Placement of the center channel

[grit]

Stewfoo posted a question about baffling a cabinet because he was putting his center channel there and was concerned about echoing. This got me concerned, because I was planning on upgrading my cabinet to a similar design but don't want to do so at the expense of the sound.

The cabinet I was looking at (Salmander Synergy) is about 44" across with 2 cabinets on the bottom, a shelf, and the TV (46" DLP) goes on top. The center speaker would go on the shelf on spikes and pads, pulled all the way forward to the edge of the shelf. There are no sides where the center channel sits, just posts at the corner.

I really need some input on whether or not this will color the sound before I spend the money on the cabinet system. And please throw out any alternative ideas you might have.

[rav934]

I know you don't want to read this, but center channels need space around them for clear voice reproduction. I tryed everything with me cabinet installation. Ended up placing the center on a 18 inch high stand with the tweeter aimed right at ear level.

[grit]

Yeah, yer right... didnt wanna read that. Damn. What about on TOP of a stand with a plasma screen behind it?

[ZX10 Guy]

I'll let you know as that's what I'm going to do when I move all my stuff into the new room. I already bought a Salamander Synergy Twin 30 to house my equipment. I'm placing the HTM 1 on top of the Twin 30 and will have my Pioneer Elite plasma on the wall behind the setup. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably not have bought the HTM 1. But instead bought another N804 to use as the center. Then I would have perfect voicing all the way around as I have N804s for the L/R mains and the L/R rear surrounds.

[rav934]

Since you most likely sit in the "perfect spot" of your listening room...why not punt on the center speaker? I do not use a center speaker with my 804s fronts.

Here is my approach.... for music, my speakers are about 4ft from the back wall and 7 feet apart. For movies, 2 feet from the back wall and 6 ft apart. With the latter configuration, I get very tight and accurate vocal postioning. Please try this and lets see if the center speaker ends up on Ebay!

[RebelMan]

grit, I think you and I have very similar tastes. Way to go! :T

I am building a dedicated room with a Salamander Synergy Twin 20. It will be positioned in front with my HTM3S riding on top and all the way forward. I was also slightly concerned about second and third order reflections resulting from the stand but not because of the center. I was more concerned about the L and R channels.

The center is typically configured to be more directional (bass redirected) than the mains. Vertical dispersion of the upper midrange and high frequencies is limited to about 10 degrees with the HTM3S. I doubt you will detect any coloration induced by the stand provided that you keep the speaker cabinet isolated from it and the cabinet face protruding beyond the mouth of the stand/shelf, thereby minimizing cabinet/stand resonances.

Furthermore, the doors on the stand can be configured to use perforated screens which will serve to absorb and diffuse the sound waves that do come in contact with it. If the stand interferes with stereo imaging and sound-staging you can always move the L and R channels further into the room or simply adjust DSP time delays to compensate when you watch movies or listen to multi-channel music. This method works well for "sealed" systems. If the center you choose is a rear flex-loaded design then other options should be consider in lieu.

[grit]

Oh Rebel, I never even considered that a center COULD be a rear flex-loaded design (rear firing port, right?). Oooh. Yeah, that'd suck.

I'm going to go look at cabinets again today... I'm a bit worried about the monitor being too tall (top of the TV would be 60+"). Or, if I get a plasma and mount it to the back of the Twin 20 (setting the center channel on top of the Twin 20), will the image seem detached from the sound in a smaller room (only about 13' from the image and the seat)?