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My right ear is not too good and of late I listen to music with both speakers on the left side.I was wondering why I need two speakers. I could have one Elac B5 for $115 on my left side and that should be good enough and great savings too. Or is it better to have the Elac C5 for $179 on the left. I cant figure how a single speaker compares with a central speaker. I dont see too many reviews of central channel speakers. I listen in my 10x9x9 bedroom to mostly soft Rock. I care mostly for vocal clarity especially female voice. Dont care much for low bass. I dont think I hear too low or too high anyway.
Regards
Bill
Follow Ups:
You hear with your whole body..not only your ears. I would still use 2 speakers.
Ok, you have two channels and one speaker.
use a splitter to join the two channels coming into the amp. Then use one speaker. One channel for bass and the other channel for the tweeter/mid. Kind of like biamping with one amp and speaker. But you will have to make sure the speakers crossover is separated between the drivers. And it would take some finagling with cables to get two channels of mono.
charles
Very interesting! Opens up a lot of new possibilities. My B&W 685 is biwirable. With one of those speakers I can get much improved sound. Maybe.
Regards
Bill
I would be very interested to here how that turns out.
Trick is you need have a Mono signal coming into both channels of the amp.
There is nothing wrong with listening in mono, the problem is finding mono material to listen to. Mono is more than just listening with one speaker. On the other hand, putting both L and R speakers in the center is the easiest solution and a mono switch on the pre-amp helps. I would just use what you have and enjoy.
The other thing to try is extremely near field listening, that seems to help with getting things in balance.
he also suffers similar problem due to ear infection from early age. It doesn't stop him from listening. He has a pair of tannoy, he only listens to one speaker, the signal from the pre to power amp is 2 to 1. He uses Marantz 7 pre, mono block tube amp.
You may explore such approach.
Central channel speaker never have the same freq extension like regular speaker.
Does your system have a balance control? If so, try putting the speakers in a normal configuration, then adjusting the balance control so the right speaker is louder than the left. Have you considered going to an audiologist to see exactly what is wrong with your ears?
Edits: 11/28/15
I had a hearing test done. The left ear is normal but the right is way down. I do hear stereo but the feeling that the right is not good enough is bothering me. So I moved the right speaker to the top of the left in an DAppolito configuaration. I like what I hear.
My HK amp does not have a mono button, so single speaker may not work. There is a balance control but that cant bring in mono. How can I get mono from a stereo amp with no mono button?
I was thinking of splurging and getting one KEF50 for mono!
Regards
Bill
My thinking with adjusting the balance control and moving the right speaker back to its normal position was to keep you listening in stereo, not mono. If you adjust the balance enough to the right, the right speaker will be much louder than the left speaker to a person with good hearing in both ears, however to you both speakers would possibly be at the same volume level. I don't know the answer to you stereo to mono question.
Yeah, I got the idea of raising the volume on the right by adjusting the balance. Thanks.
Regards
Bill
Bill, did it work?
what amps do you use and can it do mono? If you have a separate preamp/amp or separate source you can input two channels into one. But you can NOT just hook up both speaker outputs to a center speaker. So if you don't have mono capability it seems you're stuck with stereo for a while.
But people have been using mono for decades. So try it and post your findings.
charles
My HK amp does not have a mono button. I dont see too many amps with that. How do folks play the Beatles mono? I had a NAD with mono switch but dont know about the new ones.
Regards
Bill
They play the mono cd's thru there stereo. each speaker gets exactly the same information so the sound is mono centered between both speakers. Same with lps but some people will use a mono cartridge to play a mono lp. same sound to both speakers. I have a friend who is basically totally deaf in one ear but still has a stereo system and seems to enjoy it very much. Does not hear sound staging but all other parameters sound great to
him
Alan
Good to hear your friend enjoys stereo. My right ear is not too bad. Perhaps my stereo system is bad!
Cheers
Bill
Some minor observations. Back in the late 1940s and 50s when "high fidelity" first became available to home listeners, mono was the primary mode and single speaker systems were predominant. (Blumlein started experimenting with stereo in the 1930s but stereo LP records weren't available until the late 1950s. Stereo reproduction only really took off in the 1960s.)
While you won't get a stereo image soundstage with mono, things such as tone quality, dynamic & frequency range and distortion are just as important for mono as for stereo.
And, as someone else noted, even with damaged hearing on one side, you may still have the ability to hear stereophonically. Here is a simple test: forget the stereo system for a moment -- when you hear sounds in real life, can you still tell what direction they are coming from? If so, you may still benefit from having a stereo setup. As always, go for what works best for you.
As for the left/right vs. center channel for a single speaker system, I think I'd lean toward using a single left/right speaker. I don't have much experience with home theater systems, but I understand many center channel speakers focus on speech reproduction, so they may not be as balanced sounding as a traditional left/right speaker.
Yes I can tell the direction of the sound. But the background should be quiet. At cocktail parties I have big problems. My doctor says hearing aids may not be comfortable.
Regards
Bill
Center channel speakers often don't go as low as right and left speakers.
And this is just a guess. When listening to sound naturally like at a concert I bet you still get limited spatial affects so I'd guess that a normal stereo setup would still be the better way to go.
I was hoping I could get away by buying one Elac! A pair of B5 should be the best bet.
I still have very fond memories of a single Tannoy Westminster playing in mono some 40 years ago.
Regards
Bill
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