6.5" midbass vs 8" midbass, options?

[Chaotic_Thought 10+ year member]

So 3 out of the 6 stock speakers in my truck are blown, so i might as well replace the whole lot. The front door speakers are a 5 1/4" that is a one piece plastic baffle. After doing some measuring i have figured that i can put an 8" midbass that has less than 4.5" mounting depth.

Now the main question is, will the larger driver be worth the extra fab work and added cost? After a little bit of searching it seems that the options for 8" drivers is limited due to the majority being 8 ohm or are more midrange and not midbass. And i have found a few woofers that have a narrow frequency response that cuts off at around 300hz. Since i will only be doing a three way active setup, i need a broader frequency response unless i went with a woofer and a small full range driver to fill in the midrange and high range? The vehicle is a 2007.5 chevy 2500hd crew cab 6.0L.

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[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

To get real midbass out of an 8" driver you may need to get a subwoofer. Then you start to want to build an enclosure in the door to control the response. Otherwise you can step down to the ~7" diameter and open up your options. A 3" or 4" midrange would work really well with that size of midbass, then that could be topped off with a 1" tweeter. I have options for these scenarios and I can make this work with a 4-channel amplifier and 2 passive crossovers or a 6-channel amplifier and a DSP. The latter option is much more expensive but it will allow for more control. I prefer to keep all the drivers close together on each side, but if you want to use factory tweeter locations that limits you.

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

It is well worth the effort and don't let an 8 ohm driver scare you. You don't need to use a subwoofer and you don't need to build an eclosure to get the response you need.

Just look for an 8" woofer - simple as that. The lower the Fs and the more Xmax the better. From there, try to get the highest frequency response possible so you can either cross to a large format tweeter that can cross very low, or a midrange like you said. That would be a better choice. Again, I cannot stress this enough, do not make the mistake of letting 8 ohm scare you away from a driver. Easily one of the most misunderstood aspects of choosing a driver.

These are the types of drivers you are looking for...

Dayton Audio RS225-8 8" Reference Woofer 295-356

Dayton Audio RS225-4 8" Reference Woofer 4 Ohm 295-376

Aurum Cantus AC200/50C2C 8" Woofer 296-452

Peerless 830869 8" Nomex Cone HDS Woofer 264-1098

Morel H8.1 8" Hybrid Series Woofer 297-066

Morel MW-266 8" Poly Woofer 297-040

Fountek FW200 8" Aluminum Midwoofer 296-731

Peerless 835026 8" Aluminum Cone HDS Woofer 264-1100