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I upgraded my bedroom system with a pair of sweet, vintage Boston VR-M60 compact monitors and an Adcom amp- very pleased so far. That left a pair of Audioengine 5 - the originals- standing about. I had just switched to a Carver TFM-45 stereo amp in my main system which was 3.1 channel (but is primarily developed for 2.1 channel music).
I popped the A5's in for the center channel(both driven with the mono center channel audio) sitting between my Thiel CS3's. Good enough match timbre-wise, adequate for TV and movies. HP crossover set at 60Hz; I removed the port plugs (foam balls) I had been using previously in the A5's for music with a subwoofer. Tip: punch a couple little hole-punches out of blue masking tap and stick em' over the blue light.
Anyone remember the "double Advents" that were stacked tweeter-to-tweeter? Two of these can play loud!
The "soundstage" (movie sound, remember) is wide, deep and quite like the theater. Dialog is very clear; voices recorded properly in a small room setting can sound like they're right in the room with you. I use my Lexicon MC-12 "L7 MOVIE" processing. Without apologies, it just sounds great for movies. Christopher Walken sez so, must be so.
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The two A5's as a "powered center channel" sound so much better standing up normally. The reflection from the shelf was turning them to mud! I also plugged the ports with foam balls- the response was a bit boomy, tubby, in the male vocal range. The effect of plugging the ports is, I believe, to lower the Qts and raise the f-3. In systems with a subwoofer it seems to ease the integration issues. It results in tightening up the transient response, once you get the X-O and subwoofer settings all right. Jeez- everything interacts!
I'm going to use my B&W DM601s as center channel speakers in a similar manner (hooked up in series to a new Marantz AVR center channel output). I have a wall unit where they are 'outboard' as the main L/R now. I have a REALLY cheap center channel and 'surrounds' that I got as a set for $50! They're labeled 'Pioneer' but who knows? Planning on moving the B&Ws 'inboard' flanking the TV close in when I make the change. ...
I'll hopefully be getting some Monitor Audio Silver 8s soon after moving to a new house. I had a 7 channel surround array installed in the ceiling ... should be interesting to play with (plan on trying out the ceiling L/R as 'height' speakers just for grins). I will probably just run the 7 ceiling speakers for a while just to see how they sound.
Please post how the experiments with surround sound go. I'm not quite ready to rush out and buy surround speakers (You note that 20 years since Dolby Digital became available on laser disc is not exactly rushing!?)
The experiences I've had with surround since the days of quad LP's have not set me on fire for more amp channels. When I was sure there would only be a 3.1 channel system in the main room, I sold a massively powerful, clean 7-channel Denon receiver that served as a power amplifier. You can buy monster THX receivers (non-HDMI) for a song these days.
I'm moving into a new house this Friday ... need to get a new AVR to properly hook up all the speakers. I have an old 5.1 Marantz that I may press into service temporarily (to the 'surrounds' only).
Did I say I got 7 speakers installed in the CEILING? it was an option and I was able to specify where I wanted them. I didn't have another option (wife said NO speakers hung on walls, from ceiling, etc.. We'll see how it sounds!
Like the true double Advent configuration (I know them well), have you tried stacking them vertically?
It looks like they would fit nicely below the monitor.
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