AV123 X-CS Encore Center Speaker Review

[Dj7675]

That proves nothing. Unplug the centre, switch the system to phantom centre and see if you notice. If you have decent mains, you won't miss it.

Agree to disagree
Have tried it and in my theater many times and no center channel and using L/R only sounds ok but just not as good as with a good speaker in the center location. Either the same speaker as the Left/Right (ideally) or at least a high quality speaker. I would rather do only Left/Right than putting a poor quality center speaker there. But then again, in our living room we just use a pair of speakers and it is still very enjoyable. But a well implemented LCR is better IMO.

 

[tomtoo]

Its just the eye that builds a center spea ker like this. We know how to do it better. I wonder if there will be a time when people understand that hearing with the eyes is a very hard thing to do.

 

[respice finem]

Its just the eye that builds a center spea ker like this. We know how to do it better. I wonder if there will be a time when people understand that hearing with the eyes is a very hard thing to do.

That "hearing with the eyes" has its complexity... The brain can fool its owner into "hearing" inexistent things. The more opulent / audiophile branded amp will "sound fuller", the 1 dB louder speaker will sound "better" etc. People could even "hear" water drops falling from a tap in the "silent cinema" age.

 

[tomtoo]

That "hearing with the eyes" has its complexity... The brain can fool its owner into "hearing" inexistent things. The more opulent / audiophile branded amp will "sound fuller", the 1 dB louder speaker will sound "better" etc. People could even "hear" water drops falling from a tap in the "silent cinema" age.

You are absolutly right. Complicated some times. Some times we enjoy to get fooled from the eyes. But here we can see a bad design thats get driven by beeing get fooled from the eyes. We know better, we can do better. This kind of speakers could be great if you use them vertical, but they suck if you use them horizontal. Whats exactly the opposite what your eyes like to tell you. Soundwaves are not really intuitive,

 

[respice finem]

You are absolutly right. Complicated some times. Some times we enjoy to get fooled from the eyes. But here we can see a bad design thats get driven by beeing get fooled from the eyes. We know better, we can do better. This kind of speakers could be great if you use them vertical, but they suck if you use them horizontal. Whats exactly the opposite what your eyes like to tell you. Soundwaves are not really intuitive,

Being able to measure = objectively assess the performance of products is very important.
We can measure much more, than we can hear. A product that measures so-so, and is even audibly flawed, can still satisfy many less demanding people, which doesn't change the fact that it could and should be better.

 

[tomtoo]

Being able to measure = objectively assess the performance of products is very important.
We can measure much more, than we can hear. A product that measures so-so, and is even audibly flawed, can still satisfy many less demanding people, which doesn't change the fact that it could and should be better.

Exactly, and this kinde of speaker are just a great example for where our intuition leads us completly wrong. For a center a concentric driver is best. A concentric with two added bass, low coupled for high output. Than you can still have wide horizontel directivity. But not like this, they beam exactly in the wrong plane. Funny is, its known physics.

 

[respice finem]

Exactly, and this kinde of speaker are just a great example for where our intuition leads us completly wrong. For a center a concentric driver is best. A concentric with two added bass, low coupled for high output. Than you can still have wide horizontel directivity. But not like this, they beam exactly in the wrong plane. Funny is, its known physics.

For sales, design questions etc. matter more (at least for the mass market).

 

[dasdoing]

I think with the drivers spread that far apart you would get pretty bad comb filtering and double all of the issue that plague horizontal designs even though in what you describe they are vertical in a technical sense. The sweet spot left to right might be okay but vertically it would be bizarrely small. Not mention diagonals.

I don't see a small vertical sweet spot beeing an issue, since your head has to be in the middle-ish of the screen to have a good image anyways

 

[dasdoing]

Have tried it and in my theater many times and no center channel and using L/R only sounds ok but just not as good as with a good speaker in the center location.

it depends on the symetry of the room. if left and right reflection points are unsymetrical they will effect phase at listening position diferently. any diference in arrival time of given frequencies will shift the center image to the faster side. if the phases match perfectly the center image will be perfect, too

 

[Dj7675]

it depends on the symetry of the room. if left and right reflection points are unsymetrical they will effect phase at listening position diferently. any diference in arrival time of given frequencies will shift the center image to the faster side. if the phases match perfectly the center image will be perfect, too

Center can still be better IMO…
-Center anchors the channel to the screen, and is much better for off axis listeners
-You can adjust the center channel level if needed
-For large screens (non AT) where the Left/Right speakers are far apart, the center really does help. A phantom stereo image can sound pretty good but just not as good as a discreet channel with native multi channel content.
Many rooms, like our living room, just doesn’t make sense to have more than 2 speakers and it does sound fine when taking a 5.1 signal and downmixing to stereo. But if I go down into the theater where a dedicated good speaker is used for a center, it just sounds much better IME.
It is interesting how many more 2 channel only people seem to be on ASR. Multi channel movies, tv series, and music can really be quite enjoyable. I find myself spending more and more time in the theater with multi-channel sources and upmixing 2 channel content than in my dedicated 2 channel room these days.

 

[Sonny1]

Amir, but did you try them with tube connectors and the magic stuffing GR will gladly sell you. And expensive caps.

 

[dasdoing]

and is much better for off axis listeners

just for the record: I was refering to LP....off axis a phantom center will always fall apart VERY quickly. that is sure where the center shines

 

[375HP2482]

At $200 there isn't really room in the bill of materials for a 2.5 way crossover, but it is a shame the more expensive modern version is still a 2 way.

Speaking of 2.5-way xover, one 5 mH inductor could be had for $3 or so and would improve the horizontals in the speech range.

Gotta wonder about that nick around 400 Hz. The overall linearity is very good.

 

[Rick Sykora]

Speaking of 2.5-way xover, one 5 mH inductor could be had for $3 or so and would improve the horizontals in the speech range.

Gotta wonder about that nick around 400 Hz. The overall linearity is very good.

Lol, if you ignore the ugly nick and avoid on-axis, the linearity is not horrible. Still too many better alternatives than this old design.