Single driver Home cinema

[Marce]

Hi all,
just wondering if any one has ever set up a Home Cinema with single drivers (ie BLH etc) and valve amps.
Part of my devious plan (unbenown to my beloved) is to use the diopole FE127 metranomes (when I've built them) as souround speakers for a try out with the FE166 BLH as front. I hav'nt quite worked out yet what to use for a centre speaker.
The metronomes look perfect for the rear chanel speakers.
This would only be an occasional set up for fun, I was just wondering if anyone had tried it and what the results were.

[petercom]

If you are going down this route then don't bother with a centre channel unless it is identical to the L and R speakers.

For many years I ran Home Cinema with four identical speakers all round and a sub. Let's face it, if you can create a good, solid, central image with a pair of speakers why spoil it with an inferior centre channel.

What you have to watch out for is the dynamics. What few people realise is that the centre channel carries over 50% of the total sound image and so is highly stressed. Any speaker carrying centre channel information has a tough job to do in handling the high levels of power and dynamics. It makes me laugh when I see people using a titchy centre channel and huge L and R speakers.

[Marce]

Cheers Petercom,
I'll give that a go when I've finished the metronomes (just bought the wood).
I'll have to dig my reciever out and see if I can redirect the centre channel (its one of those that came with speakers and has been in the origional pakage for 9 months, tried it once, filled the living room with **** speakers, and after the excitement of the first film wore off, and we realised how bad the sound was, it got put away to sell, when I get round to it.) Plus there is no way I could ever get HWMBO to even contemplate the Fostex centre speaker design.
On a more mundanian level, I am not totaly mad, but tend to watch films that arn't 90% crash bang wallop, and am interested in hearing what dialoge sounds like through such a set up, and if I can get a real feel for atmosphere in scenes like Blade Runner, when he first encounters Rachel!.

[petercom]

You should find that if you delve into the setup menu and select 'Centre - None' then the centre channel will be redirected to the L and R.

[Marce]

Cheers, just sold it to a guy a work, finaly, which is a pity cos part of the negotiations with the RCAW (ROTTVIELLER CHEWING A WASP, a pet name I am prone to use for the missis when things dont go my way) was to get a new telly as the Sony rear projection is getting on a bit and according to her looks scruffy next to the new speakers (help!!!!). It didn't have rca outs only speaker level so I'd have had to mess about attenuating the signal level.
I'd get just a processor but they seem so pricey.
Still love to give it a go one day.

[Shian7]

Hi Marce,

I use my stereo setup as it is for home cinema just by connecting up my HD projector and popping the screen between my speakers, lean on the volume control a bit and I have all the wallop I need!
I don't think I'll ever bother with rear speakers, center, or a sub to be honest, I still find myself looking round from time to time wondering 'where the hell did that sound come from?'

Cheers,
Mike.

[Cobblers]

Originally Posted by petercom

If you are going down this route then don't bother with a centre channel unless it is identical to the L and R speakers.

For many years I ran Home Cinema with four identical speakers all round and a sub. Let's face it, if you can create a good, solid, central image with a pair of speakers why spoil it with an inferior centre channel.

What you have to watch out for is the dynamics. What few people realise is that the centre channel carries over 50% of the total sound image and so is highly stressed. Any speaker carrying centre channel information has a tough job to do in handling the high levels of power and dynamics. It makes me laugh when I see people using a titchy centre channel and huge L and R speakers.

I understand your point about the small centre and could not agree more for the ultimate performance in a home cinema application
However many of these people will have put together knowingly compromised systems consisting of decent quality stereo speakers for hifi and music, matched to a compromised home cinema set up (for domestic acceptance).

A decent quality small centre speaker is of use even with larger front stereo speakers if some listeners are sitting off axis, helping keep the dialogue locked to the screen.
It is a shame many packages are designed with a silly slender nasal sounding undynamic bass free excuse for a centre speaker designed to slide discreetly under the telly. Such is the need for domestic bliss.

The new potentially fantastic HD audio standards will not be realised by the heavily compromised pretty little sub sat packages/systems 95% of home cinema users are allowed to have in their homes by the powers that be (she that must be obeyed). This is a real shame as there has never been such a huge jump in quality in this area before. I suspect most home cinema users will be barely aware of the potential sonic benefits of HD audio (nor even care) unlike their obvious interest in the jump in image quality.

I reckon five WD25a's (even without sub) would be truly awesome.
They are ideal for home cinema amp's too because they are such an easy load.

[Shian7]

Excellent point Cobblers!....shame about all the wires though.
Having hardwood floors means (for me) a major re-decorating exercise for every change in speaker location, which is a big pain in the @rse.
Why oh why couldn't we have carpets?
<gives the missus one of those 'Paddington gave Mr Brown one of his hardest stares' type looks>

Cheers,
Mike.

[Ali Tait]

I used to have hardwood floors,and to run speaker cables I'd just drill holes through and run the cables under the boards.The holes are easily filled in with that plastic wood stuff.Bit of stain and varnish and you'd never know there'd been a hole there.