Centre speaker

[John Blythe]

I have a mixed bag of speakers in my modest surround system which consists of Arcam AVR280 amp, a pair of Monitor Audio Golds for left and right, an old Wharfedale diamond pressed into service for centre and a pair of old Canon AV Speakers on the rear. This is obviously far from ideal but I can only consider upgrading the centre at the moment. I need a bright sound for the centre as the overall sound is too warm. I am also restricted for space and can only house a speaker a maximum of 18 inches wide. Price needs to be around £200.Any suggestions welcome

 

[Anonymous]

John Blythe:I have a mixed bag of speakers in my modest surround system which consists of Arcam AVR280 amp, a pair of Monitor Audio Golds for left and right, an old Wharfedale diamond pressed into service for centre and a pair of old Canon AV Speakers on the rear. This is obviously far from ideal but I can only consider upgrading the centre at the moment. I need a bright sound for the centre as the overall sound is too warm. I am also restricted for space and can only house a speaker a maximum of 18 inches wide. Price needs to be around £200.Any suggestions welcome

Don't do it

The front 3 has to be timbre matched for a cohesive sound field

IMHO Unless you intend to buy a matching L/R pair before the center speaker model is discontinued I would advise against it

"Mixed Bag" = mixed sound

 

[Anonymous]

Try not using a centre speaker. When I had a pro-logic system I used the phantom mode. To be honest it wasn't that bad. Save your money until you can get 3 speakers from the same range. You got nothing to loose by giving it a whirl.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Agreed. If you can't add in the matching GS LCR, then I'd be tempted to leave the centre out completely....

The centre is THE most important speaker in the system. It doesn't matter how good the other speakers are - if the centre isn't up to the standard of them, you'll be struggling to hear parts of dialogue and subtle things that you really should be hearing.

If you REALLY HAD TO get something else, stick to Monitor Audio - the RS LCR would be ok if the GS LCR is too big, or failing that, one of the Radius HD models. While the Radius HD isn't up to the Gold standard, it's more akin to the Gold in it's tonal balance.