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Passive Speaker Recommendations for USA (by @sweetchaos)

Guys tell me some nice 3 way center channel speaker to buy, I have budget arround 500 to 1000 USD
 
Great list here. I need to replace the center speaker in our living room setup. Currently running Mirage OMD-C2 with OMD-28s as LR. Our living room is 20x20 open floor plan. In hindsight-sight the omni-polar design is probably not the best for this room because it’s very lively in here.

I’ve narrowed down my list to Revel c426be and the Ascend Acoustics Horizon Sierra V2. The Revel is about 2x$ even on-sale, compared to the sierra titan dome. Our seating area is 12’ within +-20 degrees, and thinking the narrower dispersion would help with clarity. Use case is 90% TV/movies and 10% music.

The towers might get replaced eventually, but want to see how they integrate with the new center first.

What would you do?
 
jasonmichaelh said:
Great list here. I need to replace the center speaker in our living room setup. Currently running Mirage OMD-C2 with OMD-28s as LR. Our living room is 20x20 open floor plan. In hindsight-sight the omni-polar design is probably not the best for this room because it’s very lively in here.

I’ve narrowed down my list to Revel c426be and the Ascend Acoustics Horizon Sierra V2. The Revel is about 2x$ even on-sale, compared to the sierra titan dome. Our seating area is 12’ within +-20 degrees, and thinking the narrower dispersion would help with clarity. Use case is 90% TV/movies and 10% music.

The towers might get replaced eventually, but want to see how they integrate with the new center first.

What would you do?
Click to expand...
Well, if your speakers don't have distinctive flaws that identify them (resonances) - then the tonal matching can be achieved via Audyssey / Dirac or similar....

If they do have distinctive resonances that identify them regardless of F/R EQ tuning, then in most cases I would be looking for a different speaker... or you will have to match the speakers to each other.... and this gets tricky, as resonances can and will vary with different box size and configuration so unless you have identical center to L/R - the issue will be there (in terms of differing resonances).

My default position is "suck it and see" - but definitely apply a RoomEQ type adjustment for tonal matching; and yes that means using full frequency range EQ, and not just below the schroeder F, as you are using it both for room EQ (which is mainly bass) and for tonal matching - which is midrange and up primarily
 
dlaloum said:
Well, if your speakers don't have distinctive flaws that identify them (resonances) - then the tonal matching can be achieved via Audyssey / Dirac or similar....

If they do have distinctive resonances that identify them regardless of F/R EQ tuning, then in most cases I would be looking for a different speaker... or you will have to match the speakers to each other.... and this gets tricky, as resonances can and will vary with different box size and configuration so unless you have identical center to L/R - the issue will be there (in terms of differing resonances).

My default position is "suck it and see" - but definitely apply a RoomEQ type adjustment for tonal matching; and yes that means using full frequency range EQ, and not just below the schroeder F, as you are using it both for room EQ (which is mainly bass) and for tonal matching - which is midrange and up primarily
Click to expand...
Not sure what you mean by “suck it and see” but I’ll assume you mean “try”. I am using Dirac. After replacing the center speaker, the LR might need to be replaced or might not as you mentioned. Will try it out, but first I need to choose a center.

In an echoey open floor plan with 10’ ceiling, which would be the best center speaker within a +-20 degree listening window?
 
Why should anyone pay attention to your recommendations as opposed to anyone elses? It is amazing to me that people have the arrogance to create posts like this..
 
ferrellms said:
Why should anyone pay attention to your recommendations as opposed to anyone elses? It is amazing to me that people have the arrogance to create posts like this..
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Did you read the "readme" in the first post?

The recommendations are not based on anyone's personal opinions ...
 
jasonmichaelh said:
Not sure what you mean by “suck it and see” but I’ll assume you mean “try”. I am using Dirac. After replacing the center speaker, the LR might need to be replaced or might not as you mentioned. Will try it out, but first I need to choose a center.

In an echoey open floor plan with 10’ ceiling, which would be the best center speaker within a +-20 degree listening window?
Click to expand...
No way of knowing without listening to the speakers in that space....

Speakers have always been difficult to subjectively characterise - you can measure them and get an indication of quality, but ultimately they have to be listened to.... of all the components in our setups, they are the most imperfect / flawed - few speakers achieve less than 1% distortion across the frequency range, even very highly regarded ones.... so acceptable speaker performance, accepts flaws that would be grounds for outright rejection in electronics....

The flaws are often resonances - and some people are very sensitive to those, others never notice them.... resulting in speakers being very much a matter of taste.

That makes things even more difficult in the age of online shopping.
 
sweetchaos said:
Even though they are overpriced currently (I remember last Christmas they were on sale), you can still buy them from newegg 3rd party.
So I'll leave them here for now.
I'll set up an alert to notify me if they ever go out of stock, so I'll remove them then ;)
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I came across a store that is having a sale on a pair of new Sonus Faber Lumina 1 speakers for $450, is that a good deal?
 
Amazing deal but they are a little hard to drive so make sure you have a fairly strong amp
 
Maybe at low volumes for near field. Not nearly enough to fill a larger room
 
What does it mean that the Polk R100 is best under $700, yet the Polk ES20 is basically listed at every dollar level?
 
Edit: Need to change my answer ..
 
Jarrett said:
What does it mean that the Polk R100 is best under $700, yet the Polk ES20 is basically listed at every dollar level?
Click to expand...
After further review, I think the answer is this entry in the change log:

- 2021-11-22: Added missing worthy picks for towers, bookshelves. Overall, previously "highly recommended" speakers are now carried forward in price brackets. This expands the number of recommendations as you go up in price brackets.
Click to expand...
So presumably the ES20 is a highly recommended model, so it gets carried through to subsequent price tiers.

Edit: And indeed the ES20 got a golfing panther from Amir.
 
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