Horizontal Center Placement Question

[BrianC]

So I finally separated my music listening setup from my family room home theater setup. I reluctantly took a plunge into the world of Klipsch, hoping to be wowed in its HT strength, and so far, not bad. I scored a great deal (trade) on a pair of RP-260's. They're not too pretty, but sound pretty good for movies so far. However, I have yet to decide which center channel to add with these.

I could go with the standard center channel options, whose only drawbacks are different sizes of woofer cones (6.5"to 5"), or......can I get a 3rd RP-260 and lay it horizontally underneath my tv? I've read about the high frequency issues with doing this in the past, but Klipsch claims the high frequency for these models to have a 90°x90° axis dispersion. Does this mean they perform the same vertical as horizontal?

(I do not have the space to set any speaker vertically in front)

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

Hey Brian,

Get one of the center channel options. The important thing is timbe-matching between the center and fronts, which means the speakers should all sound the same. The different woofer size isn’t going to make a difference for anything except that a larger one will get deeper bass. But that doesn’t matter for the center channel since the AVR filters out everything below 80 Hz anyway.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[BrianC]

Hey Brian,

Get one of the center channel options. The important thing is timbe-matching between the center and fronts, which means the speakers should all sound the same. The different woofer size isn’t going to make a difference for anything except that a larger one will get deeper bass. But that doesn’t matter for the center channel since the AVR filters out everything below 80 Hz anyway.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Good call Wayne. Cheers! Happy New year

 

[BrianC]

Hey Brian,

Get one of the center channel options. The important thing is timbe-matching between the center and fronts, which means the speakers should all sound the same. The different woofer size isn’t going to make a difference for anything except that a larger one will get deeper bass. But that doesn’t matter for the center channel since the AVR filters out everything below 80 Hz anyway.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

So how important would you regard the size of the matching woofers? Mine are 6.5's, and my options are 5" and 4". Both easily reach below 80hz where my sub takes over, so can I assume the 4" will work just as well, and save me $100+?

 

[Swerd]

I could go with the standard center channel options, whose only drawbacks are different sizes of woofer cones (6.5"to 5"), or......can I get a 3rd RP-260 and lay it horizontally underneath my tv? I've read about the high frequency issues with doing this in the past, but Klipsch claims the high frequency for these models to have a 90°x90° axis dispersion. Does this mean they perform the same vertical as horizontal?

The issue here is not the dispersion of the tweeter by itself. At the crossover frequency, 1,800 Hz for the RP-260, the woofers and tweeter both produce an equal amount of sound. This can create uneven dispersion of sound, called comb filtering. If these drivers are in a vertical line, this is a problem only if the listener moves up or down. But if these drivers are in a horizontal line, uneven dispersion can be a problem for those sitting off to the sides, but not much of a problem for those who sit within 30° of directly on center.

Depending on details of the crossover, this can be a problem within one octave of the crossover frequency, about 900 Hz to 3,600 Hz. Human voices cover a range of frequencies from as low as 100 Hz for men, and 250 Hz for women, to over 6,000 Hz.

So how important would you regard the size of the matching woofers? Mine are 6.5's, and my options are 5" and 4". Both easily reach below 80hz where my sub takes over, so can I assume the 4" will work just as well, and save me $100+?

As Wayne said above, bass response is not an issue at all for a center channel speaker. In fact, I'd guess that a 5" or 4" woofer might have an advantage if they allow a higher crossover frequency. I don't know what crossover frequency Klipsch uses for these speakers, but you could check.

Reproducing the human voice is the main job of a center channel speaker. It has to do it cleanly without distortion because we are all very familiar with how human voices should sound - just like we all notice if a TV's flesh tones are off when we see faces.

As a guess, I think the 5" option might work better, if that center channel is significantly more sensitive than the 4" option. It will be closer to the sensitive of the RP-260 speaker you have on either side. Of course, the advantage of the 4" option, if Klipsch uses a higher crossover frequency for it, would be less comb filtering in the voice reproduction frequencies. As always in speakers, there are trade-offs among different designs.

 

[BrianC]

The issue here is not the dispersion of the tweeter by itself. At the crossover frequency, 1,800 Hz for the RP-260, the woofers and tweeter both produce an equal amount of sound. This can create uneven dispersion of sound, called comb filtering. If these drivers are in a vertical line, this is a problem only if the listener moves up or down. But if these drivers are in a horizontal line, uneven dispersion can be a problem for those sitting off to the sides, but not much of a problem for those who sit within 30° of directly on center.

Depending on details of the crossover, this can be a problem within one octave of the crossover frequency, about 900 Hz to 3,600 Hz. Human voices cover a range of frequencies from as low as 100 Hz for men, and 250 Hz for women, to over 6,000 Hz.
As Wayne said above, bass response is not an issue at all for a center channel speaker. In fact, I'd guess that a 5" or 4" woofer might have an advantage if they allow a higher crossover frequency. I don't know what crossover frequency Klipsch uses for these speakers, but you could check.

Reproducing the human voice is the main job of a center channel speaker. It has to do it cleanly without distortion because we are all very familiar with how human voices should sound - just like we all notice if a TV's flesh tones are off when we see faces.

As a guess, I think the 5" option might work better, if that center channel is significantly more sensitive than the 4" option. It will be closer to the sensitive of the RP-260 speaker you have on either side. Of course, the advantage of the 4" option, if Klipsch uses a higher crossover frequency for it, would be less comb filtering in the voice reproduction frequencies. As always in speakers, there are trade-offs among different designs.

Excellent! thank you. I'll cross check the crossover frequencies of the 4 and 5". If the sensitivities are close, I'll get the 4, otherwise the 5. Much appreciated