Building up my home cinema...

[olivarrr]

Hi guys,

New to the forums! Up until recently, i've had a stereo amp hooked up to my with Mission 751's, and now I've decided to move over to surround sound now I've moved out to my own place (skint now - so on a tight budget!)

My new amp is the Sony STR-1050 and I'm loving it! Love the way it sounds with the Missions.

Bought a Q Acoustics 2000ci as my centre speaker, and it just sounds... wrong. Sounds very tinny compared to the stereo mode with the Missions. Everyone sounds like they're talking in a tin can. Wondering if I should sell the Q Acoustics centre and eBay around for a Mission 75C centre? I know they're old, but I'm not sure if it would be better matched with the 751's.

I'm not looking to get a subwoofer (thin walls to the neighbours!) so wondering if that has something to do with the tinny centre.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[bigboss]

Did you run Digital Cinema Automatic Calibration (DCAC)?

 

[olivarrr]

I did yes, and I tried messing around with the large/small speaker settings. Didn't make much of a difference. All the bass seems to come from the 751's

 

[bigboss]

As you don't have a subwoofer (you should get one, doesn't have to annoy neighbours), always set your speakers to large. The subwoofer takes the lower frequencies away from the speakers, allowing them to perform better at mid and higher frequencies.

It is always recommended to have matching fronts and centre (from the same manufacturer and preferably from the same series), but to me it sounds like a problem with the setting. Have you manually tried to increased the volume of the centre speaker?

Test another speaker before selling / returning this one.

 

[Mission75]

I currently use Mission 753s, i did try a 75c to match the 753s but it did not sound good to me. sounded flat/hollow and lacked detail. So i now use 751s as my centre and sounds great, lots of detail and good solid sound. If you dont mind having a 751 as a centre you could give that a try

 

[Glacialpath]

As you don't have a subwoofer (you should get one, doesn't have to annoy neighbours), always set your speakers to large. The subwoofer takes the lower frequencies away from the speakers, allowing them to perform better at mid and higher frequencies.

Don't you mean "Small BB" always set them to small not large.

To the OP it's usually best practice to match brands when it comes to the front left/center/right speakers

It could just be the Q Acoustic would work perfect with the rest of it's package but sounds wrong with you Missions. They only other thing I can think of is you have it wired up wrong. Sorry if you don't

I would take back the Q Acoustic center and find a Mission one and one that is the same kind of size and build to your stereo pair.

BB is right. You can get a sub without it bothering the neighbours if it's set up correctly. You can always speak to your neighbours to see if your movie watching bothers them and maybe some bass traps might help too. If you get small satellite speakers for surrounds, they will likely sound really tinny against you fronts for not having a sub to fill up the sound when things go in behind you.

Hope that helps.

GP

 

[bigboss]

Don't you mean "Small BB" always set them to small not large.

If you don't have a subwoofer, set the speakers to "large" so they have a chance to work on all the frequencies. If you set them to "small", they will send the lower frequencies to the non-existent subwoofer and the OP will lose out on them.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

On my Yamaha receivers, if you tell the system that you don't have a subwoofer, the front speakers are automatically set to "Large". You then do not have the option of setting them to "Small", that option is greyed out!

 

[Glacialpath]

If you don't have a subwoofer, set the speakers to "large" so they have a chance to work on all the frequencies. If you set them to "small", they will send the lower frequencies to the non-existent subwoofer and the OP will lose out on them.

I misread your post BB.

Son_of_SJ is right. If you have the option to selct "No sub" then the amp should set it's self accordingly.

 

[olivarrr]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your responses. I've checked all the wiring, and the speakers are all set to large. Sounds great until someone starts talking!

Might give the MIssion centre a try.

My dad has the Mission Elegante set-up, and to be honest, his centre sounds pretty tinny too. When it's in stereo mode it sounds brilliant.

I'm on a pretty tight budget, so I want to be replacing as few bits as possible. I have some Kef eggs as rears, Mission 751's as fronts and Q Acoustics 2000ci as centre. Might try the MIssion 75C centre, and a little subwoofer. Any recommendations for a cheap one? That Wharfedale also gets rave reviews for a new model, but I have no problems buying second hand. I used to use the Kef sub, but like all Kef subs... it died!

Thanks again!