ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
Due to my wife adding an enormous entertainment center to our living room, I am left in a tight spot for my HT set up. I am looking for a center channel to fit into a 40wx5.5hx12 in deep. Will be running either my Ascend RAAL towers or my RBH SX6300R towers. I know it's a sin but I may need to mix up brands for my center channel as I can not find a center channel to fit except the new Polk Signature S35. Budget is a concern and I am not looking for top of the line sound. We watch movies a few times a week and just need good sound. Nothing spectacular at all. So any opinions on mixing? Or maybe someone can let me know a center channel that will go with the above speakers. Thanks
 
ski2xblack

ski2xblack

Audioholic Field Marshall
Hmmm. Your space limitations take you pretty far from the ideal solution. I wouldn't personally put too much time and expense towards a compromised solution. Keep it simple for now.

Your mains (either set) are high quality sound machines, enough so that the somewhat compromised "phantom" center may be worth putting up with, rather than a distinctly mis-matched center speaker. A phantom center actually works pretty well (for exactly one person, the one parked right in the middle).

You may wish to consider a co-axial, or single wide-band driver to use for your center channel. For example, a 4" Mark Audio driver in a skinny enough box to fit your entertainment center would work better from an acoustics standpoint than a horizontal m-t-m type, and could very well be less expensive too. That MA driver is $45, and if you can cobble together a simple enclosure you'll have a rather decent center channel speaker. (Yes, I'm a bit biased towards the DIY/AIY approach.)
 
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ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
Good info. I however don't have any time for a DYI project as we purchased this old house as a fixer upper. So all my weekend time goes back into those projects. I appreciate feedback. Thanks.
 
ski2xblack

ski2xblack

Audioholic Field Marshall
That's too bad. I just checked to see if Madisound or other regular suspects makes a pre-fab cab that is wide and short enough to fit your dimensions. I didn't find any.
 
ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
Yeah. The Polk is the only one that will fit. For 299 it may be worth a shot to see how it sounds with the RBH. Nothing but a RAAL ribbon will come close to the Ascends. They are that good.
 
rojo

rojo

Audioholic Samurai
That's too bad. I just checked to see if Madisound or other regular suspects makes a pre-fab cab that is wide and short enough to fit your dimensions. I didn't find any.
If he could fit another quarter inch of height, the Fusion-4 would fit. This post contains a picture of a completed center channel build. And having just completed a DIY Sound Group project, I can say that if not for the effort I put into the finish, I would've had my speaker assembled and in my system with only a few hours' worth of work.
 
everettT

everettT

Audioholic Spartan
I'd definitely see if you can manipulate the space to accommodate a bit larger.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Good info. I however don't have any time for a DYI project as we purchased this old house as a fixer upper. So all my weekend time goes back into those projects. I appreciate feedback. Thanks.
One of the new Gen 2 Mark Audio drivers, is the solution to your problem. We finally a think have a good updated heir to the Jordan Watts full range driver. These Mark units are its direct descendants. I use a single 4" Jordan Watts driver as the center in my Eagan system. It matches seamlessly with the mains, and has very good speech clarity.

This 3.5" driver will give you room to spare, and it would take very little time out from your projects to build a small sealed box for it. You can cross it over at 90 Hz. No crossover or any other drivers required.


This will be far better than any other solution for you problem, especially that Polk speaker.

These drivers should match perfectly any good and well balanced speaker.

An original MK II Jordan Watts modular full range driver.



In my view the most significant moving coil loudspeaker driver since the invention of the moving coil driver.

I think after 60 years people are just waking up to the fact that this driver was and is the correct approach. What has really held up progress in loudspeakers has been the failure to build wide band drivers. Instead we have had a surfeit of narrow band drivers.
 
ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
Great suggestions. Looks like I need to make some time for a custom build. I'll take a look and see what I need to do. Thanks for all the replies.
 

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