Centre channel speaker to improve bass?

[Ant8519]

Hi all

any advice on this please. I have b&w 601 s3 speakers in a smallish room. They are placed either side of the tv but are quite close together due to the room size. That said they sound great but I was thinking of how to improve the bass response and have seen the matching b&w centre channel speakers come up on fleabay quite often. As there is a perfect space for them under the tv I wondered if they might be worth a punt.

i understand that they are not a sub and the specs show the low frequency range is not massively lower than the 601's but as the system is also used for viewing films it seems a good compromise. The stereo amp has two speaker outputs, which I currently use to actively biwire the speakers, but could easily be used to power the centre channel from one output and the current speakers from the other.

Does this make sense as an option or is there a subwoofer on the market that wil better complement this current setup (stereo amp with no sub out)?

Thx, Ant8519

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Then yr centre would be either left or right channel ???? Sub is only option using line level.

 

[Ant8519]

Hi

no the centre would be l&r channel, the amp has outputs for two sets of speakers. the centre would run from one set taking l&r channel...

or would that not work?

 

[Ant8519]

Hi

no the centre would be l&r channel, the amp has outputs for two sets of speakers. the centre would run from one set taking l&r channel...

or would that not work?

 

[TrevC]

Hi

no the centre would be l&r channel, the amp has outputs for two sets of speakers. the centre would run from one set taking l&r channel...

or would that not work?

Adding a centre speaker won't really help the bass,

Wire an active sub to the connectors at the back of the speakers, or make the connection on the speaker outs on the amp.. BK Electronics do some great quality yet inexpensive ones that facilitate this type of connection.

I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

 

[the record spot]

Try moving the speakers around if you can. This can often have surprisingly beneficial effects on the resulting sound. Bass included.

 

[MajorFubar]

Wiring the L&R speaker outputs to just one speaker is a recipe for blowing the amp, and before that all you'll get is mono sound fired to one speaker. I doubt it'll fix your bass issues either.

 

[steve_1979]

Hi

no the centre would be l&r channel, the amp has outputs for two sets of speakers. the centre would run from one set taking l&r channel...

or would that not work?

No that would be a very bad idea I'm afraid. There's no point in adding a centre channel speaker to a stereo amplifier and wiring it up across both the left and right terminals is likely to cause damage to your amplifier too.

If you want to add more bass you have two options. Either buy some bigger stereo speakers that have more bass or add a subwoofer to your existing setup. As you want to increase the bass with TV and films I think that adding a subwoofer would be your best option.

If you want to add an extra centre channel speaker you'll also need to buy a 5.1/7.1 multi-channel receiver to replace your stereo amplifier.

 

[Ant8519]

thx all, handy advice, so looks like I'l be dropping the idea of a centre speaker...

Have had a look at the linked subwoofers and the smallest one looks ideal. I'll look at others too. Not sure about how to wire it in to a stereo amp with no sub out, but I seem to remember reading something years ago that suggest it's possible...

I'm not looking to replace the amp or speakers at this point in time but if I did it would be with something active, possibly the dynaudio xeo 3...

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Any line out "out" (e.g. tape monitor) will do, and you can buy stereo to mono adapters quite cheaply. Some subs actually have separate left and right inputs anyway.

 

[The_Lhc]

Hi

no the centre would be l&r channel, the amp has outputs for two sets of speakers. the centre would run from one set taking l&r channel...

or would that not work?

No it wouldn't and could potentially blow your amp if you do it wrong.

 

[steve_1979]

No it wouldn't and could potentially blow your amp if you do it wrong.

I said that first!

You owe me a biscuit.

 

[BenLaw]

The Major said it first, so he's owed a biscuit from each of you. Or four cookies.

 

[CnoEvil]

Somebody mention A BXit ? :help:

 

[The_Lhc]

No it wouldn't and could potentially blow your amp if you do it wrong.

I said that first!

You owe me a biscuit.

You can have the one I never got from you.

 

[BenLaw]

It'll have gone soft by now though. Or hard.

 

[CnoEvil]

It'll have gone soft by now though. Or hard.

ABX it.

 

[BenLaw]

If I was ABXing biscuits I don't think I'd care if I could tell between them, as long as there was a sufficiently large sample to make it statistically significant.

 

[CnoEvil]

If I was ABXing biscuits I don't think I'd care if I could tell between them, as long as there was a sufficiently large sample to make it statistically significant.

Ah, biscuits. :doh: