I've never used these particular PHD mids before, so have no idea where their sweet spot is. 600 is to low for me to take a risk on... in my pickup, I crossed the HAT L3Pros at 1.5Khz to get the best tune, and I ran the L6SEs up higher than that. I don't care that much about specs, just how it sounds with my music.

And as Boosted said, the woofs in the doors are pretty lousy, very boomy. I was hoping to have a wider band in that location if possible so I can have flexibility when tuning. Also, I'm running a ported sub in the trunk, so I should have enough boom on the low end. I have no idea where this install will take me sonic-aly, I have 3 different DSPs that I'm gonna try.

If I don't like the way the PHDs sound, then I'll move back to HATs, and put another L6SE in the woofer location (I love that driver, it never sounds bad)

And then, I'm gonna put a BLOWER on the motor!


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## nanohead (Oct 21, 2013)

ChrisB said:


> As for those blasting the OP for wanting to put a 6.5 in the 8" spot... There are a lot more 6.5s that will fit and sound good versus 8s that will require a much thicker ring, thereby making the factory grill protrude out more!


Yep, exactly the problem I had. All the 8 inchers I looked at would have required surgery on one or more parts of the grill/mount system, except that Fountek


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## jb4674 (Jan 29, 2015)

This should fit without issues....

KFC-XW800F | Subwoofers and Tweeters | Car Electronics | Kenwood Australia


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## eldondo (Jul 1, 2014)

i have 8in also in my vw van, a caddy. i found adaptors on ebay for them no problem


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