Jump to content

Trying to buy a matching center


Turbonated

Recommended Posts

Hi Turbonated ... welcome to the forum :D  You'll get a lot of good advise here ... and conflicting opinions :) 

 

So; here is another "opinion." I have played around with many center speakers and never was satisfied with these "dedicated - horizontal - centers."  Believe a "horizontal" center is more for looks than good sound ... and due to "heavy" marketing it is almost a standard now.  No center ever gets close to the sound/specs of the L/R speakers and much interference from the horizontal layout. Do some googling before you decide. For example http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=89614 

 

In my case, I have Heresy's as L/R on my AVR. Found a Yamaha stage monitor SM12iv (12" woofer, 14x8" horn) and am really pleased with it.  (OK; have a new Heresy "enroute" to replace it :D ... primarily for "looks." )

 

Just my 2 cents ... Cheers, Emile 

 

NoCenter.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Turbonated said:

I've decided to pull the trigger on a center channel. I have a pair of R-28F's and I've been thinking about an RC-62 center. Problem is I cant figure out for the life of me what cones match my R-28F's for color, is it the RC-62 or the RC-62 II's? 

Color isn't what's important here.

 

What's important is timbre matching, component matching, and ensuring that the soundstage at the front matches.  You can run into a very glaring issue if you mismatch speakers at the front, since that's where most of your dialogue, music, and effects are located.  In your case, you're using the R-28F, the entry level speaker that Klipsch offers.  It features a 1" aluminum tweeter, and 2 8" IMG cones.  These are not interchangeable with the Reference II/Premier line which has titanium tweeters and cerametallic cones.  The crossovers are also different.

 

The RC-62 would run all over your R-28F towers, which is not what you want at all.

 

K5SS pointed out the R-25C, and that is the center channel that is spec'd for all of the Icon/Reference series speaker lines.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, The History Kid said:

In your case, you're using the R-28F, the entry level speaker that Klipsch offers

 

Wish I would of done more research before I bought these, I went into Best Buy and spent the most I could on speakers to try and get the best sound. Now that I keep reading these comments it puts me in a shitty mood. The R-25C seems small compared to the size of my R-28F's, would the 250c match or is it not worth paying more for it? Looks like I'll have to save and upgrade in the future, for now I've been very happy with my setup, I guess that's all that matters. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The speakers you have are wonderful and should provide many years of great sound. This forum has some people that have thousands and thousands of dollars invested in their systems and this can come across a little “snobbish” at times.

 

What you have in your system is already better than what 95% of the population is working with. You just happen to be dealing with some of the 5% that is chasing after a “sound” that they will never achieve.

 

I have likely spent over $40k on Speakers, amps and receivers over the last 10 years and while I have wonderful sound now, it isn’t “night and day” better than the great F-3 Synergy 5.1 system that started me down this path of insanity.

 

I also happen to be a gluten for punishment though.

 

Don’t over analyze it and enjoy what you have. Just my two cents;)

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Turbonated said:

 

Wish I would of done more research before I bought these, I went into Best Buy and spent the most I could on speakers to try and get the best sound. Now that I keep reading these comments it puts me in a shitty mood. The R-25C seems small compared to the size of my R-28F's, would the 250c match or is it not worth paying more for it? Looks like I'll have to save and upgrade in the future, for now I've been very happy with my setup, I guess that's all that matters. 

 

Get the 250c if you can swing it. It should be  sonically close to your mains and more robust for dialogue than the 25c. Welcome to the Klipsch family!

 

(my first Klipsch were a pair of in-wall surrounds that I got for $125 on Craigslist and I used them as mains. Still have them today as actual surrounds and have filtered a handful of other speakers through the front stage over the last decade. It's easy to get ego wrapped into what you can or can't afford for home audio, but there absolutely no reason for it to be that way.)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Turbonated said:

Now that I keep reading these comments it puts me in a shitty mood.

That's not at all my intent, and the idea that you feel ripped off certainly shouldn't be the case if you're satisfied with how they sound.

 

Your question was related to the center however, and the straight answer to your question was "no".  The R-25C is what's matched.  There are other options out there, it really just depends what you're looking for ideally.  If you have plans to upgrade later, you get the more gnarly center, if your intent is to stay with what you have, you get the most sonically close to what you have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators
12 hours ago, Turbonated said:

I went into Best Buy and spent the most I could on speakers to try and get the best sound. Now that I keep reading these comments it puts me in a shitty mood.

Welcome

 

Don't let it bother you it's not worth it, people here have ALL different levels of speakers, cost does not always mean better and I completely understand the best you can get with the money allowed way of doing things. This subject came up the other day here somewhere, ME I am very proud of what we have compared to what we spent, it sounds better to me if I found things that sound great together and they are way cheaper than normal.   

 

 It probably took me 5 years to get the 6 speakers we use for HT, gave away a few along the way as I found what I wanted.  

 

A center is very important if your going to have one, what's recommended is fine but it's always better to go a little better since all dialog and alot of the sound is from the center, mostly because the #1 complaint is about Ht's is if you have a weak center the dialog is hard to hear or muffled. 

 

To me if the room is not wide a center may not even be needed, I always wonder why some people have them when the room is skinny enough to where all 3 are almost all touching. I say this because it's much better to not have one with good mains compared to a weak one which will not improve anything, or make it worse. 

 

In a shinny room it can work, Treat the mains like it's 2 Ch, toed in and the sound appears to come from the center where the Tv is anyway. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, dtel said:

To me if the room is not wide a center may not even be needed, I always wonder why some people have them when the room is skinny enough to where all 3 are almost all touching. I say this because it's much better to not have one with good mains compared to a weak one which will not improve anything, or make it worse. 

 

In a shinny room it can work, Treat the mains like it's 2 Ch, toed in and the sound appears to come from the center where the Tv is anyway. 

Phantom center configurations are underrated.  I think that's because salespeople and the companies producing processor chips keep drilling it into people that you somehow will get inferior sound without a dedicated dialogue channel, while it can cause timing issues if you have them too close together - from experience.  Comb filtering is another issue I've wondered about in tight-fit setups.

 

Good thoughts!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everyone has something Better Than Me. 

But---MY SYSTEM ROCKS.

It sounds pretty darn good and is "Entry Level".

I'd put mine up against many "other systems" for sound.

The Art of Living is enjoying what you have. 

Listen to some Leftover Salmon and chill out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/7/2018 at 2:29 PM, Emile said:

Hi Turbonated ... welcome to the forum :D  You'll get a lot of good advise here ... and conflicting opinions :) 

Hi @Turbonated, let me add my voice to Emile's in welcoming you to the forum.  I am the conflicting opinion he warned you about.  :D

 

I'll start off by telling you there is a majority and minority opinion on center speakers; mine is the minority opinion but the correct one, I believe.  Get the best center speaker you can afford.

 

The concept of "timbre matching" is way overrated.  The center speaker never plays the exact same content as the L/R and is the most important speaker in your system.  In a dedicated 5.1 (for instance) system the L/R plays mostly music while most of the dialog comes out of the center.  TV and movies are ninety percent dialog and 90% of the dialog comes out of the center.  A high quality sound from the center does NOT bring down the sound from the L/R no matter what.  If you get accurate reproduction and clarity of male and female voices from the center, that's what you want.

 

There is no movie I've ever heard of where a character moves from the far left side of the screen to the far right side of the screen where he is talking non-stop where a "timbre matched" sound is required for a seamless transition from each of the L/C/R speakers.  Never.

 

You asked if the RC-62 II is a good match for your speakers.  The RC-62 II has an excellent reputation, read the reviews on Amazon.  It has a positive rating of 4.7 out of 5, an almost unheard of high rating.  I have never heard the RC-62 but it is two woofers short of my current RC-64 which most people here rave about.  I have another center with Usher drivers, an MTM design with 7" woofers the same approximate size as the RC-62 II  and I am a fan of the sound that 6" to 7" woofers produce for voice.

 

If you are looking to buy new you might check with a Klipsch forum member who is a Klipsch dealer, @MetropolisLakeOutfitters.  He has a golden reputation on this board for good price and outstanding service.  If you click on his name ^^^ you will be able to send him a PM if you want.

 

I think you will be more than pleased with the quality and clarity of the sound the RC-62 II puts out. 

 

I look forward to reading your review of your RC-62 II confirming to our fellow Klipschites that I was right.  :)

 

  • Like 4
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/8/2018 at 11:07 AM, Turbonated said:

 

Wish I would of done more research before I bought these, I went into Best Buy and spent the most I could on speakers to try and get the best sound. Now that I keep reading these comments it puts me in a shitty mood. The R-25C seems small compared to the size of my R-28F's, would the 250c match or is it not worth paying more for it? Looks like I'll have to save and upgrade in the future, for now I've been very happy with my setup, I guess that's all that matters. 

 

Why are you reading specs and getting down?  What you want it the closest timbre match you can get.  Speakers are often like wine.  Price is not a good indicator of good.  If the R-25C is the best match, go listen and buy it if you like it.  Spend the difference on Blu-rays.  Depending on your placement, the physically smaller, lighter center could be an advantage.  Since there is really very little size difference and the R-25 has larger front dimensions, I'd be even more inclined to choose it. 

 

I disagree that the center match is not important.  Having used a KLF-C7 and Heresies with various crossover configurations as Centers and La Scalas as rear channels, I much prefer matching speakers all around.  You can hear the difference, easily.  My best matching center, so far, is a Heresy with a crossover almost identical to the modified Type AAs in my La Scalas. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, JohnA said:

I disagree that the center match is not important. 

 

Having used a KLF-C7 and Heresies with various crossover configurations as Centers and La Scalas as rear channels, I much prefer matching speakers all around.  You can hear the difference, easily.  My best matching center, so far, is a Heresy with a crossover almost identical to the modified Type AAs in my La Scalas. 

John makes some great points and I think he really well articulates the argument of the majority, remember, I put my opinion in the minority.  John has an incredibly high audio IQ and he combines his knowledge with experience.

 

I am not saying the center match is not important (see highlighted quote ^^^) rather I am saying that in my experience I have found that high quality sound is a higher priority to me than timbre matching.

 

We might be splitting hairs where my opinion diverges from John's in that I value a high quality center speaker over one that is "timbre matched." 

+++

 

BTW John you mentioned you have La Scalas all around.  I have heard two setups with three LS up front, the sound stage is tremendous!  I think we might both agree it's the very best of timbre matched and high quality sound. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wvu is correct about never hearing someones voice moving across the sound stage, but a well mixed movie will have anything from background sounds to special effects moving around the sound stage and the room.  Also, depending on what mode your receiver is in, it may send some sound to all three speakers (this is not a "standard" mode for movie or tv, but some music modes do this, and after coming home avg lounging on the couch I realize that someone else in my family messed with buttons and I've been watching TV all night in music mode!

Its best to have speakers that match, for the most part, but the center box will do 80-90% of what you are listening to! I'm in the opposite position of you, I have 8x ksb1.1's which was an entry level model from the late 90's (I bought 6 of them new in '98 or 99), and I just upgraded my mains to Rf-3's. The Rf is so much more rich sounding that even after matching volume is night and day difference over the ksb1.1 being used in center! Sounds better in phantom mode or 2-ch mode! I'm going to work in some stuff, probably end up with a better matching center soon...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

im a little late to this But .I hope this helps  

I also have the r-28f front l/r... I started with the RC-25 I did not like it ... I was adjusting sound too much for everything i watched ... I tried a few center channels . 

It appears you are on the right track . The RC-62 has the dual  6.5" woofers .. Thats what i fouynd to be the right center however i got the RC-35 same speakers. 6.5" .. It made a huge difference ..

I use the rs-52ii for rear and dualk 12" r-12sw subs ..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...