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Thoughts on Center Speakers?? [message #28433]

Fri, 13 February 2004 07:42

GarMan
Messages: 960
Registered: May 2009

Illuminati (2nd Degree)

Just wanted to get a scense of what people thought of center speakes in a HT arrangement. I understand that there's a lot of information that comes out of the center speaker, so it makes scense to have a high quality dedicated speaker for this purpose. However, there seems to be a lot of issues involved in putting one in place.

First of all, you can never place it so that the sound will appear to be coming out of the TV. Typically, it's placed either over or below the screen.

Secondly, most of these speakers are placed so that the drivers are arranged horizontally, which would bring out phase effects as you move across the room. I know ideally, the speakers should be place up-right, but who has room for that? Besides, if you place it upright, the speaker will be even further away from the centre of the screen.

One method I came across to solve the two problems above was to use two separate speakers, placed immediately to the right and left of the screen, hooked up in parallel for the center channel. But in that case, why bother at all. Why not just send the center channel information to the front speakers?

gar.

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Re: Thoughts on Center Speakers?? [message #28434 is a reply to message #28433]

Fri, 13 February 2004 09:07

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18676
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

Personally, I think the choice of dialog channel is set a lot by the width of the room. Theaters naturally need a dialog channel because they are so wide. Similarly, a large spread between right and left forward speakers in a home theater creates a need for a dialog channel for the same reason.

For true dialog speakers, I think it's best to have the television immediately above or below the center speaker. It would be best to have the center channel immediately behind the television, which is possible with an acoustically transparent screen. But I doubt many people are running projectors so that's rarely an option. Short of having an acoustically transparent screen with speakers behind it, I think it's best to have the television right above the dialog speaker. When the midrange/tweeter is just under the televison, the illusion works pretty well.

If the room isn't wide and the right and left channel flank the television anyway, I don't think there's much to be gained by having a discrete center channel. A virtual center is fine in that case. I run a pair of speakers flanking the television to create a virtual center. That's a good solution in my living room; There's a wide soundstange and definitely no trace of any missing area between them.

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Keep them small. [message #28435 is a reply to message #28434]

Wed, 28 April 2004 05:47

Bill Fitzmaurice
Messages: 335
Registered: May 2009

Grand Master

I use a pair of 3s flanking a 3/8" dome tweeter, mounted below screen, so the mid driver centers are only ten inches apart and that minimizes the comb-filtering aspect. I find that their F3 of 120 Hz and mimimal power handling are still quite sufficient for center channel program needs. The drivers are shielded, sit 8 inches below the screen, and don't cause any screen distortions.

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Re: Keep them small. [message #28436 is a reply to message #28435]

Wed, 28 April 2004 06:20

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18676
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

Sounds like a pretty cool setup, Bill. Dialog channels are always a toughie. Some want the dialog to be the same speaker as the right and left channels, or very similar. That limits a person's choices. Others use a smaller dialog speaker, which really opens up your options, particularly for those that enjoy horns and other larger speaker systems for right and left mains. I've kinda side-stepped the whole deal, because I don't use a dialog speaker. My room isn't very large, so it's really a non-issue.

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Re: Thoughts on Center Speakers?? [message #28437 is a reply to message #28433]

Mon, 03 May 2004 11:00

mollecon
Messages: 203
Registered: May 2009

Master

I think some type of coaxial unit is best for center purposes - maybe one of the Eminence Beta models would be a reasonably affordable and efficient alternative?

Concerning having the voices (& screen sound in general) coming from the screen itself, one COULD place two centers, one below, & one above the screen. Would of course cause compfilterring effects in the vertical plane, but maybe not too bad...

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Coax thoughts [message #28438 is a reply to message #28437]

Mon, 17 May 2004 15:40

Bill Fitzmaurice
Messages: 335
Registered: May 2009

Grand Master

A coax would be good from an imaging standpoint, but the usual driver size of 8" or better could be problematic in many cases. The space under my TV is only 6 inches high, so a coax wouldn't work for me. A very small coax like a 4" Fostex is an option, if you want to spend that much.

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