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Center speaker OR Full range as Center speaker?

What is your thought on this subject?

For HT setup, center speaker is very important since ~70% of the recording consists dialogue, depending on whether or not the movie is action or drama. Some say this is why center speaker is designed specifically for such purpose. Some, on the other hand, recommend to use full range matching speaker as the center. For the center speaker in a HT setup, what would you do if you had to choose between a specifically designed center speaker and a full range speaker? May I consult with A'gon members for this trend of thought.

If you had big box like B&W or Wilson Puppy, would you pursue this option? If you have HT Magnepan, would you use MG center or MG full range to hang on the wall to improve the WAF condition? If you had Thiel monitor with stand, would you use all 5 matching Thiels? If you had Definitive, would you use all full range or its specifically designed center speaker? Would you change your system around to pursue this option?

What are the pro and con of using a full range as center speaker? How many have done so, and what is your opinion? Thank you for your input.
lej1447

Showing 5 responses by kr4

kr4's avatar
kr4
3,704 posts
 
Without question, go with the full-range IF you can fit it. I use 3 Revel Studios across the front in one system and 3 Paradigm Studio/60s in the other. Various other configurations, in both systems, was less successful.

The only justification for a dedicated center speaker is to accommodate compromise for physical, cosmetic or marital constraints. (All of which must be acknowledged, of course.)

Kal
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,704 posts
 
It's not a question of music vs. movies. It's a question of how many discrete channels there are. If you have no center signal, well, you don't need a center speaker. If you have a real center channel signal, you cannot split it to the L/R and hope to recover it properly as a phantom center.

Of course, if you do the center channel poorly, it can be worse than not but that's not an issue of design or theory but of compromise.

Kal
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,704 posts
 
Well, I would not want to pick and choose among those companies, all of whom manufacture good equipment which can be used to make an outstanding MCH system. Of course, I'd take any one of the main speakers over any one of their dedicated center speakers with the possible exception of the B&W HTM1!

Kal
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,704 posts
 
Rysa4, you make a good statement: "But I am referring to getting a center actually designed well, (not cheaply or offhand by a non-HT focused manufacturer) and matched. A good center is not a speaker on its side and is not designed that way." Unfortunately, this is a principle rarely adhered to. The vast majority of dedicated centers are inferior in design. Aside from specific cases, I'd sooner make the general advise I did than recommend the "matching center channel from the same manufacturer."

As for the choice between full range and one with limited bass (regardless of physical configuration), my choice is dictated by the fact that I am more concerned with SACD and DVD-A reproduction of music than with HT. So, for me, full range or pretty close to it.

Kal
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,704 posts
 
Krellman-

I do not doubt your observations and, in fact, I am not surprised by them. Using 6! bipolar speakers is a sure way to have amorphous imaging and, more than that, using 2 together as a center-channel is going to give you less specific of the center image than no center speaker. (Note, I did not say anything about the relative quality of the individual components compared to your Krell/Dunlavy system.)

Kal
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