Need help on selecting a center channel...

[LayZAss2I]

I'm a college kid looking to complete a home theater system. My dad has given me: a Pioneer VSX-D498 receiver with Dolby Digital 5.1 that outputs 80W x 5. For my front main speakers, I've got a pair of Yamaha NS-A635A speakers that output a max of 140 watts. For my rear speakers, I connected a pair of 40 watt speakers SX-NA302 from my old Aiwa shelf system. I'm looking for a center channel that will complement my speakers well and I've heard that center channels that are much better than the rest of my speakers may not blend well and possibly be overkill. I'm looking at the Sony SS-CN550H center channel and the JBL EC25. Is the JBL worth spending more money for and will they complement my system well or should I go with the cheaper Sony's? If these aren't good complements or center channels, I'm open for suggestions. I'm just looking for something affordable that will do my setup justice. I'm willing to spend a max of about $165. I'm looking for good sound for a decent price but don't know a whole lot about speaker selection and I've got to make do with what I have now cause college ain't cheap. The subwoofer will have to come later. Thanks for any help you may be able to give me.

[poneal]

Since you have the yamaha series for mains then I would go with a yamaha ns series center so that they will be matched. Here is a link for what your looking for:
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/HXseries/NS_C444.htm

[Geoffcin]

I'm a college kid looking to complete a home theater system. My dad has given me: a Pioneer VSX-D498 receiver with Dolby Digital 5.1 that outputs 80W x 5. For my front main speakers, I've got a pair of Yamaha NS-A635A speakers that output a max of 140 watts. For my rear speakers, I connected a pair of 40 watt speakers SX-NA302 from my old Aiwa shelf system. I'm looking for a center channel that will complement my speakers well and I've heard that center channels that are much better than the rest of my speakers may not blend well and possibly be overkill. I'm looking at the Sony SS-CN550H center channel and the JBL EC25. Is the JBL worth spending more money for and will they complement my system well or should I go with the cheaper Sony's? If these aren't good complements or center channels, I'm open for suggestions. I'm just looking for something affordable that will do my setup justice. I'm willing to spend a max of about $165. I'm looking for good sound for a decent price but don't know a whole lot about speaker selection and I've got to make do with what I have now cause college ain't cheap. The subwoofer will have to come later. Thanks for any help you may be able to give me.

A friend of mine has a JBL center and it sounds decent. The better the center, the better the whole HT system sounds, as the center has most of the dialog sent to it. The center is NOT where you want to have your cheapest speaker.
I don't know your front speakers, but if they have 8" or larger woofers then you might be able to get away with routing the sub channel to the fronts. I have a similar Pioneer receiver, the VSX811s in a secondary HT system, and it's as easy as chosing no sub in the setup, and setting your mains to large.

[Woochifer]

If you plan on keeping your Yamaha speakers for a while, you should start with the matching center speaker for those mains. Just make sure that the voice matching is sufficient such that the center speaker does not stand out from the others tonally. Going with a JBL or Sony center speaker is risky because even if those center speakers subjectively sound better than your mains, it will disrupt the continuity of the front soundfield if the tonal characteristics are significantly different from the mains. Typically, your best bet is to go with the matching center speaker. If not available, then you need to do some listening and try and find something that best matches the mains.

If you can't find a sufficient match, then you're probably better off without a center speaker for the time being (just as an experiment, try switching off your Aiwa from the receiver's setup menu; I have a feeling that it sounds a lot better with just the two Yamahas creating a phantom center effect). In fact, if you don't currently have a pair of surround speakers, I would actually opt for the surrounds before you get the center speaker. The split surround effect with 5.1 sources is the single biggest jump you can make in audio (aside from going mono to stereo), and really what defines modern home theater.

[LayZAss2I]

Will the Yamaha NS series center be good for my front speakers? They are bookshelf size, 3 way bass reflex with an 8" woofer cone but they are several years old. Does this matter? Thanks for the help.