Center Channel Speaker Pairing

[Sabran]

I'm building a home theater for a smallish office room (12ft X 16ft), and I'm looking for advice on speakers. The home theater will be used primarily for console gaming, much more rarely for movies, and pretty much never for music. I will generally have the door closed. I am definitely not an audiophile, but I went to a local store and listened to a few speakers and decided the Klipsch ones sounded the best. I don't remember exactly which one I listened to, but they sounded significantly better than the Polk Audio TL1600 system I have in another part of the house. I've been pretty pleased with the Polk system, except that sometimes the dialog can be pretty difficult to hear unless I turn the volume up... and then any non-dialog sounds are WAY too loud.

 

I'm posting in this forum because Best Buy is having a Black Friday sale where I can get R-28F front speakers, R-15M rears, and an R-12SW subwoofer for half off. The only thing that is missing is a center. I know that this set technically "pairs" with the R-25C. However, given my problems in my other Polk setup with dialog - I thought it might be a better idea to get an upgraded center speaker. Can anyone recommend a center channel speaker that would go well with the set?

 

Edited November 15, 2016 by Sabran

[The History Kid]

Welcome to the forum.

 

First off, if you can get the Black Friday deals, then the Best Buy speakers are worth it.  It's hard to beat that kind of a deal on Klipsch speakers.

 

That being said, I don't find the Reference Icon series to be representative of how Klipsch can truly sound - so definitely keep an eye on the website for deals.  There's some Reference II gear that's slashed at like 50% off right now and would spank anything Best Buy has.  Free shipping and all.

 

http://www.klipsch.com/specials

 

The RF-82 II, RC-62 II, and a pair of RB-61 II's would be killer.

 

http://www.klipsch.com/products/rf-82-ii-floorstanding-speaker - $720

http://www.klipsch.com/products/rc-62-ii-center-speaker - $330

http://www.klipsch.com/products/rb-61-ii-bookshelf-speakers-pair - $330

http://www.klipsch.com/products/reference-subwoofers#r-112sw - $520

 

As for the center channel, it is the most important speaker in your setup, but in the case of the "R" series vs. the RP or RC lines, you may have to dial it back.  If you choose to not go with the real Reference gear, you will almost surely want to upgrade in the future as well, so consider that when making your purchase.

[Sabran]

Thank-you for the reply. I did not realize that Klipsch had specials going on, so thank-you very much for that! Given that you feel these are much better speakers, and the price difference isn't too much, I will absolutely consider this. One thing I'm confused about is why I might have to "dial it back". What does that mean? And what would influence my decision to do so? Also, I notice you didn't recommend a different sub woofer. Is that on purpose?

[The History Kid]

I updated my post with my personal suggestions.

 

The note about dialing back:

I had a reverse issue with the RC-3 in my configuration, it wasn't enough center channel to keep up with my towers.  I had to dial it up to compensate for it's lack of power.  Likewise, you may find yourself having to dial a speaker like say - the RC-62 if you pair it with the R-26F or R-28F's to get it to image better with your towers.  (Or you may need to dial up your towers if you have an AVR that does that.)

 

On the sub note:

As I didn't originally see mention of a sub in your post, I didn't bring it up, but that R-112SW or 115SW is what you should get either way.  The 112 is on sale, that should help cost a bit.  Sub's are just too important to skimp on.

[ATLAudio]

48 minutes ago, IbizaFlame said:

Welcome to the forum.

 

First off, if you can get the Black Friday deals, then the Best Buy speakers are worth it.  It's hard to beat that kind of a deal on Klipsch speakers.

 

That being said, I don't find the Reference Icon series to be representative of how Klipsch can truly sound - so definitely keep an eye on the website for deals.  There's some Reference II gear that's slashed at like 50% off right now and would spank anything Best Buy has.  Free shipping and all.

 

http://www.klipsch.com/specials

 

The RF-82 II, RC-62 II, and a pair of RB-61 II's would be killer.

 

http://www.klipsch.com/products/rf-82-ii-floorstanding-speaker - $720

http://www.klipsch.com/products/rc-62-ii-center-speaker - $330

http://www.klipsch.com/products/rb-61-ii-bookshelf-speakers-pair - $330

http://www.klipsch.com/products/reference-subwoofers#r-112sw - $520

 

As for the center channel, it is the most important speaker in your setup, but in the case of the "R" series vs. the RP or RC lines, you may have to dial it back.  If you choose to not go with the real Reference gear, you will almost surely want to upgrade in the future as well, so consider that when making your purchase.

 

These are an absolute steal. 

[Sabran]

Thank-you again. If I did want to stick with the Best Buy speakers, however, would any particular center speaker be a better match besides the R-25C? Also, they do have a subwoofer on sale too - it's the R-12SW.

[The History Kid]

The R-25C is the center channel that was designed for the Best Buy speakers.  That's all I really have to say about it.  It's not a spectacular speaker by any means.  To me, none of the Best Buy ones are outside of the first generation Synergy ones.  But that's me.

 

I think buying the R-12SW would be a mistake.  From what I've heard, they're muddy and lack punch.  I was beyond underwhelmed when I heard my buddy's setup with those in it.

[Sabran]

All right. Thanks again for all the help!

[The History Kid]

No problem.

 

Strongly consider those RF II series - as they're the legitimate reference line, as opposed to the ones you see at Best Buy.  I think your long term cost would be lower too, you'd be wanting for less.  They have free shipping and 30 day return policy too if I remember right.

 

Let us know how it goes!