B&W HTM1D3 vs HTM2D3


I am curious if anyone has upgraded their B&W center speaker From HTM2D3 to HTM1D3.  If you have,  I would like to know your impressions  and if it is worth the $2K price difference.  I am primarily 2 channel, but also listen to many Blu-ray concerts and other 5.1 music.  The larger speaker has larger bass and mid range drivers so I would expect vocals to have more clarity, as well as deeper bass.
i previously upgraded to 802D3’s from 803D3’s, but am still using the smaller center channel.
128x128bwguy

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I own the smaller HTM2 D3 with the smaller 6.5" woofers. If you run your center channel full range and really turn things up loud on some movies, the smaller HTM2 will sometimes peak the woofers on movies that route extreme bass to the center channel. This comes across as a very loud CLICK or SNAP. You’ll just have to be careful if you do this.  However, the small HTM2 has a very good very low bass response in my opinion.

The bigger HTM1 has the larger 8" woofers. They appear to also have larger surrounds and I think will allow more travel before peak. It also has quite a bit more power handling (500W versus the 200W of the smaller HTM2).

From analysis of these speakers, the smaller HTM2 has drivers that match exactly to the 804D3. The bigger HTM1 is driver matched to the 802D3. I know there was a significant crossover improvement between the 804D3 and the larger models. There could be a crossover improvement on this bigger HTM1 as well (just a theory).