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Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?

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Posted on May 5, 2016 at 19:38:48
Jim-W
Audiophile

Posts: 19
Location: Dallas, TX
Joined: September 17, 2015
 Running MMGs for left/right and thinking about another pair for the center channel. I've tried a Magnepan MMGC and well... blech.

I really want a physical center channel to have the ability to tweak the center level on the fly depending on the program we're watching.

I'm current feeding the center channel to L/R speakers via miniDSP which gives me center level adjustment but it's just not, for lack of a better word, anchored in the center like a center speaker should be.

Anyone else doing this... thoughts, comments, a better solution?


 

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RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 6, 2016 at 14:29:18
cfraser
Audiophile

Posts: 3208
Location: Pickering, Ontario
Joined: April 30, 2000
 Hmmm, I find that feeding the center channel audio to the L/R speakers (i.e. "stereo" front) actually anchors the audio to the display better than using a center channel speaker. Maggie fronts; I find they "focus" plenty fine, contrary to what "some" say about planars in general. And by "anchor", I mean it seems like the dialog is coming from the display screen heads.

But I do use a center speaker, a pretty decent (and large/heavy!) one. As you say, what that gets you is much better flexibility in level adjustment (I hate to miss an instant of dialog, and not all actors speak clearly, or is dialog mixed that well sometimes during action...), but it also gets you greater definition and clarity. But not "anchoring" per se, you can get that if the center is behind a (PJ) screen, but you can't do that with a Maggie center, or with a display of course.

IOW I put up with the slight decrease in anchoring with the center speaker for all the other advantages. Some say that if you place the center speaker *over* the display it increases the sense of anchoring, somehow the brain/ears create the illusion better if it's over your sitting head's position. I have done that before with a "lesser" center speaker, but quite frankly though, I don't think there's a "good" center speaker that you could easily physically place over a display without a significant structure to hold it all. I've never seen that with what *I* would call a good center speaker.

 

RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 6, 2016 at 14:47:07
Satie
Audiophile

Posts: 5426
Joined: July 6, 2002
 It is not an outlandish idea, just need to disconnect one of the tweeters of the two speakers

Another option is to setup one speaker for the center in the horizontal (laying on its side - will need appropriate new feet - with the tweeter at the top, below the monitor/screen.

 

RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 7, 2016 at 05:54:44
Jim-W
Audiophile

Posts: 19
Location: Dallas, TX
Joined: September 17, 2015
 Thanks cfraser & Satie for the ideas and insight!

This should get interesting, I have a 4 channel amp and a pair of Rythmik L12 subs on order so I'll have to wait until those get here but should be fun.

 

RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 8, 2016 at 09:04:45
stustan
Audiophile

Posts: 94
Location: Long Island, New York
Joined: October 16, 2009
 I am very happy with CC5/DWM as my center Channel. Rest of system consists of 1.7's for L/R's, MC1's for surrounds and a Rythmik F12 for a Sub.

My setup yields a solid, focused, seamless LCR stage with dialog anchored in the center on and off axis .... and no tonal shift if "objects" pan across the stage.

Best Of Luck!

 

RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 8, 2016 at 11:00:31
Jim-W
Audiophile

Posts: 19
Location: Dallas, TX
Joined: September 17, 2015
 A Maggie center with DWM would be great but I'm just not able to drop $1800 on a center.

 

RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 9, 2016 at 07:14:08
Norman M
 What jumps to my mind is being able to listen to some of the few 3CH SACDs from Mercury Living Presence and RCA/BMG Living Stereo. Has anyone here, using Maggies, done that?

 

RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 12, 2016 at 11:29:21
clemmons.biker
Audiophile

Posts: 21
Location: NC
Joined: January 21, 2012
 I use a single MMG for my center channel set up horizontally below my screen. R and L are 3.6 and rears are old MG III that have been rebuilt. My receiver speaker set up with center small and crossover pretty high (100hz?). R and L at full range and use an electronic crossover for the subs. Works very nicely.

 

RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 12, 2016 at 15:58:33
Jim-W
Audiophile

Posts: 19
Location: Dallas, TX
Joined: September 17, 2015
 How did you set up the MMG horizontal, home built stand?

Thanks

 

RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 16, 2016 at 12:59:58
clemmons.biker
Audiophile

Posts: 21
Location: NC
Joined: January 21, 2012
 I use an old TV stand. It has three shelves an open back and I place below my projector screen. I use old Vibrapods to cushion the MG frame from the TV stand shelves. I have thought about getting a floor standing picture frame stand or using a couple of guitar stands. I'm sure there are better solutions, but I have been lazy.

 

RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 21, 2016 at 00:05:30
pictureguy
Audiophile

Posts: 22597
Location: SoCal
Joined: October 19, 2008
 I'd be curious about tweeter 'UP' or tweeter 'DOWN'?
Too much is never enough

 

RE: Pair of MMGs for Center Channel?, posted on May 24, 2016 at 09:54:55
cfraser
Audiophile

Posts: 3208
Location: Pickering, Ontario
Joined: April 30, 2000



[This photo is not mine, hope it's OK that I post it, no idea where it's from. Was looking for a pic of something in my archives, found this, and it reminded me of this thread. Edit: that looks like a Canuck Audio Mart logo there, like from a "for sale" pic (possibly the "spare" 1.6?), so acknowledgments to them.]

I found this pic inspiring. This guy wanted what I wanted: a 1.6 center speaker mounted over the display.

The diff is that he went the extra mile, whereas I didn't go the extra inch. I certainly spent *some* time on it, but it was one impediment after another, not the least of which was finding *one* more 1.6 in the same color as the ones I have (gray). I guess matching color is optional, and who doesn't need a spare Maggie (of the pair I'd need to buy)? My ceiling is also higher, so the ceiling mount would need to drop the 1.6 at least another foot or two.

 

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