Centre Speakers - Why are they 3 way?

[Memphismusic]

Hi All,

Maybe a dumb question, but why are all centre speakers 3 way design of usually 2 x bass/mid and 1 x tweeter?

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

So the sound field is symmetrical.

 

[Memphismusic]

Thanks - yes makes sense, but I wonder if in speaker design this detracts from the quality?

My thoughts are if the tweeter is more directional and the bass/mid less directional what's to gain?

i may try putting another 420 in its place and see.

Also with the centre being in the wrong listening position anyway under the TV - I have angle up a bit to help, I can't help but think it's a bit flawed in design maybe ?

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

As with everything in life, it's a bit of a compromise.

The ideal place for a centre speaker is right behind the middle of your TV screen. But then you wouldn't hear it much. Or you could use one speaker above the TV and one below, so that the focus of the sound would appear to come from mid screen. But then you'd need two speakers and a lot more space. Added to which most centre speaker boxes are quite deep, so your TV would look like it's down a tunnel.

Unless your hearing is super-sensitive, your brain will compensate for a single centre speaker above or below your TV, but below is generally thought to work best.

 

[FunkyMonkey]

An interesting footnote. The SACD spec states that all 5 speakers should be full range and identical. I.e. That they all be floor standers.

As for home cinema, the horizontal form factor probably comes from the need to fit underneat a tv.

My centre only has one cone.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

An interesting footnote. The SACD spec states that all 5 speakers should be full range and identical. I.e. That they all be floor standers. 

As for home cinema, the horizontal form factor probably comes from the need to fit underneat a tv. 

My centre only has one cone.

Had it occurred to you that having five, say, three grand a pair (and thus having one left over) speakers might be one of the reasons SACD was about as successful as the minidisc?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Had it occurred to you that having five, say, three grand a pair (and thus having one left over) speakers might be one of the reasons SACD was about as successful as the minidisc?

Good point, but SACD was initially only two channel anyway, so that aspect wouldn't have hindered the take up of SACD.

 

[FunkyMonkey]

Had it occurred to you that having five, say, three grand a pair (and thus having one left over) speakers might be one of the reasons SACD was about as successful as the minidisc?

Or you could have bought 5 centre speakers!

I think it was far more interesting that my centre only has one woofer and no tweeters.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Had it occurred to you that having five, say, three grand a pair (and thus having one left over) speakers might be one of the reasons SACD was about as successful as the minidisc?

Or you could have bought 5 centre speakers!

I think it was far more interesting that my centre only has one woofer and no tweeters.

You need a better one. 🙂

I'm currently using a Yamaha NS-IW960 in-wall MTM (monitor-tweeter-monitor) unit housed horizontally in a shallow home-made box screwed to the wall. If / when I get a screen and 4K PJ (right after Lord Lucan, riding Shergar, delivers my lottery jackpot, I fear), I'm planning on fitting TWO such units either side of a Murphy's Law slap-bang in the wrong place stud in the wall, behind the screen.

 

[FunkyMonkey]

It's fine. In fact it is superb.
http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-6103-discontinued-tannoy-sensys-dcc-centre-speaker.aspx

 

[Memphismusic]

Well going to have a play at the weekend. Picked up another set of 420's for £30 and just bagged 4 of the bigger brothers 430's which I got for £67 coming Thursday...

What Hi-Fi reviewed these as one of the best sounding tweeters they had heard at the time and I agree - not heard a modern speaker that has a patch on them - and I have tried a fair few!

Hopefully divorce will not follow :0)

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

It's fine. In fact it is superb. http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-6103-discontinued-tannoy-sensys-dcc-centre-sp...

Ah! A Tannoy! Tannoy's signature mark is putting the tweeter at the centre of the bass cone, so you've almost certainly got a woofer and a tweeter combined.

EDIT: Just got to look at your linkey on line (as opposed to on my phone) and that looks like a tweeter perched on top the main cabinet.....

 

[FunkyMonkey]

It's fine. In fact it is superb. http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-6103-discontinued-tannoy-sensys-dcc-centre-sp...

Ah! A Tannoy! Tannoy's signature mark is putting the tweeter at the centre of the bass cone, so you've almost certainly got a woofer and a tweeter combined.

 

EDIT:  Just got to look at your linkey on line (as opposed to on my phone) and that looks like a tweeter perched on top the main cabinet.....

Been waiting for this response. The thing on top is a supertweeter not a tweeter. Look it up.
The thing in the morning is not a tweeter as such but it does the same job. They call it a horn.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

A horn can be a tweeter, as used in your speaker and by Klipsch. A small cone can be a tweeter, as used in my car, for example. A ribbon can be a tweeter, as in some high end (or just expensive - take your pick) speaker boxes.

"Tweeter" is the slang / jargon / generic term for the high frequency speaker, nothing more.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Hi All,

Maybe a dumb question, but why are all centre speakers 3 way design of usually 2 x bass/mid and 1 x tweeter?

To be strictly correct, what you describe, something like the centre speakers that I have in my kitchen, Eltax Shine centres, here http://www.eltax.com/en/model/261_Shine-C-Center-Speaker.html

is actually a 2-way, 3-driver speaker. The "way" refers to the number of frequency ranges that are covered by the drivers. So here there are three drivers, but two of them cover the same frequency range, so there are only two, not three, separate frequency ranges.

A better example is a speaker, made in Springfield, IIinois, America, that I have lusted over for two decades but now I must sadly accept that I will never own one, because of (lack of) money and space. It is the Legacy Audio Focus, now in SE incarnation, and it is a six-driver, four-way dream machine, here (also click on the Details tab for clarification) http://legacyaudio.com/products/view/focus-se/.