CRS. . .Center channel query. . .

I wouldn't worry with a rewire since you possess the early models with 2 tweets and 2 mids. Too much hassle. I would set them both side by side, run the mono center signal into them and hook the SDA cable up. You may get comb filtering and signal cancelling, but the amount of sound out of that setup compared to the average center would still be huge. Imagine a center channel with 4 mids and 4 tweets...........

Your Monitor 10's and SDA CRS may both have mw6503 mid-woofers. Mine do, but this is not always what you will find inside. Carefully unscrew each driver to check their labels. Sometimes one or more of the drivers will seem to be stuck. Try removing a tweeter and once you get one of them out, you can stick a hand inside to gently push the drivers that are stuck. When you are finished, tighten the screws firmly to seal the cabinet but do not overtighten them.

I see that your Monitor 10's have the sl2000 tweeters and you are going to replace them. If all of your mid-woofers turn out to be mw6503's you should consider replacing the SDA CRS tweeters with the same ones you ordered for the Monitor 10's.

The drawback here is the replacement tweeters will not fit into the SDA CRS tweeter holes. You will have to enlarge the holes a little bit to accomodate the new silk tweeters. A dremel and patience are the tools of choice for this. I would try one or both of the SDA CRS as centers without rewiring them.

By "stuck" I was referring to the gasket seal between the drivers and the cabinet which sometimes sticks even after removing the four screws.

The other kind of "stuck" is from shipping damage. Sometimes gentle bumps around the magnet with a rubber hammer can save the day.

The Monitor 4's will be ok as surrounds, but their tweeters are different so keep them out of the mix up front.

It's always great to have the wife on board. Check out the Logitech Harmony remotes. http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/productlistharmony/US/EN,CRID=2080

Dennis Gardner wrote:

I wouldn't worry with a rewire since you possess the early models with 2 tweets and 2 mids. Too much hassle. I would set them both side by side, run the mono center signal into them and hook the SDA cable up. You may get comb filtering and signal cancelling, but the amount of sound out of that setup compared to the average center would still be huge. Imagine a center channel with 4 mids and 4 tweets...........

Hi Dennis,

Actually the older CRSs had five drivers per cabinet, 2 mids, 2 tweeters and a rear-facing passive radiator. My understanding is that in order to send a signal to the dimensional drivers (one mid and one tweeter in this older CRS) there has to be a difference in signals between the right and left speakers. That is the signal must be stereo, as in Stereo Dimensional Array. So if both speakers are receiving the same mono signal then, even with the SDA interlink connected, no interaural crosstalk cancelling signal would be sent to the dimensional drivers. Since the interlink doesn't appear to be doing anything in this application, there may be an advantage of leaving them off because then you could use non-common ground amplifiers without fear of damaging the speakers.

gyusher:

I agree with Dennis that having two excellent center channel speakers is likely to outweigh any negative effects of comb filtering. However, I believe if you are able to stack the dual speakers vertically, versus placing them horizontally, you will achieve better performance and perhaps mitigate the effects of comb filtering.

One of the primary purposes of having a physical center channel is to precisely anchor a sonic image, particularly dialog, in the center of the soundfield even for off-axis listeners. Placing two center channels horizontally defeats this objective by smearing the sonic image for listeners seated off-axis. (Fortunately, it still presents centered phantom images for listeners on-axis.)

Conversely, vertically stacked center channel speakers present a compact and centered sonic phantom image regardless of whether the listeners are seated on-axis or off-axis.

For a discussion of vertically stacked center channels and how they may be able to reduce the effects of comb filtering, you might find this thread that Dennis started of interest.

Dual Centers for Front Projection?

Larry

Polk65 wrote:

Larry, yes I was referring to the earlier SDA CRS model with sl1000 tweeters. Later SDA CRS and SDA CRS+ have the sl2000's.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the link to the parts lists.
However, according to the Polk Audio table of parts the CRS model also had SL2000 tweeters.

Larry

Polk65 wrote:

Hi Larry,

Trick or treat.

There were at least two versions of the SDA CRS. Mine came with four sl1000's, four mw6503's and blade/blade IC. I plan to try out Peerless tweeters as they drop in without any modifications.

Later SDA CRS came with sl2000's and therefore would have a larger cutout for the tweeters. This was my reason for asking gyusher which type he has, to figure out if the new replacement tweeters will fit without cutting.

Below left is my SDA CRS with sl1000 tweeter. Center is the Peerless showing good screw hole alignment. Below right is a sl2000 tweeter that is too large to fit.

edit: this is all pre SDA CRS+

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks very much for the elaboration.

So it looks like gyusher will need to do some cutting to use the replacement tweeters.

Larry