Centre speaker replacement

gavinhanly

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I need to replace my centre speaker as it getting raspy at the higher end. I was looking around and then thought "hang on, maybe I should ask the forum that I spend far too much of my time on..?"

SO. I'm looking for a compact centre speaker. Has to sit on a (fake) fireplace which is behind the TV so I don't want something too massive - I want it to look good in the room. The room isn't huge, so it doesn't need to be overly powerful. I have a compact Jamo set at the moment (bought about 10-15 years back) and it's replacing the centre from that.

I've looked at lots of "best of" guides but they all seem too big. Anyone have any recommendations?
 
Ideally you should have the centre and fronts matching from the same manufacturer and model range. This is best to preserve timbre across the front soundstage. Bit worried about you saying that the speaker will be behind the TV. Perhaps you could post a photograph of the TV positioning with the current speaker in place and better options may be put forward for you.
 
Fair point (tidies up in front of TV). Here you go - here you can see centre (behind but only just and on the top of the TV), the left and right and the sub just sticking out. These speakers pretty much do the job - and I like that they don't overwhelm the small room. Hope this is useful?

speakers.jpg
 
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Before you decide try placing the speaker in front of the TV. I have no doubt that because it is set back that the speaker is actually being badly effected by reflected sound from the back of the TV. It's certainly small enough to place there. Again looking at your overall speaker placement then you could actually do without a centre and perhaps concentrate on a new pair of stereos. Plenty of lifestyle speakers to choose from including what @simonblue has mentioned.
 
Definitely need a centre, because it's slightly bust. It goes raspy at certain pitches - I know there's a term for this but it escapes me. Will definitely consider placement with new speaker though.

Monitor looks good, thanks @simonblue, but I think that's too pricey for me TBH. Maybe something more in the £250 range max (centre only, more if centre plus left/right)? Sorry - should have mentioned budget earlier.
 
Definitely need a centre, because it's slightly bust. It goes raspy at certain pitches - I know there's a term for this but it escapes me. Will definitely consider placement with new speaker though.

Monitor looks good, thanks @simonblue, but I think that's too pricey for me TBH. Maybe something more in the £250 range max (centre only, more if centre plus left/right)? Sorry - should have mentioned budget earlier.

The Radius are in your price range the 200 & 225,you should be able to pick up the 200 around the £150 mark or the 225 around £200 mark :)
 
Ah yes, I see. That does look very promising. thanks very much.
 
If you're short on space and want great build quality and sound from a small package, i recommend taking a look at the Elac and Canton packages, they can be bought brand new for around your budget or less if you buy used.

Try placing the centre on the tv unit in front of the tv.
 

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