abatrac Posted October 28, 2022 Posted October 28, 2022 I'm about to upgrade my HT system and as I understand it the centre channel speaker is the most important. Once I've chosen this speaker I can build the rest of the speaker system around it. It will be a 5.1 system driven by a Denon x3500H AVR. L and R speakers will be small stand mounted and I have a Shiva subwoofer to handle the LFE. My priority for the centre speaker is intelligibility of speech which my current system lacks. I'd be grateful for any suggestion from you knowledgeable forum members as to what centre speaker in your opinion would be best for speech.
cdave Posted October 28, 2022 Posted October 28, 2022 Can I ask what your current center speaker is? Sometimes the issue may not be the speaker but the setup. Check the tweeter is aimed directly at your ears and if it's on a cabinet or shelf, place the front of the speaker level with the front edge to avoid early reflections. If you make changes, re run the calibration. Many other factors could be impacting speech intelligebility such as the room accoustics, surrounds or sub too loud etc that would also affect a new speaker. Good luck
Guest Posted October 28, 2022 Posted October 28, 2022 Have you enabled dialogue boost in the Denon AVR?
mikizee Posted October 29, 2022 Posted October 29, 2022 22 hours ago, cdave said: Can I ask what your current center speaker is? Sometimes the issue may not be the speaker but the setup. Check the tweeter is aimed directly at your ears and if it's on a cabinet or shelf, place the front of the speaker level with the front edge to avoid early reflections. If you make changes, re run the calibration. Many other factors could be impacting speech intelligebility such as the room accoustics, surrounds or sub too loud etc that would also affect a new speaker. Good luck All very good questions, I was about to reply with the same.
a.dent Posted October 30, 2022 Posted October 30, 2022 On 28/10/2022 at 12:27 PM, Snoopy8 said: Have you enabled dialogue boost in the Denon AVR? Or just increase the level of the centre channel.
abatrac Posted October 31, 2022 Author Posted October 31, 2022 Thanks for the feedback guys! My current centre channel speaker is a Mordaunt-short aviano 5. It's setup at ear level in a room with good accoustics with the front slightly protruding over the shelf. I've tried all combinations of speaker placement and played around with Audyssey, and yes increased the level. Haven't tried dialogue boost? The one thing that did help slightly was to replace the steel straps used for bi-amping with OFC jumpers. This mod made an amazing improvement on the L and R speakers when listening to stereo music. It's the netflix movie dialogue that I'm trying to improve. Has anyone had any experience with Klipsch or SVS centres?
cdave Posted October 31, 2022 Posted October 31, 2022 Assuming you have a sub, check your center is set to small and the crossover at 80hz. If the sub is next to the center you could experiment with higher crossover settings. Are the rest of your speakers the matching Mordaunt-short? In an Ideal world, all the speakers would be identical or from the same manufacturer and series. It appears you're in Adelaide. If you would like new speakers, consider local speaker manufacturers such as Vaf, Krix, Adelaide speakers, Hulgich. I'm not sure if Hulgich makes a center but may be worth a call.
Guest Posted October 31, 2022 Posted October 31, 2022 19 hours ago, abatrac said: My current centre channel speaker is a Mordaunt-short aviano 5. It's setup at ear level in a room with good accoustics with the front slightly protruding over the shelf. How big is your room and how far do you sit away? 19 hours ago, abatrac said: The one thing that did help slightly was to replace the steel straps used for bi-amping with OFC jumpers. This mod made an amazing improvement on the L and R speakers when listening to stereo music. I suspect this could be the cause of problem? When you bi-amp, you are increasing the load on the AVR and there may not be enough power for the centre. Especially if your left and right speakers are low sensitivity. Please test without bi-amping. If you want more power for the fronts, get a stereo power amplifier.
jamiebosco Posted November 1, 2022 Posted November 1, 2022 3 hours ago, Snoopy8 said: How big is your room and how far do you sit away? I suspect this could be the cause of problem? When you bi-amp, you are increasing the load on the AVR and there may not be enough power for the centre. Especially if your left and right speakers are low sensitivity. Please test without bi-amping. If you want more power for the fronts, get a stereo power amplifier. I read it that he wasn't bi-amping - just replaced the jumpers to something better (???) hmmm
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