Center Channel Testing/Discussion

T

twheeloc

Audioholic Intern
So I've searched around and I can't find much on this. I understand that Timbre Matching is important and people talk about how the front sound stage should be cohesive...what do you use to test this. I'd love to know some really great multi-channel music and surround movie discs that showcase the center channel.

What brings this on...I have just upgraded (OK so it's still in my car) my center channel from an Athena AS-C1 to a Sonus Faber Solo Home and while I believe it will integrate better with my main speakers (see sig.) I want to test it.

Think of this as the Subwoofer test thread but for center channels.

As a final question...why is so little focus put on Center channels? In my mind if you're going to have a center and focus on Movies it is one of the most important speakers. I don't know what a depth charge sounds like in real life but I do like to think I know the subtlety of the human voice and so it seems like replicating that would be of high importance. (Or how many people think phantom center is the way to go). If listing movies or multichannel music it would be great to have track/chapter or time along with which encoding)
 
T

twheeloc

Audioholic Intern
Thanks

Thanks...I did several searches but didn't come up with this one.
 
T

twheeloc

Audioholic Intern
So I read the above post and it's filled with information. I'm still looking for good material to test this with however. I found from the linked posting:

"Watching Iron Man, the scene when he makes a return to the village near where he was held captive & starts kicking butt, the part where he takes out the last bad guys and the young boy runs to the side of his father. I.M. walks from left to right, and the sound pans left to right. I tried setting up the center speaker in every way possible, but the sound always did a “roller coaster” effect, dipping up or down to the center speaker, depending on its orientation."

From a review here of 5.1 Systems I got the Lord of the Rings Bridge scene (I can't spell the name of the bridge)

Are there more?
 
lsiberian

lsiberian

Audioholic Overlord
So I've searched around and I can't find much on this. I understand that Timbre Matching is important and people talk about how the front sound stage should be cohesive...what do you use to test this. I'd love to know some really great multi-channel music and surround movie discs that showcase the center channel.

What brings this on...I have just upgraded (OK so it's still in my car) my center channel from an Athena AS-C1 to a Sonus Faber Solo Home and while I believe it will integrate better with my main speakers (see sig.) I want to test it.

Think of this as the Subwoofer test thread but for center channels.

As a final question...why is so little focus put on Center channels? In my mind if you're going to have a center and focus on Movies it is one of the most important speakers. I don't know what a depth charge sounds like in real life but I do like to think I know the subtlety of the human voice and so it seems like replicating that would be of high importance. (Or how many people think phantom center is the way to go). If listing movies or multichannel music it would be great to have track/chapter or time along with which encoding)
There are a lot of opinions. Some think a coaxial is the way to go with a center. Rather than tweeter matching.

I think lobing issues are far bigger than matching tweeters. So I suggest a KEF iQ center as a commercial alternative.
 
R

rbj9

Enthusiast
I currently have a set of Polk SDA-SRS 2.3TL's and was planning on a Axiom VP150.

Would this be a good choice or should I go back to Polk for the Center?

Thanks,
rb
 

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