is the center channel good?

Kinetic
Kinetic Posts: 437
edited August 2008 in Car Audio & Electronics
guys did the center channel helps on the SQ?

i was looking at this one:

http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/product.php?model=SBS-05DC

i have the double din space in the accord and i am just using one, what do you guys think?
Z
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Comments

  • mmadden28
    mmadden28 Posts: 4,283
    edited August 2008
    A center channel in a car install? Wow-I am definately behind the times.
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  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,804
    edited August 2008
    mmadden28 wrote: »
    A center channel in a car install? Wow-I am definately behind the times.

    Yes, you are.

    Center channels have been being used in cars with head units capable of 5.1 channel sound since about 2001-2002 I think was when I first saw them coming out.
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  • black magic
    black magic Posts: 669
    edited August 2008
    I plan on getting a centre channel once I get another amp and the processor I want. Hopefully by next summer. I dont think you need one for SQ. Most people have them for DVD's and such. Most SQ cars I've seen don't have a centre channel.
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  • Greg Peters
    Greg Peters Posts: 605
    edited August 2008
    The trick with properly integrating a center channel is "voice matching" the center mid and tweeter to those used in your front stage. While any speaker (like the DIN Alpine listed) will play back center channel information from a processor, getting it to sound like a seamless extension of your front stage won't be happening unless the components in the center channel and your front speakers are very similar- similar types of tweeters, similar types of midrange.

    Obviously you won't be squeezing a mid like that found in a typical 5.25 - 6.5" component set into a 1 DIN space like the Alpine you've linked to, but what people do is either integrate a single mid/tweeter into the dash firing up or mount it inside the dash firing forwards, in your case even firing through the single DIN space if room behind permits. Depending on what you've got for a head unit/processor, you may be able to simulate a center channel (like the Alpine PXA-H701 can do) and avoid the modifications and timbre-matching problems associated with installing an actual center channel in the dash.
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  • Greg Peters
    Greg Peters Posts: 605
    edited August 2008
    Jstas wrote: »
    Yes, you are.

    Center channels have been being used in cars with head units capable of 5.1 channel sound since about 2001-2002 I think was when I first saw them coming out.

    I did a center channel install circa '83, using a summed-mono signal and a half a coaxial set mounted below the factory 5x7 dash speaker opening :D. It wasn't for 5.1 in-car since that didn't exist yet, but was meant to minimize near side bias in a big old american car where you sat too close to the left front speaker...it sort of worked as intended but I never went to the trouble of doing that again :o.
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