older EFX 5.1s with small centre - worth upgrading?

Soldato
Joined
26 Aug 2003
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24,285
Hi guys,

I don't frequent these parts often at all as I'm generally really happy with my modest AV setup. I have a Sony amp I bought a while back along with a set of EFX 5.1s which I believe I was actually recommended on here.

They're a great set of speakers and work great with the amp but they are, I think, one of the older sets. The centre speaker is the same as the rest, I've always had it laid on its side.

Would I notice a bit more clarity in speech and so on by upgrading the centre? What kind of centre would suit them, and what sort of money would I be looking at? Or would it be a pointless exercise and be too 'good' for the rest of the package? Half the reason I want to do it to be honest is because it looks odd on its side! :D

I didn't have any luck finding the other EFX centre, or the SFX centre individually, presumably they didn't sell them alone.

Thanks for any advice :)
 
Super... Fi sells the SFX centre for around £70.

I'm sure you know that the centre speaker is the most important of all your surround speakers. The SFX centre seems to have the same drivers as the standard SFX satellites; it's a bigger box though. Whether it sounds substantially better than a satellite though is a bit of a guess. Have you thought about looking at the other Tannoy centres? Perhaps the Mercury centre.

If you look around you can find some amazing deals. Richers are selling the Dali Ikon Vokal centre for around £60-£80 - previously £300. It has a soft dome tweeter (your Tannoys use metal domes) so I don't know if it would sound too different in your system, but it wouldn't get harsh at higher volumes and might be more forgiving of the amp. It would definitely sound richer and fuller thanks to the bass reflex ports.
 
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