New Elac Carina 3-Way Center Channel

[daddyora]

I've been waiting about 10 months for the new Elac Carina ribbon tweeter speakers to hit the retailers. Now that they're there in limited supplies maybe we'll see how the reviewers rate them. Just noticed that they claim the center channel (241.4 as I recall) to be a 3-way speaker in a W-T-M horizontal alignment. This is a different layout in my limited experience. Typically 3-way centers have a vertical T/M between a couple of woofers and I thought that this was an optimal arrangement. Anyone know the pros/cons for the Elac approach ? My usage is 80% HT/TV so the center channel is very important and I'm looking for an upgrade from the Elac debut 2's.

 

[everettT]

I've been waiting about 10 months for the new Elac Carina ribbon tweeter speakers to hit the retailers. Now that they're there in limited supplies maybe we'll see how the reviewers rate them. Just noticed that they claim the center channel (241.4 as I recall) to be a 3-way speaker in a W-T-M horizontal alignment. This is a different layout in my limited experience. Typically 3-way centers have a vertical T/M between a couple of woofers and I thought that this was an optimal arrangement. Anyone know the pros/cons for the Elac approach ? My usage is 80% HT/TV so the center channel is very important and I'm looking for an upgrade from the Elac debut 2's.

Better than an MTM I assume, but I'd rather a vertical bookshelf if applicable.

 

[daddyora]

Better than an MTM I assume, but I'd rather a vertical bookshelf if applicable.

Why do you think that the WTM would be better than a MTM, better range ?

 

[TLS Guy]

Better than an MTM I assume, but I'd rather a vertical bookshelf if applicable.

I highly doubt that. That design makes no sense. In reality I suspect it is a 2.5 way. One woofer is crossed at 100 Hz the other at 3 KHz to the tweeter.

So the sound WILL be off center. I suspect one driver is actually just a fill driver for BSC. The lobing problem will be actually worse than for the horizontal MTM.

Another stupid design from the world of commerce.

 

[daddyora]

Likely right, in their own literature Elac claims it has 2 woofers, 1 tweeter, and 0 midrange driver but claim 3-way.