Phantom vs Unmatched Center

[wdsnls]

Am I correct in assuming I would be better off setting my center channel option to 'off' in my receiver setup, thereby creating a phantom center channel, versus adding a unmatched center speaker? I use the phantom now and am satisfied, but I still wonder!

My front mains (KG3) are 6' feet apart. I use 2 front surrounds, 2 rear surrounds (matrix) and 1 powered subwoofer. After much reserach, I cannot accomodate a any matched Klipsch. My only option would be another brand center, which would most likely be unmatched.

[Zen Traveler]

I am not familiar with you exact speaker, but a good friend owns the KG-4's and has a Reference, RC-3 that he uses that sounds good. IMO, it would be a better option than the "phantom center" situation. If you could swing it, an RC-7 would sound sweet in your setup.

[Malcolm]

IMHO you will be better off with a phantom center than with a poorly matched one. If you mains are not far, far apart, you should be able to get by fine. The center channel was invented to fill the hole between the left and right speakers for theaters (not home theaters, real theaters) with big screens.

[Olorin]

Ditto Malcom. People who have tried all three (raises hand) will tell you the order of preference is matched center, phantom/no center, and last by a mile, mismatched center. Bide your time until the right deal on a good match comes along.

[Frzninvt]

As I have already mentioned a KG 2.2V or 2.5V will work great with those KG3's. The KV-2 or KV-3 will work but they are not timbre matched to the KG series.

[Spkrdctr]

I recommend an unmatched center, but only if it is a very nice quality unmatched center. I have heard many, many unmatched and matched. A good center will work regardless if it is matched. But, to do this I recommend setting the center a few db louder (not a lot) than the mains in your surround settings. It works very well that way. Especially if your listening to music. Good Luck!

[DrWho]

----------------

On 7/11/2005 10:50:57 AM Olorin wrote:

Ditto Malcom. People who have tried all three (raises hand) will tell you the order of preference is matched center, phantom/no center, and last by a mile, mismatched center. Bide your time until the right deal on a good match comes along.

----------------

Well I've tried all three and I would take a mismatched center channel over the phantom any day...

I find that a single center channel is far more coherent and makes dialog infinetly easier to understand. The polar response is way different and there's no way around it. I think it was Bell labs (the guys that introduced and studied 3 channel stereo), that said a timbre matched center channel is of course the ideal, but a center channel is still necessary for filling in the front gap...they said the downside to using a lower quality center channel was that it brought down the apparent quality of the entire front end (thought it was still acceptable). For movies this isn't a big deal, but I can start seeing some annoyances when it comes to multi-channel music (but how many of us actually listen to multi-channel music all the time?)

I'm sure somebody will chime in and complain about effects that move across the front stage (like from the L speaker to the C and then to the R) and then claim that it's oh so distracting when the timbre is different in the center channel...well I've listened to all the segments recommended for detecting timber differences and I think there is a far bigger change between getting the tweeter heights at the same height than there is by getting a speaker of similar timbre (provided the center channel in question is of decent quality). Heck, even the acoustics of the room are far different for the position of the center channel, such that even an identical speaker will seem to have a different timbre (we all know that acoustics account for over half the sound that we hear).

So all that said, I would recommend going with something like the KLF-C7 or even a new synergy C3...your best bet would be to find a dealer or someone in the area that owns a speaker so that you can try it out for yourself. At the very least do a demo in the store and pick out something that sounds similar. I'm not too sure the RC-7 would be too good of a match though.

Btw, the whole concept behind timbre matching is really the process of finding a speaker that has similar distortion patterns...so you'll be over 90% there if you can find a center channel with a horn, two 8" woofers and similar crossover points (because all well built 8" drivers tend to have similar sets of distortion, as do similar horns and all that...).

[oldtimer]

If your kg3s image well phantom is the most satisfying and less distracting way to go. I have tried using mis-matched centers and found the overall experience to be better using phantom mode and slightly louder volume. Maybe look for another kg3, install a bucking magnet for shielding and use as a center for perfect timbre matching and efficiencies could be an option for you?

[BUDA]

SC1