Standout center channel speaker?

[lattiboy]

Hello all,

I’ve got a set of full range Canton CT120 speakers. I love them and they’re perfect, but I’m having a difficult time finding a center channel to match. I’ll be running it with a Denon 3600H AVR driving only the center speaker.

I currently have a Boston Acoustics VR 12, which is a helluva center channel, but the tone and scale of it is too small for the cantons. I’m eyeing a Ergo Canton CM52 at the moment, but don’t know if it would automatically match my kinda rare Cantons just because it’s the same company.

What center channel is the largest sounding you’ve heard?

PS although I would love to know the absolute best, something I could possibly obtain on the used market for sub-$500 would be great. I’m not a snob, and I’m open to trying more mid fi gear. I actually was checking out the Polk CS5 and CS6 as they’re supposed to be stellar.

 

[SomeGeoffGuy]

I like center channels with ribbon tweeters - I think they sound better when reproducing the human voice. I bought my Martin Logan Motion 8 refurb on the auction site and it sounds fine for the $200 or so I paid. It balances fine with my big Klipsch's.

-Geoff

 

[twiiii]

Always stick with the same manufacturer, and prefferably the center channel should have the same tweeter and mids of the front speakers. Ideally the front three speakers would be identical. They are pretty pricey in good condition on the pre-owned market. You could always lay one down on its side for a center channel.

 

[Yamahalic]

I have had a similar issue as you for a very long time. I love using my large full-range tower speakers (currently Infinity Quantum 4s, previously SM-122s) with my home theater, but no center speakers can even come close. I once purchased the Energy Take FPS (photo below) in part because of some good reviews I read about small Energy speakers, and partly because of this speaker design and size (side mounting capable in an angled orientation). I tolerate these as my center speaker, but more often than not I leave my TV speakers on to present a more robust center sound presentation. So sad, I know. Good luck with your quest, those Canton's look like they will be tough to match.

 

[jocko_nc]

When I was doing this a while back I was trying to voice-match Heresy. No room for a third Heresy. I looked at the modern Klipsch, but settled on a pair of really beat up Heresy off Craigslist. I took the tweeter, crossover, and mid from one and paired with two 8.00 woofers in parallel that sort of matched the load of the original. Woofers are side loaded with baffles in order to fit the space. I guess the point is that IMO, voicing among the three is critical. Someone else said the highs and mids need to voice match. That is what you hear in detail. Anything below you can live with. Is there a smaller model with the same tweeter and mid? Move the mains closer together if the low end doesn't work?

 

[JoeESP9]

When I finally stopped using a phantom center channel speaker, I bought a Magnepan MMG-C to have timbre matching with my 1.7's. The bass response was insufficient. It has pretty much nothing below 100Hz. I added a powered subwoofer to it.

 

[mjw21a]

The best I've heard are my DIY centre speakers utilizing a pair of inexpensive Chinese 4.5" full range drivers ($36 the pair) and a pair of Dayton Audio DC130B-4 5 1/4" woofers. Far far easier to understand than my previous Dali Ikon Vokal centre. I do find the high's a little soft sounding so I'll be adding a single higher efficiency piezo tweeter to the mix soon. As is though it's very natural sounding with incredible authority and bass.

I built it into my entertainment unit. It's angled up at the listening position and this is likely the biggest reason for it being better than the speaker it replaced. The Dali previously sat underneath the projector and was too low for voices to be clearly understood. This is evidently critical as my DIY speakers have no crossover, and the volume of the "cabinet" is not in any way calculated. There's a hole on each side originally meant for routing of cables to components and a divider in the middle.

These speakers do sound big and solid. I believe this is to a large extent due to the dual 5 1/4" woofers. The fullrange drivers make for an easy build though I always find they perform best with treble augmented with tweeters and bass augmented with woofers. Far easier to implement than using midrange drivers.

Anyway, excellent results and will likely get better yet as I continue to tweak it.