Center Speaker Advice Sought

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Dear all,

I am the more or less proud owner of an Onkyo TX-NR818. I have two Mordaunt Short full-range speakers, and 4 BNS Ellessey II mk II full-range speakers, and no subwoofer. I still have two spare of those Ellessey as spare, and was using one as a center speaker.

However, my girlfriend did not approve of that latter setup, so I am back to a 6.0 (all of the speakers start at 40 Hz, so I do not have a subwoofer, nor do I feel any particular need to add one) setup at the moment.

I am allowed by our Financial Director of All Expenses to buy a Centre Speaker, as long as it either fits under the TV, or on top of the TV-cabinet. However, space 'up there' is a bit of a premium, so I have a maximum of 17 cm (6.69"), height wise. Depth about 30cm, and width is not really an issue.

With this setup, what kind of center speaker would you recommend? I also contemplated getting two smaller speakers, dividing the centre sound equally and for 'visual' balance.

Appreciate your inputs!

Picture of the cabinet:

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Which model Mordaunt-Shorts?

M-S is a brand that has been "parked" for a few years now, but you might, for example, find a used or brand new in box (BNIB) Mezzo 5 on eBay.
Point being, your front three speakers should ideally be the same brand and model range, so if you have Mezzo fronts you should be looking for a Mezzo centre, or Aviano with Aviano, etc.

 

[Leeps]

I am allowed by our Financial Director of All Expenses to buy a Centre Speaker, as long as it either fits under the TV, or on top of the TV-cabinet.

The area above the TV doesn't look ideal (without cutting holes and potentially making your cabinet structurally unsafe!) How about under the TV? Both above and below have their issues. Whichever you go for, try to ensure that the tweeters point towards ear height. I use Auralex Mopads, foam wedges, both to isolate the speakers from my cabinet and to help direct the sound upwards rather than towards my knees (seeing that my ears are not located there).

Having said that, you may find that no centre at all actually sounds better than a poorly placed centre speaker. I ran a 4.1 set-up for a while with my AVR routing centre channel stuff to the left and right speakers. As long as you site the left & right speakers properly (for a good stereo image), it can sound surprisingly good.

One way to check speaker positioning is before you run any auto-room calibration, to play stereo sources in Pure Direct, adjusting their location, distance from the wall and toe-in until the imaging (and bass) seems spot on. Then run the auto calibration afterwards.