Other than just building another 4pi speaker, are there any plans for a horizontal center channel speaker that sounds good with the 4pi speakers? Hopefully it uses the same horn driver as the 4pi speakers. Thanks!
Wayne Parham Messages: 18752 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
If quality matters, then horizontal layouts are out. You can't make a good speaker with drivers that are side-by-side. It's a matter of directivity, and the fact that such a speaker would have nulls to the left and the right instead of above and below.
The only reason anyone ever makes a speaker like that it is convenient with respect to physical layout. You can make it short, so it can easily sit under a TV set. But the truth is, it's worse than no speaker at all. If you are limited in the vertical size, it is better to use a phantom center channel. Toe in the left and right as suggested, and you'll have a very realistic center image.
I would not suggest the use of a center channel speaker unless the screen is physically large, so much that the center has a hole without it. But screens that size get into the realm of projectors where you can put the speakers behind the screen. Then the size of the center isn't a problem, and you can use the same speaker as is used on the left and right channels.