Baddeley MKIII Center Vent Speaker Adapter

One of the most common places to mount speakers in the Baddeley R2D2 is behind the center vents. In the MKIII design, there are mounting holes available that will fit a small, 3" speaker and allow it to be mounted flush to the center vent panel itself.

However, most 3" speakers are “one-way” designs that offer lower fidelity sound and cannot handle higher power amplifiers behind them.

Stepping up to 3.5", two-way speakers can offer a dramatic performance boost, but often these speakers employ a projecting tweeter that prevents the speakers from sitting flush on the center vent panel, and due to their increased size, do not align with the existing mounting holes.

This two-piece speaker adapter allows you to attach larger speakers and at the same time, elevate them to allow room for tweeters that would otherwise be in the way.

This adapter was designed for these speakers from American Bass, but would probably work for other speakers of roughly the same size.

The adapter base attaches to the center vent panel using the existing speaker mounting holes. M4 bolts feed in from the opposite side and hold the adapter in place with 4 square nuts. The adapter base provides 17mm of vertical clearance from the center vent panel.

The adapter ring provides the interface between the adapter base and the speaker itself. It attaches to the adapter base with a pair of 12mm M4 bolts and captive square nuts.

Once the ring is attached, the speakers can be held in place with two 10mm M4 bolts and two more captive square nuts.

Note: This adapter modification should be used in conjunction with my custom frame corner mounts available here: https://www.printables.com/model/228879-baddeley-mkiii-center-vent-frame-attachment-mod

Assembly Steps:

1. Attach the two adapter bases to the empty center vent panel using M4 hardware. The length will vary - the upper adapter base can be attached with 12 or 14mm fasteners, while the lower adapter base will require 20-25mm hardware.
2. Attach the front vents to the center vent panel using 4 small self-tapping screws inserted from the rear.
3. Attach the two adapter tops to the adapter bases, being careful to align them so that the flat sides of the tabs are facing out towards the sides. This will allow the entire assembly to fit through the center vent opening in the body.
4. Attach the speakers to the adapter tops using 10mm M4 fasteners.

Here is a brief video showing how I assembled and installed mine: