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Monoprice THX-365C Center Channel Speaker Review (by Erin)

Shanman

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I would love to see this Monoprice compared to the HSU CCB-8. Everyone seems to forget that it‘s a very strong contender for a center channel in this price range.
 

Alice of Old Vincennes

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a KEF R3 has a pretty uniform plus/minus 40 degrees of directivity both horizontally and vertically hence the recommendation. Generally almost any conventional tweeter / mid (TM) arranged bookshelf placed horizontally will outperform an MTM specific horizontal center channel. just looks a bit
a KEF R3 has a pretty uniform plus/minus 40 degrees of directivity both horizontally and vertically hence the recommendation. Generally almost any conventional tweeter / mid (TM) arranged bookshelf placed horizontally will outperform an MTM specific horizontal center channel. just looks a bit odd.
Generally incorrect.
 

Adaboy4z

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i still remain convinced that a single KEF Q350 used horizontally is the best center speaker money can buy in this budget category. KEF doesn't sell the Q350 in singles but they can be found without too much effort.

Monolith is yet again turning heads and proving itself to be a worthy competitor in a crowded market and stamping that authority with, on price / performance ratio, very good value for money. I'd love it if they had a base white cabinet option too.

i guess the next two center speakers that i would love to see results for are the SVS Ultra Center and Aperion Novus Center. I suspect the SVS Ultra Center might more closely mimic its Ultra stablemates - not a bad place to be. it would be nice to see a plot for the older Polk LSiM Center speakers too but that is probably stretch at this point.
I'm using a kef Q150 as a center channel to match my L/R and it looks and sounds great. Bought it used excellent condition.
 

Chromatischism

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I would love to see this Monoprice compared to the HSU CCB-8. Everyone seems to forget that it‘s a very strong contender for a center channel in this price range.
I've read you want to point it off-axis, so for a center, aim it over your seats. For L&R, toe them out (and aim overhead). Otherwise that would be an interesting speaker to see a spinorama for.
 

GabrielPhoto

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I would love to see this Monoprice compared to the HSU CCB-8. Everyone seems to forget that it‘s a very strong contender for a center channel in this price range.
I considered comparing them but having to pay shipping both ways if it does not workout kind of push me away to test others instead. I love their subs but not sure about the speakers.
 

More Dynamics Please

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I considered comparing them but having to pay shipping both ways if it does not workout kind of push me away to test others instead. I love their subs but not sure about the speakers.
ASR's measurements and review of the older model Hsu HB-1 MK2 showed some decent performance for the price with and without EQ, especially in the area of power handling where it absorbed "tons," which sparked interest in seeing how the newer CCB-8 would measure.

 

gbrnole

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i suppose i should have been a bit more specific with my comment on standard tweeter / mid arranged bookshelves when compared to their mid / tweeter / mid counterparts. i was intending this comment for a given family of speakers. for example the vertical contour plots (essentially the horizontal plots when a bookshelf speaker is laid on its side) for the JBL stage, studio and HDI family of bookshelf speakers is at worst equal to and in most cases outperforms the center specific speaker in that family. the same holds true in the polk xt, studio and reserve series.

the narrowing of the horizontal dispersion in most MTM center speakers spans 2 octaves (and sometimes more) in the frequency range dominated by vocals - not ideal for a speaker intended to deliver vocal intelligibility to an audience. the bookshelf counterpart also experiences narrowing of its vertical dispersion (horizontal when laid on its side) but the narrowing is a shorter span in the frequency range of usually one octave or less.
 

gbrnole

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GabrielPhoto

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The Revel C208 is really good and has better directivity with a better controlled woofer-midrange crossover and less high frequency narrowing, but that's $2000. It's also quite large with a near-12" height.
Well, I decided to get my hands on the c208 to see if the big price delivers a similarly big experience enhancement vs the 365c. I also got the rc263 so I am testing all of them "side by side".
We shall see soon!
 

CapMan

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My Monoprice centre arrived today, impressed with the build quality, finish and weight. I’ve run a quick Audyssey calibration. Sound has good body, finding it a little spitty with sibilance at the moment.
 

Chromatischism

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My Monoprice centre arrived today, impressed with the build quality, finish and weight. I’ve run a quick Audyssey calibration. Sound has good body, finding it a little spitty with sibilance at the moment.
I see a bump in that region, but just to rule out something, set the curtain at 500 Hz on the center speaker and reupload the file.
 

CapMan

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I see a bump in that region, but just to rule out something, set the curtain at 500 Hz on the center speaker and reupload the file.
Hi - not sure I can do that, I’m running the room correction on a Marantz AVR?
 

rvsixer

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I'd look at Arendal. To my knowledge we haven't seen measurements of their center speaker, but their others are looking good. The 1723 CENTER S THX is $950. I would want to see some polar responses though for assurance.
Sorry if a little late to the party, but I just discovered this thread while looking for centers myself. Link to Arendal 1723 Monitor/Center tested polars (1723S will be of little difference as its the same toppled MTM design with smaller woofers):
https://www.audioholics.com/bookshelf-speaker-reviews/arendal-1723/conclusion

Really wanted to like Arendal, but the imo shady practice of only showing vertical polars for their centers, as well as stating in writing to me they don't have horizontal polars for their centers (unbelievable coming from a company that actually has good engineering)...well they have likely lost my business for a full HT setup. 15-20 degrees just doesn't cut it for me, as reflected sound matters too.

AH constantly pounds on them they need a real 3-way center lol.

Edit (additional info):
Maybe they could at the very least move the tweeter up, and get the woofers closer together. New box/crossover tweaks/sku needed, but at least there would be no additional driver costs.
 
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GabrielPhoto

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Sorry if a little late to the party, but I just discovered this thread while looking for centers myself. Link to Arendal 1723 Monitor/Center tested polars (1723S will be of little difference as its the same toppled MTM design with smaller woofers):
https://www.audioholics.com/bookshelf-speaker-reviews/arendal-1723/conclusion

Really wanted to like Arendal, but the imo shady practice of only showing vertical polars for their centers, as well as stating in writing to me they don't have horizontal polars for their centers (unbelievable coming from a company that actually has good engineering)...well they have likely lost my business for a full HT setup. 15-20 degrees just doesn't cut it for me, as reflected sound matters too.

AH constantly pounds on them they need a real 3-way center lol.
yep I cannot support such shady tactics either
 

beaRA

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Sorry if a little late to the party, but I just discovered this thread while looking for centers myself. Link to Arendal 1723 Monitor/Center tested polars (1723S will be of little difference as its the same toppled MTM design with smaller woofers):
https://www.audioholics.com/bookshelf-speaker-reviews/arendal-1723/conclusion

Really wanted to like Arendal, but the imo shady practice of only showing vertical polars for their centers, as well as stating in writing to me they don't have horizontal polars for their centers (unbelievable coming from a company that actually has good engineering)...well they have likely lost my business for a full HT setup. 15-20 degrees just doesn't cut it for me, as reflected sound matters too.

AH constantly pounds on them they need a real 3-way center lol.

Edit (additional info):
Maybe they could at the very least move the tweeter up, and get the woofers closer together. New box/crossover tweaks/sku needed, but at least there would be no additional driver costs.
I agree, they should NOT show the polar plot from the vertical monitors on the center product pages without a disclaimer. I don't evaluate the company based on this action in isolation though. The fact theat they are transparent at all with measurements is better than most audio companies. At least a savvy customer can identify that the polars are identical and thus cannot be representative of the center horizontal dispersion.

The performance per dollar, build quality, and 10 year warranty are positive indicators that Arendal does respect their customers. I won't defend the center polars and think they should modify the product pages, but I won't write them off entirely for it.

I also wish Arendal would add another competent 3-way center to the market, but understand why they don't. The large waveguide central to the Arendal design philosophy would make a 3-way center humongous. There is likely not a wide market for such a large center. All of the 1723 and 1961 towers are 2.5-way, so they just don't source a dedicated midrange driver at all. A 3-way wouldn't fit seamlessly into the lineup.

For me, this just disqualifies Arendal products for consideration in a surround system with an acoustically opaque display. I use three 1961 monitors behind an acoustically transparent screen so I don't have to worry about the horizontal MTM dispersion issues.
 

rvsixer

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I don't evaluate the company based on this action in isolation though...The large waveguide central to the Arendal design philosophy would make a 3-way center humongous. There is likely not a wide market for such a large center...All of the 1723 and 1961 towers are 2.5-way, so they just don't source a dedicated midrange driver at all. A 3-way wouldn't fit seamlessly into the lineup.

For me, this just disqualifies Arendal products for consideration in a surround system with an acoustically opaque display. I use three 1961 monitors behind an acoustically transparent screen so I don't have to worry about the horizontal MTM dispersion issues.
My own evaluation of the incorrect/sneaky polars is semi-important, but I sense great dishonesty with them saying they don't even have the horizontal polars. Real respect for customers (savvy or not) right there.

Big centers...somehow Revel C208's keep selling. I did mention they could tighten up the toppled MTM making the center somewhat taller and at least address some of the lobing issues...no new drivers/3-way needed.

How do you like the 1961 monitor trio? I have been thinking about that in an AT screen setup. Alas I worry about projector fan noise in high altitude fan mode (I am at 7000 ft), especially when my rrom's noise floor is already a low 26dBA (therefore thinking about direct display too).
 
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