Matching center of my own choice

[Agapetos]

Hi everyone,

So, in my search for my temporary endgame speakers, and going through the amazing rated list provided here I found it frustrating that the towers I wanted, the center match wasn't even on the list.

Some say, choose your center first, then your fronts, but that didn't work out for me that well as I wanted to pick them for 2 channel music. So, the JBL hdi 3800 is on back order, but will be coming soon.

I'm not impressed or confident in the HDI 4500 as much as I would like. Might be better than my current Klipsch rp405c.... overall, I have grown quite tired of the Klipsch sound, and unfortunately am hyper aware of its flaws now.

So, my question is, can you pick a different center and would the tweeter be the main factor to match as close as possible?

I understand there are a lot of factors....if the 3800s still are on sale when I have saved a bit of dough, I am probably much better off getting 3 identical correct?

It's not ideal, but right now, the 4500 is $750 more than the towers, which is crazy especially when I already don't want it LOL

Anyways, if you have a mixed speaker setup, pros and cons? And how did you do your matching?

Thank you!

 

[Chrispy]

With my JBL S590s the center in the series was the 520C and decided I wanted something a bit more capable, as its just a two way with small midwoofers. I changed to an Infinity 263RC (a 3-way) and that matches up well enough. The 520 is happy with the SVS speakers I put it with. In another system I use matching speakers across the front, and in another quite mismatched with JBL 4311Bs L/R and an old Cambridge center, but that system is mostly about music (it's my workshop so even watching a video matching isn't particularly important but works well enough). If you can manage the positioning of three 3800s that sounds like a good way to go, the horizontal center is just a compromise to start. Looking to maybe Revel might be a thought too.

 

[AdamG]

Home theater with so many channels (I run a 9.2.6) becomes a compromise in my humble opinion. Yes the advice is to get speakers with matching timbre. But in use and real life content I can’t say I noticed a difference. Try to go with the same manufacturer for the front three. But you can experiment and substitute a center speaker because it fits the space or is more powerful than the manufacturer matching speaker. If you are going to eq the room with an automated calibration like Audyssey or you intend to EQ yourself using REW and a mic. After eq calibration you are essentially matching the speaker frequency output to best match the rest of your speakers.

My opinion and what I did was go with the best speaker you can for the center channel because when you start going past 5 channels it will get difficult to hear the dialog. Best luck to you and this is just my advice only. Unless you are building a dedicated home theater from scratch and the room is designed for this exclusive use. Compromise becomes the norm putting the whole thing together. I have a bunch of different brands involved. Martin Logan Electrostatic for the front 3. SVS towers Wide, Klipsch towers surround, SVS tower rear surround. Then SVS and Klipsch mixes for the 6 height speakers. It’s not perfect but gets the job done well enough for me.

Welcome Aboard @Agapetos !

 

[Agapetos]

Home theater with so many channels (I run a 9.2.6) becomes a compromise in my humble opinion. Yes the advice is to get speakers with matching timbre. But in use and real life content I can’t say I noticed a difference. Try to go with the same manufacturer for the front three. But you can experiment and substitute a center speaker because it fits the space or is more powerful than the manufacturer matching speaker. If you are going to eq the room with an automated calibration like Audyssey or you intend to EQ yourself using REW and a mic. After eq calibration you are essentially matching the speaker frequency output to best match the rest of your speakers.

My opinion and what I did was go with the best speaker you can for the center channel because when you start going past 5 channels it will get difficult to hear the dialog. Best luck to you and this is just my advice only. Unless you are building a dedicated home theater from scratch and the room is designed for this exclusive use. Compromise becomes the norm putting the whole thing together. I have a bunch of different brands involved. Martin Logan Electrostatic for the front 3. SVS towers Wide, Klipsch towers surround, SVS tower rear surround. Then SVS and Klipsch mixes for the 6 height speakers. It’s not perfect but gets the job done well enough for me.

Welcome Aboard @Agapetos !

Thank you!

If all else fails, I'll do 3 identical...got the wife approval.... allegedly

It's our living room so it's been work to make it all happen. I got Klipsch all around, but I'll be using Dirac for calibration, and I do my sweeps with Rew and work my sub and detailed adjustments like that.

I bet I can get that c208 to work out for me......but, sensitivity is different, impedance is different, tweeter is different...but honestly, if I have my stereo music handled, it seems to me that when I play a 4k movie in full surround it mask the imperfections a lot. My Klipsch fronts is quite subpar when I listen to them in stereo without sub ...and in direct mode, they are to me awful. But when a movie is in full swing, it's much less noticeable.

I guess a big part of this, is me, trying to get myself out of the Klipsch corner I found myself painted into, as I thought it would be my endgame speakers, but I caught the bug, and now it's my first build

Appreciate you guys chiming in, so much to learn..... nothing is more real to me now, than it's the journey.....I doubt I'll ever not have the next upgrade to focus on.

 

[AdamG]

nothing is more real to me now, than it's the journey..

You have arrived at the finish line that normally takes some a long, long time to understand. It indeed is the journey. This place will make your head hurt. Audio Science is incredibly complex and heavy on the math. Getting the basics is the best us mere mortals can hope to achieve. Best of luck and feel free to ask questions. We have many members here who love to help their fellow ASR Members out.

 

[Agapetos]

With my JBL S590s the center in the series was the 520C and decided I wanted something a bit more capable, as its just a two way with small midwoofers. I changed to an Infinity 263RC (a 3-way) and that matches up well enough. The 520 is happy with the SVS speakers I put it with. In another system I use matching speakers across the front, and in another quite mismatched with JBL 4311Bs L/R and an old Cambridge center, but that system is mostly about music (it's my workshop so even watching a video matching isn't particularly important but works well enough). If you can manage the positioning of three 3800s that sounds like a good way to go, the horizontal center is just a compromise to start. Looking to maybe Revel might be a thought too.

That 263rc I hear is very well regarded.

The revel c208 is on sale right now, so is the f208 but I just couldn't swing it financially at this point, with the center and all.

I like to play fairly loud and often some hard hitting music, but I listen to everything really.

The 3800s for $1250 is an incredible price....

The other thing is phantom center....I've accidentally listened and could swear my center speaker was playing, but it wasn't...but, I love center speakers LOL there's just something awesome about it, besides, so much music is getting remastered in dolby formats and often I really like it.