Centre speaker location problem!

[admin_exported]

I'm after a MT30 set up, or similar (small, style speakers to fit in with the lounge and my wife's demands!).
Problem is that I have a 46 inch 6 series Samsung LCD coming...

Due to my room size/logistics I have to put the tv in the corner, and it will have to stand on a suitable cabinet.

What I hadn't thought of until I looked at the MT1's, is that the centre speaker would sit in front of my tv on the same cabinet, and obscure a fair bit of the telly itself! Pretty much any centre unit will hog the front of my tv!

I can't put it in the cabinet (?) as it will be full off gubbins like PS3's, amps, dust etc. I cant wall mount it above as it will be in a corner, and the front two speakers will be sat either side of the tv and it will look odd.

The KEF 5000 is so slim it may be an option... but am I missing something here?
Where do folk with tv's on cabinets put theirs? I'm stuck, and there must be something i am missing. I'll be having to raise the tv on phone books under the Sammy's stand at this rate.
(due to the tv sitting in a corner between a bay window and a fireplace base, both the front speakers will be on the cabinet too, as there is no floor standing room either side.)

 

[Anonymous]

mine is tucked away behind the door, then when i want to watch a film i get it out and plonk it on the floor in front of my telly. just get acentre that has terminals that will accept banana plugs and then no messing about two second jobbie to connect them

 

[professorhat]

I'm surprised there's not room underneath the TV - my mate has the KEF eggs with the centre on its side and this sits nicely in front. You realise you can turn the centre M1 on its side, making it nowhere near as tall...

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="professorhat"]I'm surprised there's not room underneath the TV - my mate has the KEF eggs with the centre on its side and this sits nicely in front. You realise you can turn the centre M1 on its side, making it nowhere near as tall...[/quote]
i thought thts how they were supposed to be v wide instead of tall thats how mine is anyway?

 

[professorhat]

Indeed, but on the MT-30 package, each of the satellite speakers is the same speaker, it's just with the centre, you'd take it off the stand and place it horizontally rather than vertically. I was just checking the OP knew this as the TV would have to be on a very low pedestal for this to get in the way of the picture.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, even on their side, the MT1's are a few inches high due to the chrome stand. Wouldn't removing it, rather than twisting it to the side on the stand as pictured on the website and demo'd when I looked at them, affect vibration and performace?!

An LE46A656 stand isnd that high, and I do worry having placed an MT1 in Sevenoaks near a similar style of tv.

My set has been delayed by Curry's, and none local to measure, so I'm supposing somewhat.

Even a KEF egg is quite thick, and I don't like the high looking sub!

The KEF 5000's slim black centre unit in about one third the height... So I may have to mix and match?!

I'm wondering if I ought to get a dedicated centre speaker anyway (does the MT1 suffer from being a jack of all trades?).

I hate muffled centre channels (one down side of my current Tosh cathode with built in 5:1 centre, front and sub seperate speakers in the set... the centre speaker is poor quality and it tells. The rears are like something from a cheap pc! Hey, it was cutting edge in the late 90's. Sacrifice speaker quality for less wires!)

If I did mix and match, I'd be doing a PV1, dedicated centre (B&W's other ranges?), and maybe the MT1's x4.

Then I'd worry about upsetting the system balance, which is why I looked for a MT30 to keep it all in harmony! Does such a hotchpotch of units rather throw out balance? Perhaps the MT1 is good enough as a centre in its own right.... ?

 

[professorhat]

Mmm, having a different centre from the M1 may well throw the balance out. Do you need to have M1s as the front speakers (or even the rears)? Ideally, you want to keep the front three speakers in the same range e.g. have a look at this review which shows how you can mix and match the B&W setup. For example, I have the B&W 685s as my fronts, the HTM62 as the centre (same as in the review above) and then the M1s as rears (as I don't have room for the 686s behind me) and it sounds fabulous. Trouble is, I'm not sure how this helps as the HTM62 is much bigger than the M1! I have mine wall mounted on an isolated shelf above the TV.

Possibly the KEF mixing and matching may work better - is there a KEF dealer near you? You could then go and experiment in their demo room as I did with my B&W set up.

Also, you could look at wall mounting the little M1. I know the set up is in the corner, but you can get brackets which let you direct the speaker in different directions like this one.

 

[Anonymous]

You could always fit a triangular piece of wood into the corner above the tv to fix the bracket to ? It need only be small and the speaker should hide most of it. Paint or paper should help keep the OH happy.

I know this sounds very agricultural in this hi-tec chat room but it is a thought

 

[Anonymous]

I could do the bit of wood, but the speaker may suffer from being in the corner at the join of the walls?

I'm set on a PV1 for the looks, so I have to be careful straying from the style type speakers.

I'd love your set up Prof, but I don't think I'd have the room for a box speaker as there is just enough for a tv in the gap, let alone stuff next to it.

One last question... for all the above possibilities, is an Onkyo 606 ideal (need a higher power one?).

I'm about to buy the 606 now so replies ASAP appreicated.

 

[professorhat]

Well, the Onkyo will be fine to power those speakers I reckon, though obviously it hasn't actually been fully reviewed yet...!

 

[Anonymous]

It was more asking if I would be better with the 8** version as it is more powerful...

thanks everyone

 

[Anonymous]

Back to your stand issue - how much money do you have ? thought about a pedestal stand to sit behind the table stand you plan to have (i.e. mount the TV a few inches higher on a pole). Then you can adjust the height and leave clearance for the centre speaker......... If you can still change the stand idea, there are pole mounts integrated into the table style to do both jobs......... (I am wrestling with similar layouts of: wanting 2 shelves for AV kit, a third shelf/top for a centre speaker and clearance for the TV itself). Surprisingly, there are not huge options for this.

 

[Anonymous]

Its a real pain.

Just auditioned a set of MT1's with the 61 centre speaker. Its so sad that I have no where to really place the very deep sitting 61.

I really like a good centre.

I have been given another idea... downsize my tv to get more space. I'm seriously considering it!

A link to some of these pole tv stand things would be good. I haven't bought anything bar the tv yet, as I plan to use my old stand as a stop gap while I get a feel of the new tv and what I need to accomodate.

It would be so easy if it was wall mounted, but that aint an option in my corner of the room!

 

[Anonymous]

as a fan of big tvs please no.
as for your centre problem get sum rubber stops to put under it.
i work at a car garage and used sticky rubber spacers used to get a correct gap when bonding car screens im sure you could find some somewhere maybe a crafts place or even a pound shop?

 

[Anonymous]

not really sure what the rubber stops will do to help shoehorn a huge deep B&W speaker onto a cabinet with a Sammy 46" stand's footprint taking most of the surface up?

It would be like Jenga if I stuck the tv on the Centre speaker!

Most tellingly (?) if you look at B&W'w website, the gallery shows no pics of the 600 series centre in use. Download the 6 series brochure, and the wonderful pics have the big floor standing speakers but appear to have no centres anywhere! Even their photographers couldn't get them in!

 

[professorhat]

This is how I got mine in - link!. Before this, it was on the bottom shelf of my cabinet but I had to put my amp there due to a mess up when I ordered a new cabinet where all my other AV gear goes.

I think darkside82 was referencing using the M1 without the little stand i.e. put this on rubber stops to isolate it. To be honest, I think a little bit of blu-tack under each corner of the speaker would give you the same isolation. Seriously.

 

[Anonymous]

How do you make your centre look about 2 inches deep in those pics! this thing is over 30cm deep!

Is your shelf secured on a brick wall, cos they aint light either?! You make it look so easy there!

Do they do the same thing for a corner? Mine would form the long side of the corner triangle, and would stick out even more due to the angles.

I'm still wary it may drown out the MT1's at the front, but I do so like a full on centre speaker. Maybe I should stop being difficult and just go for the full MT30 and not have to locate a big lump. The teeny MT1 could lie easily in my cabinet. Awlways want what I can't have!

 

[professorhat]

Trick of the light I reckon, the TV is actually just over 30cms away from the wall and the stand itself sticks out just over 41cms which gives the affect that the two are lined up when seen from face on.

Yup, it's a good sturdy brick wall between my lounge and my bedroom.

I think you might be better off with the M1 as your centre - I don't think the bigger centres were designed for use with the M1s as fronts so, as you say, you may find it loses the balance between the front three speakers. You can always turn the centre speaker up on your amp so it is louder in the mix compared to the front two.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="SAP7"]

It would be like Jenga if I stuck the tv on the Centre speaker!

[/quote]
ooh can i play

 

[stonehound]

Professorhat, what sub do you use in the set up as I have the same (minus a sub)

Thanks

 

[professorhat]

At the moment, I've got the Acoustic REL Q150E. However, this was left over from my old surround setup and, whilst it works okay, I will be looking to replace it when I've paid off my credit card as I'm pretty sure my system could warrant a better sub. I'll probably audition the B&W ASW608, ASW610 and the PV1, just to see what the differences are and improvements are between all three. I'll probably also try out some of the Velodyne subs in my budget as I've heard nothing but good about them (and also any dealer recommendations).