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JBL Stage 125C Review (Center Speaker)

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 104 58.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 65 36.3%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 10 5.6%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    179

Alice of Old Vincennes

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As far as I can tell, the RC263 stock has finally dried up. I can't find it available at any major retailer in the US. The Emotiva C1+ seems like the economical option these days.
It will come back on Infinity website. No rhyme or reason. If goes on sale, buy immediately. Sells out quickly.
 

Alice of Old Vincennes

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RC263 is most economical 3-way center available only when on sale. At its $500 list price several other 3-way centers undercut it. The RC263 does disappear from stock for long stretches causing speculation that it's been discontinued. But it keeps respawning and going back on sale at ridiculously low prices.
I checked Infinity website daily for over a month. Appeared on sale and ordered immediately. I was worried wouldn't fit under 65 inch OLED. Lower mounting brackets on display made a breeze.
 

sword

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I checked Infinity website daily for over a month. Appeared on sale and ordered immediately. I was worried wouldn't fit under 65 inch OLED. Lower mounting brackets on display made a breeze.
It hasn't been available for at least 3 months, which is when I started looking at it.
 

pseudoid

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I guess my point is shouldn't a bookshelf speaker with a proper waveguide work fine laying on its side?
I kept thinking that the problem is the small enclosure (of a center speaker, especially the constriction in the X-axis (vertical/up/down) interacting with the motion (excursions?) of both "MIDs" in some weird cancellation effect that may be shaping the horizontal beam-width. But then a bookshelf should have the same problem, like you indicated.
I find it very distracting when dialog or center effects are clearly coming from the L/R.
If the main L/R are distracting; then why even have them to begin with?
I am thinking (not recommending) you are describing a Left-sub + Center + Right-sub config.
 

Bear123

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Emotiva C1+ and C2+ would be good candidates to test. The B1+ speaker did really well so hopefully the design competence carries over into their centers. SVS would probably be good options for decent, reasonably priced 3 way centers as well.

I got rid of my Revel C25 and now use the RC263. I'll be surprised if the C25 doesn't measure a bit better than the other MTM's tested so far(in part due to very close spacing of the 5.25" woofers). Off axis was notably worse(although not atrocious) than the RC263 in my room.
 

strummr

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@amirm I think it would be interesting to measure the Revel C205:
Revel_Black_C205_1605_FRONT.jpg

Notice the vertical waveguide orientation. If revel can't make it work with this waveguide I think we can definitively say that this format is 100% useless.
I have a C205 and a RC263... the latter sounds better, probably because of the 2 vs 3 way; I'm looking to pick up a C208 to match my F208 fronts. I also have a few other centers laying around, like the Martin Logan 50XT - I haven't seen measurements, but would the folded tweeter make it better for horizontal dispersion? I know it sounds more 'dynamic' than the C205.

Since centers were created for minimal vertical footprint, how about matching a decent 3 way bookshelf, with good horizontal dispersion to use for the center? A compact bookshelf may fit below many screens... it would in my room. (I have a bunch of bookshelf speakers laying around - Audioengine, Emotiva Airmotivs, etc., but only the the ELAC Uni-fi UB5 is a 3 way; going to give it a try)
 

richard12511

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Given that none of the 2 way designs seem to be very good and the 3 way ones are a fair bit pricier. Is using a bookshelf speaker for a centre channel a better way to go? I ordered the jbl a130 bookshelf speakers for front L and R. A centre channel liek the infinity is out of my budget.

Im planning to find a surround receiver used. And I'm good with just left, right and center channels to go under my projector screen for now.

What is your center channel budget? The Infinity R263 is a really excellent center, and can be purchased for $199 via the Harman sales that happen many times per year. For a HT, the center channel is by far the most important speaker(several times pore important than the left and right speakers). IMO, even if you're on a strict budget, it's worth it to save up an extra $60 to purchase the Infinity when it goes on sale.
 

sam_adams

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View attachment 169332I have this speakers from Magnat, THX Cinema ceries, they say they are optimised with klippel for horizontal and vertical disspertion. Interesting to see some real measurments but I think you dont have them in US. Probably some Arendals will show if there is really a design flow in MTM horizontal placement.


Available in the US. Who wants to send one to @amirm for testing? From the specs it seems as though they would produce a perfect theater X-curve response with the 1.65 in. tweeter starting to beam at about 8.1 KHz.
 

richard12511

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Why no coaxials as centers?
They don‘t need much bass, a 5“ would do just fine.
It seems that coaxials are incredibly difficult(and expensive) to design well, and if not designed well, they come with some real tradeoffs.

Are there any cheap and good off the shelf tweeter/mid coaxes that could realistically be used?(genuine question).
 

mctron

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What is your center channel budget? The Infinity R263 is a really excellent center, and can be purchased for $199 via the Harman sales that happen many times per year. For a HT, the center channel is by far the most important speaker(several times pore important than the left and right speakers). IMO, even if you're on a strict budget, it's worth it to save up an extra $60 to purchase the Infinity when it goes on sale.
The RC263 has not been in the sales in quite some time (8 or 9 months) -- perhaps they are sitting on a boat somewhere off one of the coasts
 

richard12511

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3-way are fine. 2-way MTM is only poor off axis. Not everyone sits off axis, and many who do will never know the difference. As usual, this gets blown way out of proportion here.
It's fair to point out that bad off axis performance messes up the sound for all listeners, even those sitting directly on axis. It just messes it up less for those folks.
 

mrmoizy

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I had an idea for a two-way center channel design that might work. Many of the 2-way center channel reviews here have shown the inherent weaknesses in the approach. Here's how I want to approach the weaknesses. Instead of using a typical tweeter and crossing over in the 2khz to 3khz range, and see all that directivity beaming from the woofer below that, I would use a 2-inch mid-range instead of the tweeter. This would allow a much lower crossover, in the 600-700hz range, which would alleviate some of the woofer's struggles.

The next approach I'd like to try is swapping out one of the woofers for a passive radiator. This would sacrifice some power handling, but would add some low end extension and would reduce the amount of horizontal comb-filtering that two woofers aligned horizontally usually gives you in the 800hz to 3khz range. The only horizontal alignment would be the woofer and the mid-range/wide-band driver, and the lower crossover point would alleviate that relationship.

The one major sacrifice is the mid-range would struggle with the last audible octave, sloping off and beaming, but I posit that this highest octave is non-essential in center channel usage.

Thoughts?
 

More Dynamics Please

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The concentric Hsu CCB-8 with 8" woofer does seem to be a good candidate for a punchy center that can handle big special effects sounds as well as dialog. It's rated for up to 400w input so it can obviously play loud. Considering the experience @amirm had with the smaller Hsu HB-1 absorbing a huge amount of amplifier power without distortion even though only rated up to 250w the CCB-8 should make a killer center for reference level home theater at its modest list price of $369. Laid on its side it's only 10.5" tall.

 

SwampYankee

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If the main L/R are distracting; then why even have them to begin with?
I am thinking (not recommending) you are describing a Left-sub + Center + Right-sub config.
I use the L/R main plus sub for music. I typically sit close to the center point between the L/R speakers when listening. To be clear, I am not trying to optimize the entire HT setup for off-axis seating positions, just making trade-offs that allow the whole family to enjoy decent sound when we watch movies together. The others in the family don't care as much about the center image when watching from the corners. But I'm often the last to take a seat when the film starts...that inevitably means a corner seat.
 

Doctors11

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SVS would probably be good options for decent, reasonably priced 3 way centers as well.
I'd also like to see the Aperion Audio Novus N5C 3-way center and their Novus Slim N6SC two-way tested.
 
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What is your center channel budget? The Infinity R263 is a really excellent center, and can be purchased for $199 via the Harman sales that happen many times per year. For a HT, the center channel is by far the most important speaker(several times pore important than the left and right speakers). IMO, even if you're on a strict budget, it's worth it to save up an extra $60 to purchase the Infinity when it goes on sale.
I live in Ontario, Canada. I got the a130s for 262 dollars Canadian I didn't want to spend more than 300 Canadian for a centre channel.
 

youpassbutter

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FWIW, here are the 3-way center speakers for sale at Crutchfield:

SVS Prime Center
SVS Ultra Center
Monitor Audio Silver c350
Monitor Audio Silver c250 7G
Paradigm Premier 500C
Paradigm Premier 600C
Dali Opticon VOKAL Mk2
Wharfedale EVO4.C
Wharfedale Elysian C
KEF R2c
B&W HTM71 S2
Polk Legend L400
Revel C208
Revel C426Be

I'd be most interested to see the SVS Prime and Ultra models tested. Also the Emotiva Airmotiv C1+ and C2+ would be interesting.
 

krabapple

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Yet another 'center speaker' with poor horizonal coverage! WTF are these designers thinking? Target audience of 1?
 

beaRA

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Yet another 'center speaker' with poor horizonal coverage! WTF are these designers thinking? Target audience of 1?
Nah just targeting a customer that doesn't know to care about horizontal dispersion. Nobody is able to make a 3-way/coaxial center for under $250 right now, so we are left with MTM designs in the budget category. I swear, some of y'all think you won't hear anything at all out of this speaker if you sit one seat to the right.
 
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