Newbie Help....Best center for DM640i mains

[aerogary]

Hello fellow B&W lovers,

I have an older set of B&W640i mains and wish to setup a home theatre. The speakers are in pristine condition and sound good and use the larger kelvlar cones like the newer models so (unless there is a known defect or recall) would like to keep them and add a good center and 2 rear surrounds.

I'm quite confused as to which center would be the best match. I understand that the LCR600 is considered the largest but would there be a problem with voicing/timbre ? With so many choices should I go with the B&W LCR6 S2, LCR600, CC6, DM600IFS, CC3, ....?

I read that the center does 40% of the work and im trying to fill a good sized 19 x 16 room so was leaning towards the LCR600 but I"m not a B&W expert.

Also if anyone has equally good suggestions for rear surrounds that would match I would be equally indebted to you.

Thank God I found this forum and thanks in advance for your help.

[Lefteris]

Hey aerogary,
I have the LCR 600 S3 you mention. I have extensively audtioned the LCR 60 and the previous range, CC6S2 and LCR 6S2. All I have to say is don't buy the speaker if you want a wide listening area, unless you can place it vertically. If you check the specifications, you'll se that both center models (I'm talking about the S3 series, ok?) have a dispresion of 20 degrees. the 40 degrees stands for the vertical positioning. Other than that, it's very good, especially for movies, and I would suggest if you do buy it, get spikes as well (all they have is rubber pads, that can leave a mark on the speaker when removed..... trust me ) . Now, don't get me wrong, the 600 IS a great sounding speaker, and the PUNCH you can get, especailly around 150 Hz is amazing! I think that the 2,5 way design has to do with that, it can push serious air, for a center speaker, that is.

*Now, for matching. I've had a ROUGH time trying to match it with my 602S3s, so don't expect much. Things were much worse before I upgraded, when I had the 602S2s. There's only one solution applicable: Equalising. If you get an aplifier with an automated equalizing process, you can be sure that you won't have a problem. Other than that, you can experiment with a manual EQ your current amp could have, but it's much harder than it sounds.

Hope this will help!