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Help me select 5.1 speakers built for wide, clear dialog in a weird room

siracusa

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Executive Summary: Help me build a sub-$2K 5.1 speaker set for TV and movies with great dialog clarity and spread in a really weird room with tough space constraints, plus one weird pricing factor.

The long version:

I’ve spent the last week in the home-theater-speaker rabbit hole, including this forum and associated YouTube videos. I’m trying to upgrade my existing, tiny, very old 5.1 system (Energy Take Classic 5.1–anyone remember that?)

I have a fancy new setup (Sony A95K TV and a Pioneer VSX-LX305 receiver) and the old 5.1 speakers are the final thing that needs to be upgraded.

My main goal is better clarity (particularly for dialog) for more people in more positions, preferably without breaking the bank. (Budget is flexible, but expensive speakers may be wasted on my room. More on that in a bit.)

My main constraint is my room: very difficult to get speakers into good positions; seating is spread around a wide area (20-60 degrees, depending on how many seats are filled); limited space in the TV cabinet for a center speaker (shelf height: 9.25 inches max if I remove everything, and I’d like to be able to leave at least the blu-ray player); no place at all for tower speakers, tricky for even some bigger bookshelf speakers; even less space for surrounds. (On-wall, in-wall, and in-ceiling are not options, nor is rearranging the room, moving to a new room, or a new house. Spouse Acceptance Factor applies strongly.)

Given that, I’ve been looking for a center with great spread and sound quality as the centerpiece (hah) of this system. This is for TV and movies, not music, so the center is arguably the most important speaker. (I would love it if it sounds good for music too, of course!)

I somehow went all week before finding the “Passive Speaker Recommendations for USA” post, so I’ve already watched and read about many speakers that might be usable as centers. And if it was just about choosing one of those, I’d probably be OK on my own.

But I have read that it’s important to match the left and right speakers with center so things don’t sound too weird as they pan between L-C-R. For that reason, and because it seems like most "purpose-built" centers suck, I’ve been looking at using three bookshelf speakers instead of two bookshelf speakers and a center.

(And of course, KEF, a brand with good spread due to its coaxial design, also seems to make the most massive speaker cabinets that often can’t fit in my TV cabinet shelves—or even in my room on on stands without sticking out in a spouse-displeasing fashion.)

I’m trying to keep this under $2K for everything—well under, if I can. Given my weird room and space limits, super-expensive speakers are surely wasted here.

I’m leaning towards a 12-inch SVS non-ported sub for space reasons alone. (My current 8-inch ported sub has more than enough low-end for my family, so I assume a 12-inch sealed SVS will be fine.) My surrounds will surely be some dinky satellite speakers. So I feel like this is really an L-C-R problem, at its heart.

Now the final twist, just to make this even harder: I have the opportunity to get 50% OFF a single order (with multiple items) from…Polk. (Polk! Of course it’s not KEF or Elac or SVS…)

So, what would you do? Three KEF 150s plus some dinky surrounds and an SVS SB-1000? Elac UC52 center plus 50% off a pair of Polk R200s for L/R, or will that be too "mismatched"? An all-Polk system for 50% off, even though the Polk centers have bad spread? Something else?

Thanks ins advance for your opinions and advice!



Suggestions so far:

CenterL/RSurroundSubTotal Cost
Elac UC52Elac UB52??? ($300 budget as stand-in)??? (SVS SB-1000 as stand-in)~$2,000
Elac UB52Elac UB52??? ($300 budget as stand-in)??? (SVS SB-1000 as stand-in)~$2,000 (if I can find a single used UB52)
 
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LouB

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I wish I could help but if your looking for better dialog sound this thread is worth a read.
 
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siracusa

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Yeah, the content is surely a factor. But I’m just trying to improve on my current system’s center, with its 3-inch “woofer” and 0.75-inch tweeter, which is very old and very bad off-axis. Low bar!

https://flic.kr/p/2oj9CJW
 

Benedium

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Check the resale speaker market for 2 pairs of the same speaker. Try placing LCR in same way if possible. Not easy.

Alternatively... yes elac uc52 is one of the best centers for the money, but I only got it because I also found a couple of ub52s cheap in the resale market.
 
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siracusa

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My center has to be horizontal, unfortunately.

Elac UC52 plus two UB52s seems reasonable, but it pains me to give up that Polk discount. I really can’t beat this with 2x the cost in Polk?

As for three UB52s, I don’t recall if a UB52 laid on its side (see above constraint) has a spread is better or worse than the UC52.
 

dlaloum

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5.1 speaker sets, even quite premium ones, can frequently be found used at knock down prices....

"Everyone" bought 5.1 about 15 years ago....

And lots of people, especially at the premium end of the market, want matched speakers, and their speakers of 15 years ago are no longer available, matched sets are not possible - so they get a brand new set of 7.2.4..... and the unloved (but excellent) 5.1 set gets dumped.

The local marketplaces are full of 5.1 speaker sets. Most of them are.... ordinary.... but every so often, something good pops up, and its price is frequently more in line with the "ordinary" sets it is competing with.

That would (of course) require more research, and more time.... but if you have a working set of speakers for the time being, time may not be a problem!

Also - make sure you look at the local marketplaces, as you don't want to ship them.... just drive down and pick up!
 

Benedium

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My Polk XT 15 surrounds had a flat neutral tonality very similar or compatible to my elac debut reference fronts. Polk signature S20 on the other hand sounded much brighter.
 
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siracusa

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5.1 speaker sets, even quite premium ones, can frequently be found used at knock down prices....

"Everyone" bought 5.1 about 15 years ago....

And lots of people, especially at the premium end of the market, want matched speakers, and their speakers of 15 years ago are no longer available, matched sets are not possible - so they get a brand new set of 7.2.4..... and the unloved (but excellent) 5.1 set gets dumped.

The local marketplaces are full of 5.1 speaker sets. Most of them are.... ordinary.... but every so often, something good pops up, and its price is frequently more in line with the "ordinary" sets it is competing with.

That would (of course) require more research, and more time.... but if you have a working set of speakers for the time being, time may not be a problem!

Also - make sure you look at the local marketplaces, as you don't want to ship them.... just drive down and pick up!
I live in the Boston area. What kind of “local marketplaces” are you referring to?
 

dlaloum

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I live in the Boston area. What kind of “local marketplaces” are you referring to?
Given that I am in Australia... my awareness of local channels for used goods in Boston, is limited!!!

Craigslist? Facebook Marketplace?

I do see a lot of 5.1 sets on the local Australian Facebook Marketplace
 

Benedium

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My elac uc52 can even crossover to sub at 60hz. I love it! Heheh. Concentric and 3 way benefits just make it unbeatable in value. Poor man's Kef R series heheh.
 
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Benedium

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My center has to be horizontal, unfortunately.

Elac UC52 plus two UB52s seems reasonable, but it pains me to give up that Polk discount. I really can’t beat this with 2x the cost in Polk?

As for three UB52s, I don’t recall if a UB52 laid on its side (see above constraint) has a spread is better or worse than the UC52.
Also... Polk R200 speaker cabinet is huge so placement may be an issue especially if u need to toe in later. Do check the dimensions of all considered speakers. Seriously just get the elac combo of uc52 and ub52 :) oh and make sure your avr is in a cool well ventilated place cos these are insensitive speakers.
 
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siracusa

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What do you all think of mixing Polk R100 L/R with Elac UC52 center? (Yes, this discount is burning a hole in my pocket…) Would I notice this “mismatch” while watching TV and movies?
 

Benedium

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What do you all think of mixing Polk R100 L/R with Elac UC52 center? (Yes, this discount is burning a hole in my pocket…) Would I notice this “mismatch” while watching TV and movies?
I even noticed a mismatch between dbr62 and uc52... As others have mentioned countless times, no speaker is perfect. So I think the less weirdness u introduce to your setup, the less likely u are to 2nd guess and the sooner u can just start to enjoy what the manufacturers put together.

Anyway u can get the polk r100 with uc52 first and once u start 2nd guessing yourself(and u will), u can get ub52 and move r100 to surround, which will be better than the tinny satellites for sure.
 
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Benedium

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My center has to be horizontal, unfortunately.

Elac UC52 plus two UB52s seems reasonable, but it pains me to give up that Polk discount. I really can’t beat this with 2x the cost in Polk?

As for three UB52s, I don’t recall if a UB52 laid on its side (see above constraint) has a spread is better or worse than the UC52.
To me, the biggest benefit of buying elac unifi series is for their dedicated centre speaker uc52. So please don't bother with using ub52 sideways. Sorry if I seem like I'm nagging heheh.
 
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siracusa

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Good to know! It does seem like the UC52 is clearly my best option for my 9.25-inch shelf-height size constraint. The L/R bookshelf speakers that I pair with it is where I’m still debating. I haven’t read through that giant UB52 thread yet, but boy, it’s something. And then there’s the Polk discount in the mix.

I’m leaning towards R100s and maybe even a Polk HTS 12 sub, just because I can’t pass up the savings. Still reading and researching, though…
 

Head_Unit

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a really weird room with tough space constraints
What did you ever do? And if you didn't, pictures would sure help. If you can't do on-wall or in-wall or towers then where do bookshelf speakers even fit?
 
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