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jeffslife
Joined: 17 Apr 2010
Posts: 4190
Location: ohio usa
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| Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 9:52 pm Post subject: What is the best center channel speaker you have heard ? |
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and why.
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ecrabb
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Joined: 13 Mar 2006
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Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 1:52 am Post subject: |
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There is nothing like a front stage with three big, matching, full-range main speakers. Two of the best I've heard are Seaton's Catalyst 12C and JTR Neosis 212. Seaton's Catalysts are out of my price range, but JTR makes some smaller designs that are relatively affordable. I really, really love compression drivers for home theater; they can just reproduce a dynamic sound that most audiophile speakers just can't. They're especially awesome if you like to listen to music and live concert surround.
Cheers,
SC
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mr_ro_co
Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 1643
Location: Santa Fe NM
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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| ecrabb wrote: | There is nothing like a front stage with three big, matching, full-range main speakers. Two of the best I've heard are Seaton's Catalyst 12C and JTR Neosis 212. Seaton's Catalysts are out of my price range, but JTR makes some smaller designs that are relatively affordable. I really, really love compression drivers for home theater; they can just reproduce a dynamic sound that most audiophile speakers just can't. They're especially awesome if you like to listen to music and live concert surround.
Cheers,
SC |
Add to this a vertically symmetric radiation pattern with a relatively narrow vertical directivity and relatively wide horizontal directivity (reducing HF floor and ceiling reflections improves dialog clarity). Additionally, speech/dialog intelligibility is aided by speakers that have either linear or flat phase through the crossover region. This is further advanced by either physically or electronically putting the HF driver in the same zero delay plane as the low pass drivers to remove the excess phase component between transducers. Finally, with horn based speakers, it's important that special attention is paid to match the directivity of the low pass and high pass sections through the crossover region.
This pretty much describes a really good pro-audio studio grade monitor.
Finally, all three fronts must be physically oriented the same. Much of the benefit of matching the LCRs is undone when the center is placed on its side.
From what I can tell, Seaton attends to most if not all these details in their designs, so it's no wonder they are so well regarded.
Steve
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Nashou66
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
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jeffslife
Joined: 17 Apr 2010
Posts: 4190
Location: ohio usa
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| Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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So Mr. Ro Co , do all three speakers have to be on the same plane ? Could the center channel be setting lower as long as it wasn't laid on its side ? Could the left and right be say 18 inches taller ? ( all identical speakers)
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mr_ro_co
Joined: 08 May 2006
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Location: Santa Fe NM
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| Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 5:18 pm Post subject: |
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| jeffslife wrote: | | So Mr. Ro Co , do all three speakers have to be on the same plane ? Could the center channel be setting lower as long as it wasn't laid on its side ? Could the left and right be say 18 inches taller ? ( all identical speakers) |
No, although it's ideal. The most important thing if you've matched the three fronts is to keep their dispersion orientation the same. A staggered height setup is a good compromise to preserve that.
Steve
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jeffslife
Joined: 17 Apr 2010
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Location: ohio usa
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| Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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Thank ypu, That solves a lot of problems.
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the big E
Joined: 20 Apr 2013
Posts: 1928
Location: speedwell Tn.
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| Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 3:40 am Post subject: |
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If you want vintage would really rock(currently use vintage infinity speakers with awesome audio quality)
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jeffslife
Joined: 17 Apr 2010
Posts: 4190
Location: ohio usa
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| Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 3:48 am Post subject: |
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I have a 7.1 set up. Currently the front channels and the (5.1) surrounds are Polk RTI A 9's. I am going to add another for the center channel with a custom box, using all the same parameters as the original box. The only difference will be height and shape. I aint worrying about the RBS in the 7.1 because one title in 30 is 7.1 most is 5.1 and the A9's sound pretty good. I like them anyway and that's all that counts.
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the big E
Joined: 20 Apr 2013
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Location: speedwell Tn.
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| Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 5:48 am Post subject: |
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| jeffslife wrote: | | I have a 7.1 set up. Currently the front channels and the (5.1) surrounds are Polk RTI A 9's. I am going to add another for the center channel with a custom box, using all the same parameters as the original box. The only difference will be height and shape. I aint worrying about the RBS in the 7.1 because one title in 30 is 7.1 most is 5.1 and the A9's sound pretty good. I like them anyway and that's all that counts. |
Polk speakers are great too(I have a set for a different audio setup)
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jeffslife
Joined: 17 Apr 2010
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| Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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So far the best center I have heard is craigs paradigm.
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kal
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jeffslife
Joined: 17 Apr 2010
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| Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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Looks like craigs center to me.
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CIR Engineering
Joined: 25 Aug 2008
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Location: Chicago USA & Berlin Germany
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| Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, that is a slightly newer version of my speakers Jeff.
I think one of the primary areas you should work on though is room treatments. You have a concrete floor and walls. Get some thick carpeting and padding down on the floor. Get some sound absorbers on the walls, but really you should frame in and drywall first. Those improvements will have much more impact than different speakers right now.
I have an entire pallet of rigid fiberglass here that is just in the way. I should have sold it to you while you were here. I would have taken $75 for the whole thing. Oh well.
craigr
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RayN999
Joined: 25 May 2010
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Location: Minneapolis, MN
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 1:11 am Post subject: |
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I'm using a Martin Logan Cinema, it's a great match for the Aerius i front channels. Martin Logan Motion 12s are doing surround channel duties.
Sounds great!
Ray
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jeffslife
Joined: 17 Apr 2010
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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Craigs is the best I have ever heard, and its pretty too.
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nettwerkjohn
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
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Location: Blenheim, Marlborough, New Zealand
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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shahinian arcs, a full set of 5 driven by meridian and dynavector electronics. totally unconstrained,,,
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jeffslife
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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What do you mean by totally unconstrained ? Full range ?
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nettwerkjohn
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 1:22 am Post subject: |
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yes. augmented by a very large triad inroom sub, the system can play very loud with no hint of dynamic compression.
note, it is not my system, rather that of a friend.
just a large coherent soundfield with superior resolution and huge dynamic range. i was very impressed.
we run janszen electrostatics at home - very nice, but quite constrained dynamically.
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mr_ro_co
Joined: 08 May 2006
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Location: Santa Fe NM
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| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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| nettwerkjohn wrote: | yes. augmented by a very large triad inroom sub, the system can play very loud with no hint of dynamic compression.
note, it is not my system, rather that of a friend.
just a large coherent soundfield with superior resolution and huge dynamic range. i was very impressed.
we run janszen electrostatics at home - very nice, but quite constrained dynamically. |
Shahinian has about the exact opposite characteristics needed for ideal home theater speaker performance. Coherent? Dear me, no. The term you are looking for is diffuse. Shahinians are just about the furthest thing from focused or coherent. They are not even remotely coherent. Ever seen the impulse response for these speakers? It's a complete mess. That's what you get when you point lots of drivers in all different directions with all their different arrival times.
Shahinian speakers are a nicer version of Bose 901s. They maximize the complexity of reflections in-room to produce a highly diffuse reflected soundfield. While this may be pleasing to the ear (it actually makes everything sound the same and is deceptive in its portrayal of loudness), its about the last thing you'd ever want for a home theater system, let alone a good center channel speaker.
Steve
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