Centre speaker - I want to mismatch!

spandexbullet

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Very noob questions here but I value your thoughts and opinions. I have searched and read conflicting views in various places.

I am in the process of upgrading my mancave/ home cinema audio. To the sides of my screen (110" projector screen beamed by Epson TW7300) I have very limited space. The screen fills almost the whole width of the room and goes very close to the side walls. I have recently put in some Monitor Audio Bronze 5's. They are as big a speaker as I can fit there and they seem great. Beneath the screen I have a newly bought SVSPB2000 Sub. It's a beast. I now need a centre speaker (I'll come to the surrounds and receiver in another post).

So, the centre speaker. The obvious choice is the matching Monitor Audio Bronze centre BUT... could I / should I opt for something bigger? I will have plenty of room below the PJ screen for something more substantial either wall-mounted or sat on a low stand.

Some people seem dead against using anything but identical speakers across all three fronts, others say if you must use a "centre" you must use the same manufacturers centre model, or risk weirdness in sound with panning shots in films etc. I also see lots of people saying that actually, the "matching" centres are so unlike the L+R in terms of design and drivers that it really doesn't matter - tone will always differ.

Before I go ahead and make a daft choice, I would love to hear any opinions and especially from those who may have "mismatched" centres. I'd also be interested to know what you guys use for centre stands, or whether wall-mounting is preferred (I'm getting rid of a low media unit beneath the PJ screen to free up some space).

Thanks!
 
I don't think you'd miss out by going for the Silver centre; in fact, it'd probably be beneficial.

You're right that the design of "matching centres" is a bit of a compromise. That's why I use M&K LCRs; where the front sound stage uses identical speakers.
 
@spandexbullet Silver C350 would be great choice if you want to stick with same brand! Larger drivers and 3-way design! We have members who has mixed Bronze and Silver LCR without issues.

For cheaper and more compact option which is still better than Bronze Centre few open box products cheaper.




Center channel stands ain`t cheap and there isn´t many available. Amazon UK has few more, but they come from US and are even more expensive.

Check out 2nd hand options..
 
~Thanks for your input, guys. I am thinking I really do need to stick with the same brand now.
 
I prefer multi driver design or Celestion a4c with four drivers rather than two or three. Go for sealed box also.
 
I have bronze centre and I think it's sounds bad, I will probably just go phantom centre, as I can't use a full range speaker as a centre in my living room. Either that or see if a silver centre will improve it but I'm skeptical about cente's now.
 
I have bronze centre and I think it's sounds bad, I will probably just go phantom centre, as I can't use a full range speaker as a centre in my living room. Either that or see if a silver centre will improve it but I'm skeptical about cente's now.

How you have placed it, free space/inside cabinet/high or low? Picture would be nice.

Have you bumped the crossover after autosetup to ~80hz, speaker size small? Also we can assume you have ran the setup to get speaker levels, distances etc. correct.

Have you triple checked that wiring is correct on speaker and receiver side? One members son had the wiring wrong and because of this the Bronze Centre sounded horrible. After swapping it was pure joy.
 

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