The importance of a good centre speaker.

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

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Right up until yesterday I was running B&W 602 S2 (front 2), and the other 3 including the centre with B&W M-1. The M-1 were purely bought for rear surround, I have 4 of them with stands at a much discounted price due to ex-demo and discontinued. But because I was missing a proper centre I was using running a 5.0 (sub still not arrived) with one M-1 as a centre for the time being.

I thought the sound was good (although the system still lacks impact as expected without the sub), overall it sounds decent as the tweeters matches the 602 so tonally it is balance.

Then I saw a B&W LCR60 S3 on eBay (the centre for the 600 series, albeit 1 generation newer than my 602). Absolutely mint copy with the rubber feet and bung as well.

Plugged that in and now the front centre feels like someone had lifted off a veil. It opened up the whole front side of the system and sounds like it can breath now. Bass is better too, the LCR60 (even though it is smaller of the 2 centre from that series) is rather big, almost the same size as a 602 !

So my question is, was my system just unbalanced before due to the small centre and large front 2.

Or

Small satellite surrounds just don't have that impact? Considering the M-1, as a package is VERY well regarded in both reviews and user experience, they weren't cheap satellites either, costing £480 per pair with stands.
 
Remember what the speakers are used for - the surrounds are really just for atmospheric and positional sense, you shouldn't really expect to hear much from them. The centre however should be handling pretty much all dialogue, which is a massive amount in films, unless your watching a silent film or something ;)

Most of the sound should be handled by the fronts and the centre. Will be interested to see your reaction when you add the sub to be honest.
 
Having an incapable or non-matched centre seemed like a recipe for disaster from what I've seen. A few years ago, I tried a fairly reasonable Focal centre. Unfortunately it's ability was a good deal behind my existing front stereo pair, and it actually made things sound worse in 5 channel, that it did in 4 channel. It didn't last long and I've used "phantom centre" mode ever since.
Of course, having a good/matched centre would be the optimum solution, but only if you can find a suitable one...
 
Lol, I already read the thread on Av forums for brassy tracks in films, one reason I got Tron Legacy waiting at home from LoveFilm just for this....that sub can't get here quick enough.

I am also holding off loads of action films to watch because of this too, been watching dialogue heavy movies lately because of that. This new centre really is a class above the M-1, the sound is much more open and less congested.

No pics yet, I got this ugly cabinet where my sub will go atm which my printer is sitting on top of it. Very much work in progress :p
 
I'm firmly in the camp where a good pair of stereo fronts setup 'just' right giving the ideal stereo image are just that. Right!

Never felt the need for a centre as the ATCs just do everything I need. I don't even have my monolith on that much anymore as watching movies with the ATCs is damn good. But then again I've moved away from home cinema again and back to music/headphones/pc audio and am spending on small Adam monitors and a nice new Schiit DAC.
 
A good centre speaker makes a massive difference dialogue is afterall such a massive component of a movie and 99% of it will come from the centre.

As for you other question it's hard to judge the smaller sats when your not running a sub as obviouslythey won't go as low as a bigger speaker like your new one so of course you will be getting more now.
 
a1ex2001 said:
A good centre speaker makes a massive difference dialogue is afterall such a massive component of a movie and 99% of it will come from the centre.
Click to expand...

it's speaker and system dependant, plus room size and speaker positions.
See comments in my other thread.
 
I've got a pair of 602.5's and an LCR60 up front, and a pair of 600's at the back (all S3), and it is lovely.

Just missing a sub, really - not that the rest of them don't do their job quite well with some scenes - I thought the place was coming down when I watched Black Hawk Down - I imagine it WOULD come down with a decent sub! ;)
 
9designs2 said:
it's speaker and system dependant, plus room size and speaker positions.
See comments in my other thread.
Click to expand...
I agree.A good system should be able to completely immerse you in the films soundtrack.A good pair of dipole rears are capable of creating immense ambience and scale to the soundstage,whilst a voice matched centre speaker will keep you focused on the screen, rather than fumbling for the remote because you cant make out the dialogue.
 
Ive tried various centre speakers to match the 752 im currently running at the front, listened to a friends system [752f fronts, 752 rears a a lone 752 for a centre] and was blown away. I know its not the best of setups or for that matter the best way to do it but, it sounded fantastic.

After a single 752 for mine now!
 
If you can't make out the dialogue the system or setup probably needs upgrading !!!!!! Ramping up the volume on the centre is just covering a poor system performance.
 
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