Centre speaker for SBLs?

Posted by: Alf Pilgrim on 04 December 2000

Since upgrading to SBLs it's shown up my existing KEF Reference 90 centre speaker. Tonally and speedwise it's chalk and cheese.

Could anyone post advice on candidates I could go audition?

cheers
alf

ps. the rears will be next so any thoughts on those too will be welcome

Posted on: 04 December 2000 by Andrew Randle

Don't bother with a centre channel. Your SBLs are more than good enough to cover the centre - if it works for the hi-fi then it'll work for the video.

Centre channels are a ruse to get people to buy more amps and speakers.

Lecture over

Andrew

Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;

Posted on: 04 December 2000 by Steve Hall

If you are using the SBL's within a 5.1 environment and you dont have a centre speaker, what happens to all the content that comes from that track? For example, as the centre speaker is meant to fix speach to the screen, and the content is *only* recorded on the centre channel track - if you havent got a centre speaker do you hear the speach?

Posted on: 04 December 2000 by Paul Stephenson

Pro-ac make a centre channel unit which is supposed to work well with the sbl. They both have very similar tweeters.

Posted on: 04 December 2000 by matthewr

>> as the centre speaker is meant to fix speach to the screen, and the content is *only* recorded on the centre channel track - if you havent got a centre speaker do you hear the speach? <<

Because most AV processors have a mode which routes the centre channel to both the main front speakers so it sounds just like a centre speaker placed in the middle.

Matthew

Posted on: 04 December 2000 by Top Cat

...is not really any substitute for a real centre speaker. Believe you me, it sounds 'odd'; I have in my possession right now a pair of what are regarded as some as the best imaging speakers under £10,000. Whether or not that is true is not the case, but no-one could ever argue that they don't image. Now, on 'phantom' centre mode on my amp, it sounds ok, but unless your screen is on the same plane as the HF unit of the front speakers, you'll end up with disembodiment.

A centre speaker locks dialogue to the screen; in my case, it's not possible to have the TV in the exact middle of the front speakers, so I have no choice but to use a centre. A B&W CC6, which is fine for AV but pants for music

John

Posted on: 04 December 2000 by Mike Hanson

Royd's center channel is very fast (although not quite as fast as the SBL). It's touch warmer in the midrange, though, which will do nicely on the voices that are usually pumped through the center channel. It's also fairly inexpensive. Catch you later!

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Smilies do not a forum make.

Posted on: 04 December 2000 by Arun Mehan

Have a listen to the new Martin Logan centre speaker, I think it's called the Reference.

Posted on: 04 December 2000 by David Dever

quote:
Because most AV processors have a mode which routes the centre channel to both the main front speakers so it sounds just like a centre speaker placed in the middle.

...and because this is often the origin of many 5.1 / 7.1 mixes anyways. Many engineers start with a stereo two-channel mix (music beds), then work the elements to the five, six, or seven surround channels. (The LFE channel is almost always a mono afterthought.)

Very few fold back dialogue gently into the front channels (after they've extracted it from the stereo mix) with any degree of reasonable balance--the variance in forward position of center-channel speakers in real-world consumer installations results in audible phase shifts and/or frequency imbalance.

So--if your processor has a dialogue-channel "ghost mode", you might actually be closer to a reasonable intended balance than meets the eye...many of these actually arbitrarily process the dialogue channel into the sides, some with adjustable delay setttings for your particular situation.

Not everyone can be expected to have round/ octagonal / square rooms with the flexibility of properly angling for surround--even in retrofitted professional installations (DVD pre-mastering suites, for example), speaker positions are not always absolute.

Dave Dever, NANA

[This message was edited by David Dever, NANA on TUESDAY 05 December 2000 at 05:19.]

Posted on: 05 December 2000 by Alf Pilgrim

Thanks for the advice. Varied as always which is the power of this forum.

I'm going to start with a ProAc Response CC1 which I've got on order to audition. Paul, I hope you meant that one not the (infeasibly) larger CC2. I'll work on the other suggestions from that point.

I'd welcome anybody else using that speaker posting their experiences.

In case it helps foster other comments, my wife recently admitted that she finds my (hifi) system 'cold'; lacking richness particularly in voices although she likes the other aspects. She can live with that for music as (horror) she's quite happy listening as background while doing other things around the house. However, with film she is more attentive and it is important to her that the soundtrack is portrayed in a 'cinemagraphic' manner. I suspect this will only complicate things and compromise may be the order of the day but we'll see.

cheers
alf