Center channel speaker help

[jeremiah]

Don't have much room under tv for a center channel speaker.

anyone know of a good one that is under 5 inches in height?

[speakeroligist_38]

Jeremiah I own an Athena C.5 center that houses (2) 4" mids and a 1" tweeter in an MTM design. It is only 5 5/8" tall and 15" width and only 6 1/4" deep. It is a decent center and you can find it at audioadvisor.com. It is close to your 5" requirement. Can you put the center speaker on top of your tv??? Or, buy a cabinet that allows you to put the center speaker under your tv. Anyways, good luck with whatever you decide on.

[PAT.P]

Don't have much room under tv for a center channel speaker.

anyone know of a good one that is under 5 inches in height?What are your front speakers.The centre should be timbre match as best as possible.

[speakeroligist_38]

Jeremiah you might also check out the Paradigm Cinema CC. Seems like it was under 5" tall and does not sound too bad. Once again good luck in your decision.

[Woochifer]

If you base your choice of center speaker on height requirements, then you might be better off without a center speaker altogether depending on what main speakers you use. The objective with center speakers is simple -- match the tonal characteristics of the main speakers as closely as possible PERIOD. It doesn't matter how good they might sound by themselves, all that matters is how well the three front speakers sound TOGETHER.

More often than not, the matching center speaker from the same manufacturer and speaker family provides the closest voice match. When you start mixing in center speakers with different voice characteristics from the mains, you create disruptions in the front soundstage that break up the seamless soundfield that you would ideally want to create.

The most important question should address what center speaker best matches your mains. If the speaker(s) that meets that criteria cannot fit into your setup, then you should consider going without the center speaker and let your receiver/processor's DSP function create a phantom center effect with your 5.1 sources.

[jeremiah]

thanks everyone.

my fronts are some polk audio R30's that i've had for a little bit.

[paul_pci]

I propose a radical solution: Rethink and reconfiugre how you've situated, through furniture what-have-you, the television to allow for the center channel that you need and want. Unfortunately, this has become an all to comman problem with flat panels and new av furniture designs, but I would conform the setup to the speaker placement not the other way around, if possible logistically and financially, of course.