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Grandzoltar

Full Audioholic
I read an article on this site about center channel M/T/M design and there flaws. How we don’t get as good dispersion laying them horizontal and their sensitivity should be higher than your L/R. With that being said how does a center channel that has two 5 1/4 inch woofers and one 1 inch tweeter placed in the middle match their floorstanding counter parts with 6.5 inch woofers and tweeters placed at the top. What I’m getting at is I’m thinking about changing my center to another brand. The hardware of a center speaker that doesn’t completely match (woofer sizes) L/R shouldn’t be able to create a seamless sound pan. I can hear a subtle difference. Is it really that important to match brands and product lines. Or is something that calibration can fix melding to different speaker brands. Everyone says you should stick with the same series but does anyone have experience mixing L/C/R with great results.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Ideally you want to match the front 3 so the sound produced up front is unified, seamless. Depending on your speaker company, they are designed to work together. And if the company is good at designing speakers, they will minimize the loving and diffraction issues.
Another way is to buy a third tower for your center... or if it’s an mtm l/c/r design... stand that upright.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Planning a speaker purchase simply by the diameter of the driver ? You can hear the difference in speaker diameter? There's a lot more to a speaker than the diameter of the driver....

I've used both matching and non-matching centers, and while I prefer a matching center (i.e. same speaker as the L/R speakers) that's not always easily done with a tv (especially compared to using an acoustically transparent screen). I've also used a completely different center (different brand too) as well as with different driver sizes that worked well enough. YMMV.
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
A typical two-way MTM can not match a two-way floor-standing speaker with 6.5" woofer, simply because the dispersion pattern will necessarily be different. You might be able to get a similar frequency response, but only directly on axis. Everywhere else will have a different sound, and since the reflected sound will be different, the end result in room must also be different.
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
I read an article on this site about center channel M/T/M design and there flaws. How we don’t get as good dispersion laying them horizontal and their sensitivity should be higher than your L/R.
It isn't quite so simple. Yes, a sideways MTM has flaws, but in practice, it isn't so bad. It really depends on how wide your sitting area is and how far it is from the speakers. If the seat furthest from the center is no more than about 30° off to the side, then it isn't such a problem. Many people, including myself, have such a 'flawed' arrangement.

Make sure to read both of these articles:
https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/center-channel-speaker
https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/center-channel-designs-1
With that being said how does a center channel that has two 5 1/4 inch woofers and one 1 inch tweeter placed in the middle match their floorstanding counter parts with 6.5 inch woofers and tweeters placed at the top. What I’m getting at is I’m thinking about changing my center to another brand. The hardware of a center speaker that doesn’t completely match (woofer sizes) L/R shouldn’t be able to create a seamless sound pan. I can hear a subtle difference. Is it really that important to match brands and product lines. Or is something that calibration can fix melding to different speaker brands.
I wouldn't worry about the difference between the size between those the woofers. Remember that the primary job of the center channel speaker in movies is dialog, human voices. Deeper bass doesn't matter. People often talk about how a moving source should sound as it sweeps from one side to other. It should sound as similar as possible among the 3 front speakers. That makes a fine demo, if a bit gimmicky. I think how a sweep sounds is less important than how human voices sound over the center speaker.
Everyone says you should stick with the same series but does anyone have experience mixing L/C/R with great results.
Yes, in theory. But in practice, you can vary from that with success.
 
G

Grandzoltar

Full Audioholic
What I am planning is upgrading my center to a W\T|M/W design for better dispersion. The woofer size was just an example. I think shady understood what I was trying to say.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
I don’t think the difference in driver size is the concern of most importance. Rather the lobing and diffraction with horizontal orientation.
The larger the woofer, I would think, the better it’s ability at lower extension... its greater displacement helps with bass reproduction.
This isn’t the main focus of the center speaker. Though it would be, and is nice, to have completely matched speakers across the front.
Fitting speakers sideway under the television and over your gear is folly. The design compromises made to achieve this are many.

What are your speakers right now?

When it comes to your concern, Swerd pretty much nailed it. I also agree with Shady’s assessment.
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
That's the beauty of home theater. You ask one question, and get 7.2.4 answers.
 
I

ichigo

Full Audioholic
It isn't quite so simple. Yes, a sideways MTM has flaws, but in practice, it isn't so bad. It really depends on how wide your sitting area is and how far it is from the speakers. If the seat furthest from the center is no more than about 30° off to the side, then it isn't such a problem. Many people, including myself, have such a 'flawed' arrangement.

Make sure to read both of these articles:
https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/center-channel-speaker
https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/center-channel-designs-1
I wouldn't worry about the difference between the size between those the woofers. Remember that the primary job of the center channel speaker in movies is dialog, human voices. Deeper bass doesn't matter. People often talk about how a moving source should sound as it sweeps from one side to other. It should sound as similar as possible among the 3 front speakers. That makes a fine demo, if a bit gimmicky. I think how a sweep sounds is less important than how human voices sound over the center speaker.
Yes, in theory. But in practice, you can vary from that with success.
A lot of the problems with MTMs can also largely be fixed simply by offsetting the tweeter such as raising it relative to the center point of the woofers.
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
A lot of the problems with MTMs can also largely be fixed simply by offsetting the tweeter such as raising it relative to the center point of the woofers.
Yes, but you must also space the woofers close together so that the wavelength of the crossover frequency is greater than the distance of the center to center spacing of the woofers. That way, the two woofers behave as though they are a single acoustic source. Otherwise you still get lobing. A great example of this is the Atlantic Technology 6200 THX.
 
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Grandzoltar

Full Audioholic
Thanks for the link. There’s no way anyone sits more than 30 degrees of axis in my room. With the ML 9 ft away no one sits more then 6ft from either side of the ML. I guess my center would be fine. I currently have the MA bronze center but was thinking about upgrading to the silver c350 for the better alignment of woofers and tweeter. They both use the same 1 inch gold dome tweeter and the woofers would match the size of the Bronze 6 floor standers. I think the silver c350 would blend just as good if not better then the bronze center.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
If you stay in the Monitor Audio brand, I'd think you would be fine combining Silver Center with the Bronze Towers. Id would be more concerning going to KEF or Martin Logan to pair with your existing towers. ;)
Plus if you ever get the bug to upgrade to the Silver 500s, you'll have the perfect Center already in place. :) I really did enjoy my time with the Silvers in audition.
 
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