Center Channel vs Book Shelf

[RMK!]

Has anyone ever heard of using a pair of bookshelves as a Center Channel. The CC is the weakpoint in my setup and I'm wondering if a pair of book shelves that matchup with my mains might be a better solution as opposed to purchasing a "better" CC. The weakness of the CC especially noticable in 5 channel music but the movie dailog could be better as well. From a cabeling stand point, I am driving the Center from a power amp now and have Center channel from receiver available so that should work (assuming that using the CC pre out does not disable the regular CC RCA out. I was thinking puting the Bookshelves on their sides tweeters inside mid/ bass outside slightly angled toward center listening position. Might be a nightmare to EQ this setup.

Any thoughts?

 

[Spiffyfast]

I dont know about using both, I guess thats one way to find out what your pre/outs do to your signal. But they always say the best multi-channel setup would be all the exact same speakers. If the book shelf is a better match, try it out and let your ears make the decision.

 

[j_garcia]

All 5 speakers in my setup are identical. Makes for a nice, seemless sounding system.

Not sure about using 2 bookshelf speakers, but one should work fine. The problem with putting two right next to each other is you will likely get a more pronounced cancellation effect than you would from the typical CC.

Is your center pulled all the way out to the edge of, if not slightly further out from, whatever it is sitting on? The number one problem I usually see with centers, is less than optimum positioning. Have you played around with the positioning?

 

[AVRat]

Have you tried using the the channel level adjustments or eq. of the 3805 to tweak the MA Silver center? A boost of a dB or 2 to the channel level may make the difference.

Trying to match the power of the Denon & Sunfire for bookshelves would be a nightmare!!

 

[RMK!]

Have you tried using the the channel level adjustments or eq. of the 3805 to tweak the MA Silver center? A boost of a dB or 2 to the channel level may make the difference.

Trying to match the power of the Denon & Sunfire for bookshelves would be a nightmare!!

Yes, I have tried the channel level adjustment. For me, the Silver Center does not match well with the mains. I was hoping this would work out and I'm not sure just adding a Gold Center would do the trick. Also, the Gold Center will not fit in my Entertainment Center so it is not an option at this point.

I tend to agree that running the bookshelves as center off of two different amps is asking for trouble. Now, if I were to add a Sunfire two channel amp to power the bookshelf (or BS Center as I like to call this hair-brained concept) that might do the trick. Is there no end to this madness?

 

[Spiffyfast]

of course there is never an end, your always going to want to upgrade

 

[nak45z]

So should the center channel be the exact same speaker as the front main.

 

[Spiffyfast]

in a perfect world all your speakers would be exactly the same

 

[nak45z]

It is bad enough that my center channel is not a center channel. i have a 5.2 instead of the 525c for a center channel. The only difference is the additional 5 inch, which is a huge difference. i will worry about finding one later, after i wire my rear stage completely.