how to mix main/center brands

[deathwantsme]

I'm wondering what you need to know to effectively mix a different center from your mains. What factors come into play, what problems might arise, what concerns are there for doing so?

 

[j_garcia]

In my honest opinion, there is NO effective way of doing this. The concern is speakers having different timbre across the front gives you a less "convincing" presentation. When things pan across the front stage, you don't want the sound to be altered tonally from one speaker to the next or to have the same sound coming from multiple speakers simultaneously and have it sound different across the front stage. If you aren't so picky about the sound it may work for you. What is the reason for needing to do this?

 

[markw]

Imagine someone on the left is giving a speech. As he speaks, he traverses across the stage to the right. His voice should sound the same all the way across the sound field. Unless the center is "timbre matched" to the left and right speakers, his voice will undergo a transformation when he's in the center of the soundfield and then return to normal as he approaches the right.

If you can live with that, fine. You're all set.

 

[darien87]

It's not advisable but I think you can get away with it if you aren't too picky. I used to use a Boston VR920 as my center with some VR2 fronts and it sounded good. The only time I REALLY noticed the timbre difference was when calibrating the system with pink noise. The tone sounded slightly different in the center than it did in the mains.

But I think most people aren't as picky as we are. In fact I've got a guy coming to pick up my VR12 today that is going to use some old *** Boston A70's as fronts with it. I tried to talk him into buying my VR2's so that his front stage will match but he wants to go with his A70's because he got them from his mom that passed away and they have sentimental value.

Gimme a break. You want to use fronts that are nothing like your center because your mommy gave them to you?

 

[j_garcia]

Gimme a break. You want to use fronts that are nothing like your center because your mommy gave them to you?

I can understand that, but then use them in another system or as surrounds and get a matching front stage.

 

[Swerd]

I'm wondering what you need to know to effectively mix a different center from your mains. What factors come into play, what problems might arise, what concerns are there for doing so?

There are still some people who already own two speakers they wish to keep, but want to expand them into a surround sound system. Often, the original two speakers are older models and no longer are made. Despite what others say above, it is possible to mix a different center speaker with your main speakers and get a satisfactory result.

Years ago I did just that when I bought a center channel speaker, and two rear speakers along with an AV receiver to add to an older set of large JBL speakers I had owned since the 1970s. The difficulty is that you must already know what makes for a good center channel speaker, or be lucky. Looking back, I think I was lucky.

A center channel speaker must reproduce human voices as clearly as possible, with as wide dispersion as possible. It is fairly easy to listen to speakers in the store for that. Tune in a radio station with a male announcer. Does his voice sound natural, or does the speaker overemphasize bass, making male voices sound too deep or boomy? Often this can result in muddy sounding dialog.

Walk around the room, from one side to the other, while listening. Does the tone of the voice change as you do this? All speakers will lose high frequency as you get far enough away from front and center, but some speakers do this less than others. With human voices, especially a higher pitched female voice, it is fairly easy to hear these changes.

As long a speaker reproduces voices without making them sound muddy or veiled, or without losing too much high frequency as you listen away from the center, you will have a good center speaker. How well this blends with your present speakers will, of course, vary with your present speakers. In my case, I chose an NHT SuperCenter (no longer made). It sounded clearer than my older JBL speakers, and had wider sound dispersion. When I listened to sound sweeping across the front three speakers, this combination worked. I think the standard advice of getting 3 front speakers from the same maker is meant to avoid choosing an inferior center speaker where, with a sweep, the sound can seem to collapse as it crosses the middle.

 

[j_garcia]

Yes, usually it is because the user has two speakers for which there is no center available, a space constraint or simply that it is no longer made; any number of reasons. Going and actually listening to the speaker in question is the main thing, and choosing based on similar components can help narrow that field down - if your mains have a soft dome or a metal tweeter, I'd start by listening to centers that do also. If you don't have a situation that forces you to do this, then it doesn't make much sense.

 

[darien87]

I can understand that, but then use them in another system or as surrounds and get a matching front stage.

I suggested he use them as surrounds but he wouldn't be dissuaded.