On the lookout for a budget centre speaker

Mutt

Mutt

Mutt

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I've read many times that you should always match your centre speakers with your fronts, which obviously makes perfect sense but would mixing brands still be a no-no for a first HT setup? Would the difference between the fronts (which are Mission 702e floorstanders) and something like the Polk Audio CS2 Centre be enough to be a distraction to the average listener, as opposed to a HT/Hi-Fi buff?

Assuming it would be ok to mix speaker brands on a first surround system can you give me some ideas which budget centres I should be looking at? The floorstanders are from the early-mid 90's so I don't mind if the centre is of a similar age. I'll definitely be wanting to buy secondhand and I've only got about £50 to play with.

Would adding a centre speaker help to bring the dialogue in a movie to the fore? Whilst watching a movie at night I'm having to keep the remote control in my hand so I can quickly turn down the sound effects or music when they kick in.

A little additional info ... The speakers will be hooked up to an Onkyo 309 and for now there's no rears and no sub (will need to save some more pennies for those).


Cheers for any forthcoming help.
 
The ideal set up is to have the fronts and centre channels matched,or at least from the same manufacturer,as this keeps the sound even throughout the soundstage.
I can see no harm in what you are suggesting,if it sounds good to you then thats all that matters,try to get a speaker with the same impedance and sensitivity as your fronts,which will make life easier on your amplifier.
A centre channel will localise most of the dialogue at the screen area(assuming you mount the speaker under your screen that is!) and most of the effects will come from the fronts(until you hook up surrounds)
Loud effects/music is part and parcel of the way movie soundtracks are mixed I'm afraid,the sound engineers mix them at very loud(reference)levels,specifically for movie theatres and when we listen to them at home,usually at far lower than reference level,the dialogue can become swamped by the effects.
Some AV receivers incorporate dynamic range controls to compensate for this,Audyssey's dynamic volume,which is used on my Marantz is just superb at bringing the dialogue forward at lower listening levels.
If your amp doesn't have these features you could always increase the centre channel level a bit,although this doesn't have quite the same effect.
 
There are a fair number of Mission centre speakers available collectively on Ebay, AV Forums, Gumtree and elsewhere. Some are better than others. Thankfully there are also lots of reviews and owner opinions to help choose something decent within your price range.

Given the amount of sound directed at the centre I'd be tempted to push the boat out a little. A cheap Mission centre may be a false economy compared to something £10 or £20 more.
 
I think I'll have to choose a centre which is angled upwards otherwise the sound will be optimized about knee level ... or get a rectangular one and prop up the front end with rubber feet. With regards to impedance and sensitivity, when I do buy the centre I'll have the specs of my fronts on hand so I can best match them.

With the Onkyo 309 being a budget AV receiver I doubt there will be a lot of scope for fine-tuning the balance between fronts and centre but then I'm not looking for perfection just a tad more volume/impact to the dialogue.

A Mission centre would be preferable if I can find one at the right price and subject to positive opinions from owners. It's my birthday in a couple of weeks so I might have a few quid extra to be able to put towards the £50 to get something better.

Thanks for the useful information so far chaps.
 
The 309 might be a budget receiver, but have loads of scope for balancing the fronts and centre. The speaker set-up page in the menus will give you volume adjustment of +/-12dB per speaker. You'll use maybe 6dB at most.
 
Agreed,the Onkyo should give you all the adjustment range you'll need.A Mission centre would certainly be the best option,hopefully there should be a good few on ebay within your price range.Good luck.
 
Kef or mission are good - also Acoustic energy.

check my MM thread :) Got a Kef Q95c (8 Ohm, Bi wireable) going :)
 
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Until a few days ago I only had my computer speakers hooked up to the 309 so I didn't really have the option to tinker with the settings much on the receiver. I'll have a good read of the manual to see how best to configure fronts and centre.

jellybeard999 said:
Something like a Mission 75C should be available quite cheaply and is a good centre, if it matches your fronts.
Click to expand...

The Mission 75C is 6ohm isn't it? My fronts are 8ohm. If the receiver can handle the difference they might be worth looking at.

AndyOcUK said:
Kef or mission are good - also Acoustic energy.

check my MM thread :) Got a Kef Q95c (8 Ohm, Bi wireable) going :)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I qualify for the MM yet. What are the requirements again for getting access?
 
1000 posts? I'll never do it. I haven't got enough of value to say!

If possible I'm going to stick with Mission although I'm watching about 20 different items on the popular on-line auction site with the hope of grabbing a bargain.
 
Mutt said:
1000 posts? I'll never do it. I haven't got enough of value to say!

If possible I'm going to stick with Mission although I'm watching about 20 different items on the popular on-line auction site with the hope of grabbing a bargain.
Click to expand...

with 2nd hand speakers make sure you see pics of the actual speaker cones etc to make sure they are ok. tweeters are often pushed in etc
 
I went for a B&W CC6 S2 in the end. It doesn't match my fronts and it doesn't get the greatest reviews (although some people love it) but I got it for a good price. It'll be adequate for now until I can afford something better.

Rather than start a new thread with another one of my daft questions I thought I'd ask here ... Regular speaker cables are far too thick for the spring clips on my Onkyo 309. Would anyone know of an adaptor that can be used or if thinner cables are available which can match the quality of the thicker cable? Ideally I'd like to be able to buy 2 x 2m bi-wire cables for the front and 2 x 1m bi-wire cables for the centre.
 
Any question about speaker cable generates the same forum responses. There are those who will recommend mains cable / twin & earth / the cheapest stuff off ebay because they say you can't hear the difference. I'm sure for some people that's true and so in their cases the choice is right for them, but that doesn't make it right for everyone.

Equally there are those of us with gear that is well set up and capable of letting the differences through. We can can hear what this component does to affect the performance, so naturally we will recommend something. In the end it's about personal experience.

IMO bi-wiring is a waste of money. It certainly changes the character of the sound - it makes it more Bose-like; emphasising treble and bass at the expense of midrange which is where most of the good stuff happens. Again it's only my opinion, but for what you're going to spend on a bi-wire cable you'd be better off with a higher quality single wire instead.

Chord make some thoroughly decent cables where the gauge will be suitable for the 309. Chord Rumour is what I run for my front 3 speakers. It's a silver plated cable so sounds a little brighter than the plain copper Naim NACA5 I was running before. Below Rumour is Chord Carnival Silverscreen. That's a good choice too and does as nicely for Hi-Fi up to a couple of grand as it does for AV. For rear speakers and basic Hi-Fi applications I use Chord Carnival.
 
Thanks for the insight and suggestion lucid. The price seems fairly reasonable for the Chord Carnivals. Might be worth considering if it'll fit in the spring clips. Talking of which, would there be any loss of sound quality if I was to snip away any of the copper/silver cable in an attempt to make it fit?
 
The Chord stuff definitely won't need snipping down. The springclip terminals will take a 1.5mm ~ 2.0mm diameter cable. That might not sound a lot, but it's enough to carry up to 15 amps!...or more watts than any home cinema amp could safely generate. :D

As for larger diameter cables, it seems to me to be pretty pointless getting a large gauge cable and then only using half of the conductors when something of an appropriate size is available from several different manufacturers and is easily good enough to hang between £500+ electronics and speakers. (There'll be a tonne of replies now about how electricity can spread to the other conductors blah blah blah lol )

For conductor size stay around the 1.25mm ~ 1.5mm range and you'll be safe whatever you choose.

Good tip: Don't twist the bare wire before inserting if you can help it. It can make it harder to fit without bunching up.

Instead, use a soldering iron and solder about 5mm of the tip of the cable. Then cut off the last couple of mm to give a nice clean edge. Doing this will stop the cable from fraying and still leave you with bare cable rather than solder touching the terminal.​
 
Some really useful info there mate. Thanks for that.

I've heard Van Damme Blue mentioned a few times on here. I can get 2 x 1m cables (1.5mm) for £1.52 delivered. Would they be worth going for?

Cheers for the tip about not twisting the cable and the soldering. I'll be sure to try your suggestion.
 
For £1.52 delivered it's hardly worth debating... That's basically free cable after the postage cost is taken in to account. At that price you absolutely have to try it, don't you think?
 
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