Monoprice THX365C vs Arendal 1723 Center S THX dillema :(

John24ssj

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SO,

This is a continuing saga and a pain of my existence. Currently my center channel (QA 3090C) is the weak point in my setup in comparison to everything else. Thus I want to upgrade but the upgrade will start with center channel outwards as I love my QA 3050 towers, they sound awesome to me and I got no beef with them.

I sorted out my clearance issue and will be getting a new TV cabinet thus I will be able to have a center channel up to 24cm high. My plan is to have a 5.2.4 system.

It appears that getting Monoprice THX365C is the best bang for the buck as it's a THX Ultra certified speaker for £368!! Monitors and surrounds are great price too, so future upgrade path total is £1700. HOWEVER, sadly the stock is not due until October :( additionally they are not the best looking speakers and monitors with surrounds can't be wall mounted, I will need to build shelf's for them (don't want to have monitor stands and trying to move away from tower speakers). This is the rational choice my brain and wallet agrees with it.

Now my heart is telling me to get Arendal 1723 Center S THX which is a great speaker and it looks amazing BUT the future upgrade path would total to £3400 which is twice the cost of the monoprice and are they going to sound twice as good? And I am wondering do I really need such high end speakers when the only speaker in my system that I am unhappy with is my center speaker.

It's quite difficult when the mind and heart want different things. Any opinions highly appreciated.
 
How does the centre sound if you turn the new subs off? Do the problems you have go away?

I'm just a bit worried that the new integration of the new subs has affected the centre's response in some way and changing centre might not fix it.

If the issue was there with your old subs then ignore me :D
 
So, maybe just get the centre speaker and leave the rest? 🤣
I guess but I also will be adding two rear height speakers but not sure what I'll need to go for. The good thing about monoprice all their speakers have the atmos speakers on top, so going the rear ones would also get me the height in one package:
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How does the centre sound if you turn the new subs off? Do the problems you have go away?

I'm just a bit worried that the new integration of the new subs has affected the centre's response in some way and changing centre might not fix it.

If the issue was there with your old subs then ignore me :D
I did a few tests even just using towers with center disabled which sounded lovely but the moment you moved to the side you could tell the sound was not coming from the middle :(

I guess I just realise it more now and even with old subs the center channel sounded thin
 
@John24ssj if you look at the US website, they do floorstanding THX with Atmos.

And re: Conrad's message, do you have any spare (e.g. bookshelf) speakers in the house that you could try out in the centre to see what difference it makes?
 
I do have a pair of QA3020 and I can tell already they sound better than the 3090C. The issue with 3090c center speaker is that is has 2 small 4" drivers compared to 2x6.5" in the towers
 
I think they 5" in the 3020. So you're saying just one of them, i.e. one 5" driver, sounded better than the two 4" in the 3090c. Interesting.

It would almost be worth you trying one of your 3010 with one 4" to see what that is like. I.e. is this nothing to do with the size of the drivers, it's just the sound signature of the 3090c you don't like.

I'm just going with @Conrad theory of not spending the money until you're sure :)

I know and understand all of the talk about driver size on here. But at the same time, we have to remember there are manufacturers out there, e.g. Klipsch centre with 4x4" drivers for £500. Would people pay that for these products if they were 5h1t?

It could also be a sensitivity thing going on with the centre couldn't it? I know with my x2300 it would sound a lot more like a "speaker was alive" when it had a sensitivity that matched it better. Or it could be it has some horrid dips in impedance that your x2600 doesn't cope well with?
 
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@Dobbyisfree I hope you are happy as this a ton of pain and hearing audyssey tones too many times.

QA3010 it's not bad but sound is tiny I can only compare it to a soundbar.
QA3020 it's noticeably better, the vocal sound fuller but it's not great.
QA3090C much better than 3010, slightly better in some aspects than 3020 but also slighty worse in some, it's really hard to explain, can't quite articulate myself. With all 3 vocals sound like they are being processed through a filter, i'm just not liking it. When I disable the center speaker and use the QA3050's it sounds great, much much better but sadly that's only the case smack bang in the middle at MLP.
 
@DodgeTheViper @mb3195 @Topmetom 2

John needs the final push for Arendal! Any help guys?! 😅 I would think speaker upgrade as long term purchase and it needs to tick all the boxes including looks/finish so that there isn´t any room for buyers remorse.

However the 365C must be very good as @Jase felt it being step up from M&K S150 if i remember correct and @kbfern has XTZ Cinema M6 in other room and loves these. Objective measurements are spot on as we saw on Audioholics. I don`t know for fact is there same company behind both Arendal THX and Monoprice THX speakers as there is lot of similarities starting from HDF cabinets.
 
Joking aside though are we all promising that this will fix the problem?
 
@DodgeTheViper @mb3195 @Topmetom 2

John needs the final push for Arendal! Any help guys?! 😅 I would think speaker upgrade as long term purchase and it needs to tick all the boxes including looks/finish so that there isn´t any room for buyers remorse.

However the 365C must be very good as @Jase felt it being step up from M&K S150 if i remember correct and @kbfern has XTZ Cinema M6 in other room and loves these. Objective measurements are spot on as we saw on Audioholics. I don`t know for fact is there same company behind both Arendal THX and Monoprice THX speakers as there is lot of similarities starting from HDF cabinets.
He can buy mine when i move? Hehe
 
Joking aside though are we all promising that this will fix the problem?

99£ speaker (3090c) sounding thin and different calibre to big 1meter tall floorstanders with dual 6,5", so certainly it will make big difference.
 
@DodgeTheViper @mb3195 @Topmetom 2

John needs the final push for Arendal! Any help guys?! 😅 I would think speaker upgrade as long term purchase and it needs to tick all the boxes including looks/finish so that there isn´t any room for buyers remorse.

However the 365C must be very good as @Jase felt it being step up from M&K S150 if i remember correct and @kbfern has XTZ Cinema M6 in other room and loves these. Objective measurements are spot on as we saw on Audioholics. I don`t know for fact is there same company behind both Arendal THX and Monoprice THX speakers as there is lot of similarities starting from HDF cabinets.

It's a very good speaker indeed although I'm changing my LCR's back to M&K again this weekend. Where Monoprice has saved money is on the finish as it's a veneer/vinyl wrap so I'd expect the Arendal to be far better in that respect (going by the finish of the Sub3 I owned).

For the money the Monoprice are outstanding value for money. Even more so if you can get hold of a discount code.
 
It's a very good speaker indeed although I'm changing my LCR's back to M&K again this weekend. Where Monoprice has saved money is on the finish as it's a veneer/vinyl wrap so I'd expect the Arendal to be far better in that respect (going by the finish of the Sub3 I owned).

For the money the Monoprice are outstanding value for money. Even more so if you can get hold of a discount code.

Oh! Which M&K (lcr?) you buying?
 
Shame you are not nearer mate I would have bought my 365C over to yours so you could have a listen.

I would deffo go the Mono route though as any saving you can make will be best spent on upping the AVR as the X2600 won't be good enough when you have upgraded the speakers. Going with the Arendal as good as they are is going to make it much more expensive overall.
 

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