Using a main speaker as a center is ideal and usually superior to using most dedicated center speakers. However, you should use only one, not two, or the radiation/interference issues common to horizontal speaker will be encumbered.
Use one. Save the other for a spare.
Kal |
Sorry, Markphd. While there are a few well-designed center speakers, the vast majority are specialized to accommodate their positioning, not their performance. In specific, horizontal speaker arrays are fundamentally flawed and that is why you see so few of them used for stereo or main channel speakers.
As I said, there are exceptions but they are few and far between.
Also, Samujohn, it is fine that you are happy with your paired horizontal speakers but that does not mean they are not compromising imaging due to radiation interference.
Kal |
Maggies are a special case. Considering their construction, using a pair, edge-to-edge with the HF drivers together, actually works well and, imho, better than any of their dedicated centers. In fact, one of the very best MCH systems I have ever heard consisted of three pairs of 20.1s with one pair as the center, edge-to-edge and sharply angled with the HF ribbons pointed at the listener.
As for others saying that they hear no interference with a pair of standard speakers side-by-side, that's fine. That there is interference can be demonstrated with measurements but the degree to which listeners hear it or are bothered by it varies greatly.
Kal |
Well, gentlemen, you can disagree with me all you want but the physics does not change. Two drivers emitting the same signals but displaced from each other by more than 1/2 wavelength will produce additive and subtractive interactions resulting in an extremely ragged spatial radiation pattern in the plane of the drivers. This means, for the typical center channel, in the horizontal plane, unfortunately.
Thus, a typical MTM arrangement is fine when vertical since its horizontal dispersion is uniform and the vertical dispersion less important as long as the listeners remain seated or in the direct beam of the speaker. A "center channel with 2 mid drivers flanking the right and left side of a tweeter" is a design that is made to accommodate design and convenience and suffers from the described uneven dispersion. Note the lack of any quality main speakers with laterally arrayed drivers.
I do not wish to single out ML, nht or any other decent company since they are almost all at fault. They want to sell speakers that people will want and, unfortunately, most people think that a wide center speaker with an array of drivers "looks" like it would have a wide dispersion.
None of what I say depends on my hearing but on physics. Speak with any design engineer or read any book on speaker engineering and the issue is clear. Whether you care about it is your own business.
Kal |
Jaybo wrote: "two centers as mains(l and r) will work too."
If you stand them up vertically. ;-)
Kal |
As I stated earlier, the issue is the relationship of the driver spacing to the wavelength. In the bottom end, the wavelengths are large enough that the relative placement of the drivers is inconsequential. I was surprised at the resistance to this issue here as I thought it was a fairly well-known matter.
Kal |
Good. As I said, and for many reasons, Maggies are a special case.
Kal |
Right, Bob, except I did that a few years back. ;-)
I recall being annoyed at the repetition of basic articles in the hobbyist mags every 2-3 years back when I was an avid reader of the audio and photography mags. Now, I realize that there are new readers coming on board all the time and they never saw the previous publications.
Still, today, everything is archived on the Internet. Unfortunately, no one new knows to search for that stuff until something becomes an issue for him.
Kal |
Ouch! If you lay that on its side, you are encumbering all (and I mean all!) the comb filtering and irregularity of any horizontal center and, probably, compromising the otherwise ideal match to your other Kappa 9s.
You are a good example of the market for which speaker manufacturers make horizontal center speakers.
Kal |
I have no problem with your satisfaction but you have traded a dynamically inadequate solution (dedicated center) for a spatially compromised one. If that is optimum, fine.
There are center speakers that will do fine in a large room, such as the B&W HTM1D or the JBL Synthesis units. Nonetheless, I would be surprised if you can achieve a really good sound field throughout with any standard home audio equipment. |
