Looking for a Major Upgrade for Center Channel for Home Theater, New to Home Audio

[JohnnyN]

I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on a Revel Concerta C12 Center Channel today. This is an old speaker (released around 2005), but its measurements look great. Any reason to avoid a speaker that was designed 15 years ago? Or should this stand up well against current center channels in its class? The one I found is A stock new, so not concerned with the speaker being used.

C12 | Concerta Series, 3-Way Center Channel Loudspeaker

The Concerta C12 center loudspeaker is designed to ensure that everything in the center channel is audible and consistent over a wide listening area, with exceptional dynamic range and no compression at high volume.

www.revelspeakers.com

The Revel Concerta F12 Surround Sound Speaker System Measurements

Measurements All measurements on the F12 and C12 were made with the grilles removed. The grille actually made little measured difference in the response of the F12, but a bit more in the C12 (a dip of about 2-3dB in the 3-4kHz region). The impedance of the F12 is typical of a ported enclosure...

www.soundandvision.com

 

[Teetertotter?]

To answer the question, my center channel, is mentioned in below signature. Don't skimp on the Center channel......long story short.

 

[JohnnyN]

To answer the question, my center channel, is mentioned in below signature. Don't skimp on the Center channel......long story short.

Yeah, I do not like my current center channel (Jamo S 83), so that's what started all this. I have enough space between my TV and the table underneath it to fit any horizontal center channel or almost any bookshelf speaker on the table. I'm even able to fit a smaller tower under the TV by sliding the table over a bit. After (way too much) research, I think I'm going to give the Hsu CCB-8 a try. My thought process there is: the Jamo S83 turned me off to a speaker that's designed to be a horizontal center channel + maybe I should just go with a speaker that's bigger/better than my L/R (Jamo S 803's) instead of shopping around for a speaker that's designed to be a horizontal center, since I have the space under the TV. Also, I'm mostly concerned with the sweet spot/middle listening position, since I won't be having anyone over any time soon. All this is brand new to me, so open to/would appreciate any suggestions!

 

[Teetertotter?]

@JohnnyN Go with what you can afford. Here is a list of center channel speakers to review. Everyone's ears are different. All I can say with the center channel I have, dialog at very low volume, is very clear and distinct as well as at high volumes. Very smooth, too. Good luck
center channel speaker for home theater at Crutchfield

 

[JohnnyN]

I switched over to a phantom center for the time being (after some tweaking, finally got it right)--really preferring this much more than the physical center channel I own. Also have a Hsu CCB-8 on the way to compare against the phantom center. I dove into setting up my system toward the end of last year without enough legwork/research. Will at least know more/have more fun with it/appreciate things more when I eventually upgrade down the road.

 

[Teetertotter?]

If you have a cable provider that you are using and also have Netflix for example, for watching Dolby movies, having a nice AVR for 5 speaker set-up with sub, would be my first suggestion. Make sure the AVR has audio calibration. Good luck with your set-up....

 

[Pogre]

Anyone have an idea how the SVS 3-way center channels (Prime and Ultra) compare to the Infinity R263C center channel? I have store credit and can get new SVS Prime for $250 or Ultra for $500, compared to $350 for refurbished Infinity R263C.

The SVS Ultra center is a very good center. I would want at least my front 3 to match tho, so the Ultra books up front with that center (or 3 Ultra books right across the front!) would be a very good front stage.

I had the Ultra towers and used an Ultra book for my center for years and loved the performance. If you have the room a matching bookshelf speaker works very well as a center.

 

[JohnnyN]

Yeah, I'm currently running a 4.1.2 set-up, which I prefer over the 5.1.2 set-up, given how bad the center channel sounds to me. I meant I dove in quickly on the sound side of things after upgrading my TV, making some mistakes I won't make next time. Bought a receiver (Sony STR-DN1080) without looking too deeply into specs. Bought a 5 channel system because of the price (Jamo S 803 HCS), quickly added Atmos height modules (Jamo S 8 ATM). Next time, I'll probably start with the center channel, or L/R channels if I wind up being a phantom center person long-term, and then build out from there. Lessons learned. But the main takeaways - I'm very glad that I've ventured beyond relying on a TV's built-in speakers and I'm glad I didn't go with a sound bar, which, sound quality comparisons aside, couldn't possible be nearly as fun as this.

I just got a Monolith THX 10" subwoofer, after another subwoofer I bought died after a few days. @shadyJ, you were right--the room definitely wants more subwoofer (whether or not my wife does is a different story). I will say--it's definitely way smoother/subtler than I would have guessed a few months ago, when I knew even less than I do now--I guess I'd never heard a subwoofer with proper/flat-ish frequency response before. Was a nice surprise. Also makes me think that down the line I'll be more likely to successfully sell a larger subwoofer to my wife if it's flat-response. (She doesn't like to be "startled," which I think can maybe happen more often with subwoofers with boosts in the mid-bass frequencies. While I've never heard one before, I think the Speedwoofer 10S would have been the worse choice in that department.) I've rambled enough. Thanks for the recommendations and advice, @shadyJ .