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In Reply to: RE: center channel posted by joegjr1 on February 10, 2012 at 16:46:13
OK, I finally got the MMG re-grilled and now in my set up. Hard to see it in this photo but I used black grill and placed it under my TV. It is actually sitting on the Denon receiver on four Vibrapods. I have it leaning slightly so there is a bit of an upward tilt. I used 2 other Vibrapods as "bumpers" to keep the speakers from touching the glass shelves. There is nothing on the shelf directly behind the MMG so sound can reflect off the back wall. I think that helps...who knows...???
What you see are my MG 3.6's R and L and the MMG in the center. My rears are refurbished MG III's that I have facing each other (almost 90 deg to the wall). Can't explain why, but it works great. Got the idea from one of the Planar inmates...I don't even remember who. I have four Hsu Research HRSW 10's - 2 up front and 2 in back in a four corner config.
Sound is unbelievable at the sweet spot. Just excellent off center...plenty good enough for folks sitting on the sofa. We'ved watched a few movies and I can tell you that I have had a few "over the shoulder" looks from my children to see if they were hearing things.
I know that Maggies are not supposed to work in HT...but I beg to differ...
Follow Ups:
Very nice looking system, and Congratulations for producing children whom you trust in the same room with nice gear! Those amps, sitting out all nice and pretty on the floor, would rapidly become home to Lego wars in my abode :)
More on topic, I built home-brew open baffle center and surrounds to go with the Magnepan mains. They are 4" mids and Dayton planar tweeters. They match surprisingly well, though not perfect. No bass at all of course. I tried the MMGW wall-mount setup, but they sounded painfully thin and miserable.
It's a bit tough to see in the crummy picture, but I have a rear-projection setup with a screen which pulls down in front of the fireplace. 1.7's on either side of the fireplace, center on the hearth. Surrounds are not visible. The room is huge, about 20x30 with 11ft ceilings, but pulls double duty as family room / home theatre room. With the creen retracted, it's not too terribly ugly.
The children know that I can always get to their 529's in case of damage!
Very nice home brew indeed.
I have always found the mags to be finicky if too close to a wall (thus my skepticism toward MMGW's) and I assume a similar effect if enclosed eg within a stereo cabinet. That is why I had considered some type of mount that would extend the MMG out from the wall. Just my luck, the TV stand I have are open shelves so when the MMG is sitting just in front of the stand, I can make sure there is nothing in back of them. I assume the shelves have some sonic effect, but doesn't seem to be a big issue.
That's a impressive photo there!
Thanks,
I've been trying to figue out a good center channel solution to my HT when I happened to come across this stream. I was on the verge of purchasing either a CC3 or MMGW's, but now I am glad that I come across Joe's (and others) suggestion of using a single MMG. My prior setup was Paradigm Studio CC but it never mated to the MG 3.6's very well. I also had studio 20's in the rears which again sounds great if using all box speakers but left something lacking with the MG's. My old set of MG III's had a brief trial at the rears pointed directly at the primary listening seat. Unfortunately it was way too bright in that configuration. So I was back to the studio CC and studio 20's. As it turned out I saw this thread about the same time I saw another post describing the sounds of a 2 channel MG system with the speakers firing at each other (perpendicular to the listening axis!). I purchased the MMG from Joe. I had all sorts of ideas for a center mount but while I was brainstorming I had to temporarily set up the MMG center and bingo, I came up with the position above the receiver. Works great and all for the price of a few Vibrapods lying around.
So now about the rears. I thought that the problem may have to do with the sofa blocking some of the bass frequencies coming from the MG III's. The ribbons are positioned higher and would not be as effected by the "proper" speaker position. So on the second attempt, I positioned the speakers firing at each other - nearly perpendicular to the back wall. I put the ribbons right next to the back wall so the woofers would be outboard. My room is wider than it is deep, so the side walls are a good 5-7 ft away. I thought in this configuration, the woofers would have a chance to breathe and open up. Voila...crazy sounding MG III rears.
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