Center speaker advice needed

[ciotime]

In my dedicated HT room my current setup is 7.3.4 using Dali Oberon 7 as fronts and it's matching Oberon Vokal as the center. I've always known that the center speaker is the most important speaker in a majority movie setup. I think it handles almost 75% of the movie content. After seeing Sean Olive of Harman guest recently over at Erins Audio Corner I was much surprised that he said it's not really important for one to have matching center speakers and in fact he doesn't have one himself. Which now brings me here. I've always wanted to try and use a 3 way center speaker instead of the usual 2 way MTM speakers. I believe even Amir of ASR himself advocates this type of speakers.

So now I'm thinking about the SVS Ultra Center to be used with my Dali Oberon 7's. Both use dome tweeters. Or even the Arendal THX 1723's but these are only 2 way but bigger. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[shadyJ]

I don't want to speak for Sean, but I would assume he meant it's not critical for the center to match the front left/right so long as they are neutral speakers and have a flat response. Sean's speakers are all Harman products which have roughly the same target response. You can mix and match those without problem. It would be a problem if the center had wildly different voicing than the left and right fronts.

Here is a measurement of the response of the Oberon 7:

It is OK, not perfect. They would have a bit softer off-axis sound than on-axis. A neutrally-voiced center speaker should play nice with those.

 

[ciotime]

I don't want to speak for Sean, but I would assume he meant it's not critical for the center to match the front left/right so long as they are neutral speakers and have a flat response. Sean's speakers are all Harman products which have roughly the same target response. You can mix and match those without problem. It would be a problem if the center had wildly different voicing than the left and right fronts.

Here is a measurement of the response of the Oberon 7:

It is OK, not perfect. They would have a bit softer off-axis sound than on-axis. A neutrally-voiced center speaker should play nice with those.

Thanks for the inputs. I do place my Dali's straight into the room with very minimal toe-in as what the manual instructs so I'm listening off axis. I have no idea if the SVS center is a neutrally-voiced speaker.

 

[Teetertotter?]

I don't want to speak for Sean, but I would assume he meant it's not critical for the center to match the front left/right so long as they are neutral speakers and have a flat response. Sean's speakers are all Harman products which have roughly the same target response. You can mix and match those without problem. It would be a problem if the center had wildly different voicing than the left and right fronts.

Here is a measurement of the response of the Oberon 7:

It is OK, not perfect. They would have a bit softer off-axis sound than on-axis. A neutrally-voiced center speaker should play nice with those.

I don't have matching fronts as the center is the most important for dialog....etc. The frequency response for all 3 are pretty close, when I chose to replace the Center channel as non matching. I'm really happy I did.

Listening to DD movies couldn't be better!

 

[Mark E. Long]

I didn’t exactly match my center to my front mains either as my new one uses compression drivers and my mains use titanium domes and conventional mid and mid bass drivers . But I’ve not noticed anything in the different configurations to say it’s nothing but a huge improvement in SQ .

 

[Eppie]

Depends upon how you define "matching". If he meant matching as in the same brand and product line, yes it is not required but it does make selection easier for consumers as the centre for the same product line will be designed to sound like the mains. You definitely want the fronts to match in timbre (have the same sound signature). I originally had a v2 centre paired with v5 mains and the difference in sound was very obvious. Getting the matching v5 centre was a big improvement.

The hard part is finding measurements for centre speakers as most reviewers test the mains. The Arendals have a very flat response and should sound neutral. The SVS Ultra also has a pretty good reputation.

 

[kini]

In my dedicated HT room my current setup is 7.3.4 using Dali Oberon 7 as fronts and it's matching Oberon Vokal as the center. I've always known that the center speaker is the most important speaker in a majority movie setup. I think it handles almost 75% of the movie content. After seeing Sean Olive of Harman guest recently over at Erins Audio Corner I was much surprised that he said it's not really important for one to have matching center speakers and in fact he doesn't have one himself. Which now brings me here. I've always wanted to try and use a 3 way center speaker instead of the usual 2 way MTM speakers. I believe even Amir of ASR himself advocates this type of speakers.

So now I'm thinking about the SVS Ultra Center to be used with my Dali Oberon 7's. Both use dome tweeters. Or even the Arendal THX 1723's but these are only 2 way but bigger. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know where this stuff comes from but it's not true. Sure, nearly all the dialogue comes from the center but it does no more than a third of the music and effects coming from the front. Factor in the sub(s) and it's less than a third of everything that is not dialogue.

That said, unless you sit off axis beyond at least 20 degrees there should not be much difference between a good 2 way and a good 3 way in overall performance.

As for matching the center to the mains for HT stuff it's not critical but it's listener dependent. Some are sensitive to any difference some are not. And if multi channel music is something you do it will make a difference for sure.

 

[lovinthehd]

Fwiw just saw someone listed a nice Paradigm center in the classifieds....

 

[ciotime]

I don't know where this stuff comes from but it's not true. Sure, nearly all the dialogue comes from the center but it does no more than a third of the music and effects coming from the front. Factor in the sub(s) and it's less than a third of everything that is not dialogue.

That said, unless you sit off axis beyond at least 20 degrees there should not be much difference between a good 2 way and a good 3 way in overall performance.

As for matching the center to the mains for HT stuff it's not critical but it's listener dependent. Some are sensitive to any difference some are not. And if multi channel music is something you do it will make a difference for sure.

Well my system use is about 90% movies so the Center Ch is very critical. About the 75% figure Sean Olive of Harman himself said it so I would tent to agree with him. I've linked the YouTube video below so you can check. It starts at the 1:17:18 mark. He specifically says that the "center ch does about 75% of the work when you're watching movies" at the 1:19:17. He guested at Erins Audio Corner just this Sept 23.

 

[Trebdp83]

If one can manage identical speakers for every f#%kin’ channel, save for subs, they are good to go. Everything else is a compromise of varying degrees. NO setup or room is perfect and NOBODY will ever catch and slay the dragon. Even if you think you’ve managed the perfect room, you will immediately want to show it off to people you aim to impress and change it’s characteristics just my filling it up. Chill out and enjoy the f#%kin’ movie.

Try Mono mode or turn every other channel off or all the way down and see just how much is lost when using just the center channel speaker. Times have changed and we aren’t listening to monophonic soundtracks in a 1930’s cinema. Object based Atmos and DTS:X have made matching speakers all the way around a must, not just a plus and anything less is an absolute compromise. But, it doesn’t mean it can’t sound good and movies can still be fun so just enjoy it and relax.