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Moon, I far as my ears can tell (and I love detail in the highs) no negative effect. I also tested the room acoustics with RoomEQ Wizard and the response curve is very flat above 700Htz. I wondered if the mains were dominating the test, so I also did a RoomEQ Wizard comparison test between the center and mains. Identical response curves, so I concluded no measureable effect from the screen material. Do I think it is a miracle material????...Nah, just a very good bang for the buck for us cheapskates...[] I will add this...I was advised by two different acoustic gurus over at AVS to give acoustically transparent screens a hard look. They make the room sound nasties(modes and echo decay) easier to treat because you have one less hard surface for the sound to bounce off. Hope this helps.

Doug, You are welcome. Just glad to hear that you are pleased with the result...after the effort. [] Scooter, I can add my endorsement to Doug's regarding the acoustic qualities of this screen. I have a custom (HornEd style) KLF-30 as my center. After acoustic room treatment, the front soundstage is seamless and the center required only a +1 db adjustment to nail the the mains (on the SPL meter). Hope this helps.

Formica, IMO, if you are considering an AE700 or Z3, then you probably do not need a light grey or grey. The grey screens are manufactured(or DIY'ed) for situations where you have a non-light controlled room (some ambient light) or projectors with low constrast ratios. The AE700 and Z3 do not need this kind of adjustment in a light controlled room unless you treasure blacks over vivid color.. You might also give the new AE900 and Z4 a look. Only a couple of hundred bucks more and they do have visible and ease of use improvements over the "older" 700 and Z3 models. Hope this helps.

Scooter, I read the negative comments about the perfed screens as well. That's why I tested their "comments" with my own $100 DIY perfed screen experiment. I wanted to see for myself how much was hype, especially since I was not using a high end ($5000+) light cannon. The conclusions from my experiment? What I've learned about audio on this forum also applies to video...beauty is in the eye of the beholder and price does not always equate with quality. I suspect you know this or you would have not taken the time to do your custom center. The colors on my setup are vibrant and truer than most of the $20,000 setups I saw in the boutique home theaters. To gain an improvement in perfed screen performance would require an additional $2,000 investment. I saw a couple of perfs at local AVSForum members and can tell you that commercial perfed screens less than $2000 just don't cut it for me. I could see the holes. Do not fear a perfed setup. The audio beauty of a "perfectly centered" center channel more than made up for my concerns about what I was "losing" on the video side. In case you wish to explore this further, I used Coated Celtric Cloth ($40 with shipping) from www.dazian.com. I also added a layer of black speaker cloth as backing (from Parts Express-$30) to stop any light reflection from the light that does pass through. Hope none of this sounds preachy...I just want to share my happiness...[]

Scooter, I just went through the same decision process. As I'm sure you are aware, everything is a trade-off. IMO, if you are on anything short of an unlimited budget, you can have outstanding audio or outstanding video, but not both. I initially was going to do a DIY hardboard screen with a fancy paint mixture (about $300 for materials). That would have necessitated mounting the center (modded KLF-30) above the screen and that created undesireable audio and construction issues. On the other hand, purchasing a commercially produced acoustically transparent screen and mounting the center behind the screen where it "should" be, would cost me $900-$2,500 depending on manufacturer. What to do....[:'(] After much tossing and turning, I decided that the audio performance was more important to me than the video. I listened to a couple of "over the screen" HT setups and I could hear the center speaker location more than desired. That pretty much helped me make up my mind that if I was going to give up something it would be on the video side. I decided to try a simple DIY acoustically transparent screen ($100 for the parts) that would give me full audio performance and a chance to see how "bad" the video compromise might be. Well....guess what? I discovered that the video performance on the "cheapie" screen was better than expected. As a rough estimate I would say it is 95% of the video performance of the $2000 screens I demoed at a local home theater design boutique. Keep in mind that I have a 100% light controlled room so your mileage may vary... So I'm keeping the $1900 difference and may go shopping for a new amp instead... It never ends, does it? [] Hope this helps.

FWIW, I built a 120" 16 x 9 aspect screen using an acoustically transparent screen material call Coated Celtic Cloth from www.dazian.com. I'm using a Panasonic AE700 for my projector in a totally light controlled room. It looks very good, sounds great (love that center channel in the middle of the screen []) and the best part...only $80 in materials including frame, black speaker cloth backing, and white screen material. IMO, the best screen for your use depends on the light output of the projector, the ambient light conditions of the room, and budget. I spent over 6 months watching the posts on the AVSforum screen sections and believe me there are a lot options. One for every budget. My theory was that I could try a cheap, but well respected setup first and move up from there. After over 1 month with my setup, I think I'll KEEP my money...[] Hope this helps...

Drew, I don't have a BFD (thinking about it though), but I wanted to let you know that there is a room testing program that was written primary for use with a BFD. It's pretty simple and straight forward and the best part...it's free! It's called RoomEQ Wizard. Info on-line here...http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.mulcahy/roomeq/index.html Hope that helps...[]

How about a another 20-39 PC+? That ought to generate a 2nd similar response...[6]

Yeah just couldn't let you have all the glory...[] I'm guessing that you may be looking for the next C7, just so you can get back to 7.1...[]

See my signature. That's my recommendation...[] The C7's are underrated as surrounds, IMO. They sound great, are very flexibile in their positioning, and are sealed enclosures (no ports on the back). They also come up on Ebay all the time for $300-$350 per speaker. Highly Recommended!

T-man, If Olorin changes his mind, shoot an e-mail to me through the forum. I'd be interested.

I should have asked if you had tried Dr.Who's suggestion of raising them up on a stand? Any horn speaker needs to be positioned with the horn about 6 foot off the floor in a 8-9' room to work well as a surround. Obviously it's easier to do with a RS style.

Anytime you have two or more rows of seating, you will have sonic compromises. I know as I am just finishing up my dedicated theater room. You will have to choose a "prime" position and weight your speaker calibrations to that spot. The RS series might help some, but I prefer the clean, crisp soundstage I get from monopole speakers. This is just a matter of degrees and you have to decide what sounds good to you. That's all that matters anyway. [] Good luck.

Dentman, Welcome to the forum... I have owned 4 pairs of the 3.5's. For 100 bucks, jump all over them. They are not very impressive to look at with the grill off, but don't look LISTEN! [] The 3.5's have a great soundstage even without a subwoofer. Add the subwoofer and your friends will think you spent thousands! (Can you tell I still like mine? [])

Sorry to hear of your shipping issue... When I attached bucking magnets to my custom KG 3.5 center channel, Klipsch tech support recommended I use a two part epoxy and clamps. Worked like a charm. The hardest part was getting those darn magnets into the position where they cancel each other and clamped down. []

Nice job Billy! Looks like you had to be really precise to get everything to fit...[] Just remember, we talk a lot about theoretical optimums here on the forum. Whether your cabinet size is "perfect" or not doesn't matter...unless it matters to you. It the speaker you have built sounds good to you, that is all this forum is about...offering our experience and suggestions to those who are traveling uncharted waters. I thank you for starting this thread. It has brought new ideas and approaches to my attention and I shall be experimenting with some of them in the near future. Happy Klipsch-ing!

The pic didn't show. Make sure you use the file attachment field at the bottom of the messge reply screen. I know there is a button that says "Insert Image", but that does not work except on your computer. For the rest of us to see a pic it has to be added as a file attachment.

Wow that was fast! Got any pics? I showed you mine...now you show me yours...[][]

And a good suggestion it was Dr, if for no other reason than it offered another option for placing a center channel that I had not seen suggested on this board in the 3 years I've been hangin' around. I will be sure to test several configurations and orientations. You guys will be the first to hear the results. It will probably take up to a month though, given my schedule with completing the theater room. I do need to get to done first...[] While we're on the subject of vertical orientation I have another question...if you look at the new Klipsch THX series on the website, all of the horns in speakers in the front array are oriented with the widest dimension of the horn (60 degree) vertically like the C7. It's a 2 way speaker system, so that changes the variables vs. the KLF-30's, but it make me wonder if there is some sonic advantage that we are missing here? As a side note, I have a lot of respect for the new THX Ultra system. I have a young friend with perfect pitch and a solid musical background that got to listen to the THX Ultra system in action at Klipsch headquarters. He said it was so sweet sounding it almost brought him to tears! He's now saving his pennies...[]

Very enlightening replies guys! Really educational stuff. My nearly finished dedicated theater room is an echo chamber right now, but once I get ready to setup the audio system, I will be adding a bunch of absorbtion panels to tame the reflections. I'm starting with broadband treatments in all four corners (floor to ceiling) to tame the bass, 2 inches of acoustic cotton on the front wall behind the screen wall, and then panels for the high frequency first reflection points. Going to use the old mirror trick to find those so the recommendations on room treatments are well taken. Will add more panels as needed. This is my first experience with room treatments, so I'm planning on doing it in phases and listening as I go. I don't want the room too dead. I especially like the idea of building the cabinet with 3 motor boards to house the drivers separately. That will make the testing process so much faster and easier. IMO, this has become a great informational thread for all of those considering a custom center and I hope it's as helpful to Billy as it is to me.

Rich, I am planning on using the drivers from my existing center for testing. I'm passionate about this project, but not so committed as to get an extra set for true A/B testing...[] Billy, Good point about the C7 horn. I had totally forgotten that it is rotated 90 degrees out of axis for the "normal" horn orientation. I look forward to some more input from the good DrWho and Formica. Brad

Alright dang it...now I'm confused (anybody suprised?[]) Rob, Can you describe what you mean by increased vertical dispersion? Are you referring to a condition caused by the horizontal orientation? Or the increased distance between my woofers? Do you agree with DrWho about a "vertical" orientation for the center being sonically optimum? ------------------- Just for the fun of it I'm considering building a "test" cabinet with KLF-30 dimensions from 3/4" MDF as a test unit. That way all I have to do is take the drivers out of the my current center and use them with various motor board configurations. If I don't like it, I can easily go back to what I have now. I'm considering testing the following configurations based upon ideas presented in this thread... #1 - a motor board with horns in the middle, woofers on each side, but with woofers as close to the horns as possible without losing structural integrity of the motor board...a la HornEd. The configuration would have the classic center channel horizontal orientation with ports moved to the front and positioned at the far left and right of the motor board. #2 - a motor board with horns and positioned as in #1, BUT change the horns 90 degrees to offer a vertical orientation as suggested by DrWho in a prior post. -------------------- Ok Billy, I know, I know...this is now officially a plane on it's way to Cuba...[] I just hope you gain from this information as you consider your custom center. Thanks.

Old guys, eh???? Well take that <WACK> you young whippersnapper! [] Thanks again DrWho for your previous comb filtering post, I've been thinkin' bout some changes to my modded center...

I hear Cuba is lovely this time of year...[] I hope you know that even when we get off on a tangent with these "side trips" they can offer perspectives never considered (but useful) by the original topic. I've often learned more from a detour then my main question. Please consider them just a "layover" on the way to your destination. For my part in the hijack, I apologize. I'll try to do better...or not (hehehe)[6] Brad

Wow Dr.! Great reply! Very thorough and easy enough for a thick head like me to understand. Your sharing is greatly appreciated.