One or Two Center Channels? Audiophiles Are Right: One Center Channel Is Best For Home Theater!

[@wattspeakers]

In case anyone wants to see the prequel to this video, it's at kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5-TfaeZh8Zop80

[@lorindamikaela]

I will never go back to a single center speaker >>> position is everything. One center above the tv one below it works perfectly, it will not be for everybody but it works for me.

[@wattspeakers]

Thanks for watching and commenting! Position indeed makes an audible difference, although with this particular center channel I'm running, the off axis response is much better than many center channels. Of course everyone thinks they've got the best center channel speaker AND they're the best driver on the road, but I've tried a bunch of center channels and this one is pretty good, and not all that finicky about where it's placed, but obviously the closer to on axis the better, so raising it up made some difference, but not a bunch. The main issue I had, was running two side by side. I'm pretty sure if they were further apart, top and bottom of screen, or on each side of the screen, the problems with destructive interference wouldn't be as noticeable. I think the main thing I learned from this exercise, is the experts are right and a single center channel functions more appropriately than two together. After trying two vs one, I'm the opposite of you and I'll likely never go back to two center channels. I might make a better center channel, but that's a project for another day.

[@christopherwilson6825]

Great video! Very intriguing . Imagine if you have had two subwoofers. Keep it going .

[@wattspeakers]

Thanks for watching and commenting! It's interesting you mentioned two subwoofers... I've had one sub, two subs and three subs hooked up. They were smaller than this one in this video, (they were Energy CSW 8 inch subs)... Then I stumbled upon a Craigslist find, on this Energy S12.3 subwoofer and it replaced the 3 with no problem, and gave me a ton more bass, made the entire system sound fuller. It's a monster sub though, that reaches sub-sub sonic levels. The 8 inch subs only went down to about 35 Hz. This one if I recall is like 18 or 19 Hz and made an enormous difference. The auto calibration sets it way below 0 Db and even that's nutty levels of bass. It usually sounds like there's a semi truck parked next to the house. Very strange in certain areas like the corner in my dining area, it'll literally cause a slight loss of equilibrium. That's deep lol. One decent sub is all I need. Honestly, there's times I turn the level down and it's only set to about 11 o'clock on the sub dial and the receiver calibration puts it at - 8 Db.

[@rockroll9513]

One sub will work just fine. Room treatment and raising the sub off the floor will improve the experience.

[@solidsnake6405]

If running two subs,open one and flip the pos&neg.. i did this with two klipsch promedia 2.1 subs i had laying around and omg those two little subs together hit bout as hard as a 15"..

[@lbudt29]

Nice system. Good match between the Sony and Energy.

[@wattspeakers]

Thank you for watching, commenting and the compliment. Believe it or not, while I was filming the listening portion of the video, I thought of you, because based on some of your comments we may have similar tastes in audio gear and possibly music. Kind of nutty but that's what I thought of, the thought just crossed my mind. Then I got to wondering, wouldn't it be something if that viewer was the "legend" himself... Things that make me go hmmm... Not in the way I'm trying to find the tape measure or screwdriver I had 7 seconds ago, but more in a "hmmm. hey wouldn't that be coincidental" way. Again thanks so much for being an awesome subscriber, watching and commenting. Let me know if there's anything I can do better, or topics or projects you're particularly interested in.

[@jamesf3801]

Klipsch r34c and 504c double channeled sounds absolutely amazing..I have this setup. More immersive sound. Playing music or movies sound much better.

[@mfkhometheater7742]

You should build a horizontal CBT array center. That's what I did in my old theater back in 2009 and it worked great. It was a 120 deg circular arc about 7.5 feet wide which provided very tightly controlled uniform dispersion over +/- 45 deg down to about 160 Hz below which the dispersion began to widen. It significantly reduced the need for room treatment because the drop off at the +/- 45 deg design parameter was very steep. I used 132 1/2" tweeters so comb filtering wasn't an issue due to the tight spacing of the tweeters. Of course the 120 deg arc combined with its overall size made it pretty deep. In your case you would want to limit it to no wider than the TV and maybe even less due to the depth issue. Still, you could have very tightly controlled uniform dispersion above 300 Hz or so. Below that the dispersion would gradually widen with decreasing frequency but then again, all conventional speakers do that too. Of course in my new theater I wanted an acoustically transparent screen so I went with a vertical CBT. You only need a few degrees dispersion in the vertical axis so you don't need such a large arc angle. I first considered doing a horizontal with only the center section as a physical curve and do the rest with DSP but it was going to end up needing 20+ DSP and amplifier channels just to drive it. It's complicated enough without all that so I'm glad I opted to go with the much simpler vertical CBT. It's just unfortunately not really possible with a TV, you really need to have it behind the screen so the horizontal option is about all you can do.

[@wattspeakers]

Thank you for watching and commenting. Hope all is well in your travels. I've never heard of horizonal CBT Array until your post. Interesting! I'll research that a bit more. I found an in depth article at www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=19326 I'm torn... I do like the setup I've got, however I was considering making a huge sound bar of sorts. I'm imagining using my pro drivers, (I picked up a bunch of Eminence Pro woofers, mid bass's and tweeters). For the center, I was thinking of making what would essentially be a big TV stand that looked similar to the Energy center channel I've got, except instead of 5-1/2 woofers, it would have 18" Woofers, two 5" Midranges, and either a 60 x 40 constant directivity wave guide, or an 80 x 80 degree conical wave guide mated to a compression driver. That's just the center. The left and right fronts and rears would be 15" 3 ways with I'm not sure what style horns, perhaps whatever I use on the center. For the Atmos, I was going to use something smaller but similarly built. For the subwoofer, the Energy I'm using should be fine. I know it's only a 12" but it reaches way deep, and gets stupid loud. Here's info on the subwoofer www.soundstagenetwork.com/surrounded/surrounded200503.htm#:~:text=3%20(16.38%22H%20x%2011.03,are%20simple%20yet%20attractive%2Dlooking. The Eminence Pro drivers I've got are featured in one of my other videos. The other thought I had was trying a DML Exciters surround sound system, with the Energy sub handling all the sub 100 Hz stuff. Thanks again for the info on the CBT.

[@rockroll9513]

I run 2 bookshelf speakers on their sides in series. They work really well. Room treatment helps. Also; angle the speakers so the tweeters are in line with your ears, a rug on the floor in front of the center to help with sound reflection and some sound absorbtion in back of the speakers if they are rear ported.

[@rockroll9513]

And that coffee table is probably reflecting sound.

[@rockroll9513]

Pull the center speaker as far forward as you can.

[@NickkaDUB]

The dialogue difference from Dirac has been great. Totally different sound and you’re not turning the volume up and down the whole movie. I tried multiple centers and my favorite are the Klipsch with 4 6” and my new one, the Def Tech DM30.

[@wattspeakers]

Thanks for watching and commenting. Embarrassingly I don't know what Dirac is, but will look into it.

[@NickkaDUB]

@@wattspeakers It’s a new room setup tool in receivers like Audessey Room EQ.

[@wattspeakers]

@@NickkaDUB I've got a basic Audessey built into my NAD receiver and the several Sony receivers I have currently and in the past had their version of it. Makes a big difference, although I run mine for a flat room response and no effects. It's definitely a cool feature though.

[@NickkaDUB]

@@wattspeakers This is the first one that I’ve had that actually sounds really good. It tests 13 spots in your listening area. The computer version does more. It’s definitely worth looking into.