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In Reply to: RE: Help with Tri-Center! posted by dclamb2 on April 17, 2014 at 09:11:27
dclamb2While I do not have a tri-center setup...I have very similar speakers and, perhaps, my experiences might help.
My home theater/music setup consists of:
1.7's for LR
CC5 and DWM as Center Channel
MC1's as rear surrounds
Rythmik F12 as subTheatrically I have also found that 1.7's sounded (in my system/room) fuller and "more present" without the center channel. If I tell my processor there is no center channel then I am effectively hearing the center channel info as phantom center. In my room this Phantom Center is huge, stretching across the room and is intoxicating in the Main Listening Position. Everywhere else, however, the center channel info is not anchored, "phasey", and the LCR soundstage is improperly presented.
With the center channel properly engaged the resulting "image" is not quite as large and wide in the MLP. Dialog is more focused, and less "widely spaced". Tonal balance is nearly identical either way. The dialog stays centered throughout the room and does not "wander" towards the nearest LR 1.7.
I only listen to 2 channel music in stereo mode, as 2.1. I do not like the center channel engaged as an LCR for music playback. It feels wrong and the soundstage becomes ill defined and imprecise. I find the 1.7's image spectacularly in my room as two channel stereo without center support. Please keep in mind I reposition the 1.7's for music or theater playback. One position works great with stereo and the other is perfect with 5.1. I guess that is why I am an asylum member!! I do not like my 2 channel music as PIIX or Neo6. I do, however, like music as 5.1 if it was recorded as such and meant to be played back in that format.
So after all that info about my room and habits here is my humble advice: As an experiment try dismounting the CC5 from your wall mount and move it forward. Try placing your CC5 on the same plane as your 1.7's. I have my CC5 mounted on a Sanus SFC22 stand (22"s high) with my DWM almost directly below the CC5. The LCR is all on the same plane. If you are daring and try my suggestion perhaps it might work with the tri-center theatrically and musically. Perhaps purchase the DWM and try it with the CC5 on the same plane as your 1.7's with your MC1's as support "fill". If the DWM doesn't help then return it. My belief, in a nutshell, is your CC5 might sound better (and your sound image might project correctly) if your CC5 was mounted on the same plane as your 1.7's
I also received vague and obtuse help from Wendell when I was researching my center channel needs. I decided, after many confusing phone calls with Wendell, to go the route I described above....based upon my experiences in film/television post production re-recording studios. Center channel dialog is the tightly focused anchor of a large expansive surround environment. I am very thrilled with my system.
Please do not be discouraged, I think you only need to renew your energies and begin a fresh round of experimentation and tweaking. Please do not be frustrated, from the picture you have posted and the equipment you have described I think you have a very solid foundation and need only tweak until your achieve your goals. You have a very, very beautiful room.
Best of Luck.....please keep us all informed
Edits: 04/17/14 04/17/14Follow Ups:
of moving the tri-center away from the front wall. I think the problem is those MC1's mounted on the wall.
I have a tri-center of sorts: a Mini-Maggie system (two satellites and an MWD) as a center channel, placed away from the front wall, in the same plane as my MMG's. It works better than any other Maggie center I've tried.
When I was purchasing my Maggies I thought about the MC1's on the wall and I was leery. That is why I went the way I did with my center channel (CC5\DWM). My suggestion to dclamb2 presupposes that the CC5 will sound better on the same plane as his 1.7's and then he can use his MC1's to "fill out and expand" the center channel image with judicious use of gain.
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