adding passive center channel mono speaker to stereo setup?

[olds1959special]

I have a passive mono speaker here, how can I add it to my stereo? I bought a mini amp for it, (Fosi BT20) but it's stereo, so I thought I'd use this to sum the signals to mono, then plug into the amp and then only plug in one side. Will this work? Or would a mono amp be better? I would still need this with a mono amp, I can't just use an RCA Y cable, is that right?

 

[DVDdoug]

You can just use one side of the stereo amp.

 

[somebodyelse]

You can just use one side of the stereo amp.

I don't think that's the question. The question is how to get a mono mix out of a stereo signal. You can buy or make a passive mixer such as:
https://shakercentre.co.uk/product/stereo-to-mono-converter/
This may reduce the stereo separation of the left and right if you don't have a separate output to use for it. Or you can use an active mixer.

 

[olds1959special]

I don't think that's the question. The question is how to get a mono mix out of a stereo signal. You can buy or make a passive mixer such as:
https://shakercentre.co.uk/product/stereo-to-mono-converter/
This may reduce the stereo separation of the left and right if you don't have a separate output to use for it. Or you can use an active mixer.

Yes it is part of the question, I ordered something like this that is pictured on the original post.

 

[somebodyelse]

What arrangement is the rest of the system? Stereo out of a preamp (or DAC with volume control) going to a power amp?

 

[olds1959special]

What arrangement is the rest of the system? Stereo out of a preamp (or DAC with volume control) going to a power amp?

Yes, actually 4 mono blocks bi wired to a pair of speakers. Source is Apogee Duet 3 unbalanced. I added the BT20A and used RCA splitters. It’s powering the center with one side.

 

[Hear Here]

To be perfectly honest, if you have set up your main speakers ideally and they are well-placed within the room, adding a centre speaker to a 2-channel system will do nothing to improve anything!

If looking for improvement in imaging, adding a centre speaker is unlikely to achive this if mains are set up properly. Why else would you want a middle speaker, specially if it or its amp is inferior to your main speakers and amps? You'll degrade the purity of the sound, I suspect. No harm in experimenting though!

 

[olds1959special]

To be perfectly honest, if you have set up your main speakers ideally and they are well-placed within the room, adding a centre speaker to a 2-channel system will do nothing to improve anything!

If looking for improvement in imaging, adding a centre speaker is unlikely to achive this if mains are set up properly. Why else would you want a middle speaker, specially if it or its amp is inferior to your main speakers and amps? You'll degrade the purity of the sound, I suspect. No harm in experimenting though!

It’s an optional thing for movies and dialogue, mainly. My speakers sound a bit muddy sometimes, and don’t have flat response anyway. This center speaker seems to measure well (besides less bass) with my RTA app when played alone which I might do for TV watching sometimes.

I’m not afraid of center “fill” channels. The BT20A is not the worst amp and probably has less load dependency issues with the 6 ohm load of this speaker vs a typical 8 ohm load.

It sounds a lot better than using a Marley portable speaker as a center channel which I tried briefly.

 

[olds1959special]

It works, and because my speakers are 7 feet apart or so, it seems to actually improve the imaging.