Looking for small center speaker
I am currently using RT55 fronts and R10 rear speakers in my home theater setup. (The receiver is a Yamaha HTR-5150. No sub.) I have a CS300 center but am not using it due to fit issues. With the current setup it is difficult in some movies to hear dialog without the louder portions being too loud. Would adding a small center channel speaker help? I only have about 6 inches of height and 7 inches of depth below the TV to work with. I am looking at the Definitive Technology ProCenter 1000. Would that speaker be a close enough match to the RT55s? Alternatives?
Comments
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That’s a good center for the size. I ran it for a while with promonitor 800s in the main living room HT and with a good sub I was surprised how effective it was. The timbre will be slightly different but unless you are listening to lots of concert blu rays or multi channel SACDs I don’t think it will bother you. And if you buy a used one you can just resell it if you decide you don’t like it...Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es
Game Room 5.1.4: Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra
Bedroom 2.1 Harmon Kardon HK3490; Bluesounds Node N130; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer -
I did get the Definitive Technology ProCenter 1000. I'm running with a couple of dB boost on the center channel and decreasing the overall volume level. This keeps the peak volume somewhat less loud than the no center set up. I haven't noticed the mismatch between the center and mains for movies. (I switch to 2 channel for music.)
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Interesting. I have a phantom center setup in one of my rooms, and I have no dialogue problems. Are you sure your amp was configured to run a phantom center?Main: Polk Rti-38
Center: Polk Csi-40
Rear: Polk Fxi-30
Sub: SVS PB10-isd
Receiver: Marantz SR-5007
Buttkicker Mini Concert x 4 -
That's because movies have actual dynamics. What AVR are you running? I know when I was using a Yamaha Aventage you could "boost" dialog which I'm pretty sure was just an EQ that turned up the mid-range but it worked well. It also had some type of night time mode that would limit dynamic range.afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk -
When I was running without a center, I had center speaker set to "none" which routes the center channel to the mains. The receiver (Yamaha HTR-5150) doesn't have a boost for dialog. There is a setting to limit the dynamic range (for Dolby Digital only) but the difference in volume between the dialog and the loudest parts of some movies was still too great. Since most dialog is in the center channel and "action sequences" are in the mains (or distributed across all of the speakers), adding the center allows for lower peak levels by turning the overall volume down while the boost to the center keeps the volume on the dialog high enough. The result may not be exactly what the movie director intended, but it is a modest improvement (at least to me). Note: It is more effective for some movies than others.
