Using two bookshelf speakers as center?

[chriswhotakesphotos]

Hi, friends!

Between a surprise upgrade to a pair of RP-280Fs (many thanks to the man in PA who sold them at such a good price!) and the release of Star Fox Zero for Wii U, I'm starting to want to turn my 2.1 system into a 5.1.

 

There are many hardships ahead. The Wii U doesn't have Dolby sound to go with any of the Adcom surround processors I'm looking at, so I'll need a converter. I'll need more amps (or one big, fat amp). But one thing I hope not to need is more speakers.

 

I'm already planning to commit some sacrilege by using my old Synergy F-20s as surrounds, and I have a pair of Synergy B-10s that would then work as a center. While one would do the job, why not both? My question is whether this is a good idea (disregarding that they won't match the sound of the RP-280Fs very well,) and the best way to go about it. Daisy-chaining them into one amp channel would presumably result in a nominal 4-ohm load. I'm planning to stick with Adcom equipment, which shouldn't be too bothered by this, but I wouldn't be here asking if I was completely certain of that.

 

The other option I can think of would be to split the signal to two separate amp channels and then run each speaker to the amp as normal. Would the change in resistance from splitting the signal from the preamp have any adverse effects?

 

Of course, the long term plan is to eventually have all-matching speakers. But since I have enough speakers to piece a system together for now, I'm choosing the slower, more economic path. Thanks in advance!

Edited April 26, 2016 by chriswhotakesphotos

[mattSER]

If you daisy chain both speakers to one channel in a series wiring connection, you'd actually increase resistance to 16 ohms and reduce load on the amp.

If you wire them as a parallel connection, then you'd drop resistance to 4 ohms. This may be fine, but if there are already dips in the speaker's resistance, the amp may be seeing resistance as low as 2 ohms and trip the protection circuit.

I like the idea of splitting the center signal from the preamp much better if you have amp channels to spare.

[derrickdj1]

In general it is not a good ideal to use two bookshelf speakers for a better center channel.  Cancellation will occur do to lobbing and comb filtering.  Doubling speakers gives you 3 more db, just turn the one speaker up.  Bookshelf speakers and basically midrange/tweeter speakers.  Three db is not very noticeable.

[Scrappydue]

Everything Derrick said. Comb filtering and not gaining much. Just use one for now till you get the matching 450c

[Stump]

A single speaker sounded much better when I tried it, probably for all the reasons that were mentioned previously.

[chriswhotakesphotos]

Works for me. Thanks, everybody!

Edited April 26, 2016 by chriswhotakesphotos

[robbiey60]

Don't run 2 centers as already stated. Those f20s should be fine surround speakrs. I used to run f30s as surrounds and they are the 2nd best surrounds I have ever heard(my current rf82iis are the best). A lot don't like the synergy series but I found my f30s very close to my rf82iis.