With so many large tv screens becoming affordable, i wonder if there may be a better option for the center channel. It's traditionally mounted directly above or below the screen, but with a particularly large television that could be too low or high. I found this to be the case with my new 50" screen. My goal is to give a stereo illusion that the center channel sound is coming from the center of the screen, rather than above or below it. Anyone attempt to do this? I was going to try using a pair of 4 ohm speakers located directly to the left and right of the screen, and wire them in series. Trouble is i can't find any shielded 4 ohm speakers! My other thoughts were to mount 4 8 ohm speakers(seems crazy) in series/parallel or just run the center channel at 4 ohms and see if my speaker level adjustment can correct for the increased center channel volume. I'm more into the car stereo scene so i'd appreciate any guidance.
I'm not sure shielding matters any more - it was absolutely critical with CRT's (to the point that I won't put even shielded speakers on the same shelf with my CRT screens - seen two of them die from it), but with LCD's or Plasma's I don't think it matters.
I could be wrong though, and I'm more out of my element than you are outside of car audio, so I'd wait and see what others say.
Hope This Helps!!!
Anyone else have suggestions?
2002 Ford Focus Sony CDX-GT410u Sony XT-100HD HD Tuner Stock speakers, no amp, no subs
I want the speakers close to the screen, and searching thru the site i notice all center channel speakers mention shielding. It's a plasma screen, and if shielding is no longer an issue i could pull some old car audio out of the basement and whip a couple boxes together... is it really that simple?
I would get someone else's advice first, but ....
Keep in mind that home audio designed and sold for center channel speakers has to be built with the assumption that it COULD be used with a CRT TV.
You don't have that requirement.
Also, I suspect you could do something with the boxes yourself to magnetically shield them yourself (if you think about it - I have a hard time imagining the thin plastic case of my $10 computer speakers does a better job than 3/4-inch MDF in a 6x9 speaker box, but .... again, it's not my area of expertise).
If you really want to ensure that your center channel is vertically centered on the screen, simply use two center channels, one above and one below the screen.
That being said...the center channel's job is to bring the dialog (and other things) to the front of the sound stage where they belong. On-point/on-axis is ideal, but the foot or so vertical offset shouldn't be distracting if the L+R speakers and the center channel are well matched tonally. The same information is not going to all three speakers, the left/right imaging of the front channel depends on the L+R speakers and the center channel improves the staging (front to rear).
I think what you are proposing will do more to muddy the image than to improve it and I don't think it would be as effective as a single center channel speaker re:sound stage.
As an aside I think you might get the result you are after by hiding the center channel. No kidding. The human ear is very poor at determining the location of any sound directly in front, behind, above or below without a visual clue or assumptive element. I experienced a remarkable example of this at JBL Synthesis training years ago.
Thanks for the tips. I'm about to start a staycation and mostly trying to busy myself with some audio projects. No one has disputed that using unshielded speakers near a plasma tv would damage the picture, so i'm gonna try it out. I'm a gamer, and despite the warnings I've heard since childhood, I sit right in front of the screen, with the goal of melting my eyeballs right out of their sockets. Sitting at an arm's length from the screen, the center channel above the tv is easy to localize. I notice that switching from 5.1 to stereo seems to pinpoint the sound as if it were coming from directly in front of me, which gave me the idea in the first place.
J Ro:No one has disputed that using unshielded speakers near a plasma tv would damage the picture, so i'm gonna try it out.
OTOH, nobody but me has said that wouldn't and I said I didn't know. I was hoping Alex W might have some thoughts on that - Alex?
Unshielded speakers have no effect on plasma and LCD monitors. CRT monitors use a magnet to direct electrons towards the inside of the tube. Plasma and LCD do not.