Proac Fronts - what centre?

[McTrucky]

Hi all,

I have three Proac Tablettes at the front
A pair of B&W 685s2 as the wides
A pair of B&W M1 as rears
BK 400 sub
All plugged into a Pioneer SC77LX

I am happy with this, ish. But wonder if a centre with a tweeter central to a pair of mid range cones would be better than a two way lying on its side. Would a wider three way set up be better? It would certainly look better..

If I could pick up a decent Proac centre second hand I would, but they are like hen's teeth. But there are plenty B&Ws available on the 'bay.

So, would it be a mistake to mix and match with a B&W front?
Would getting three B&W across the front be a better bet? But what would hold a candle to the Proacs that were a similar small size (need 'discreet' speakers at the fron due to positioning - the 685s would be too large as fronts).

Thanks

 

[scoc]

I assume you are not using 1 x Proac Tab 10 at the front. What you can do is lay a pair of Proac Tab 10’s on their side (tweeters side by side) and connect them in parallel.
Do not replace the Proac Tab 10 fronts you have with the B&W. The Proac Tab’s are considerable better.

Until 5 years ago I had the Proac Response D monitor as centre speaker and sold it. Now I regret it because the current Proac centre voice, although fine, is not as good as the old Response Monitor.

After changing speakers many times in the past 5 years I have now recently moved back to Proac’s for my HT setup.

If I may say ... if you do plan on changing something I’d say to replace the Pioneer AVR because I have a feeling that combo with the Tab 10’s might sound a bit frisky and bright.

 

[McTrucky]

Thanks for the reply.

I did some swapping around last night and tried using the 685s2 at the front left and right, also tried this setup with music (from Sondek turntable) and prefer the Proac. You won't be surprised.

The Centre is a single Tablette on its side. It's pair has a blown driver, so can't put the two down together.

I am hearing a B&W HTM62 this evening as a centre to two Proac in my friendly local hifi shop. Will see how that goes.

 

[chipboy]

You are better off keeping the 3 proacs at the front, this will give you best tonal match (panning action from left to right say), can you not position the centre in its upright position?, centre speakers are normally a compromise to enable them to fit under a screen placement.

Proac centre speaker do occasionally pop up on ebay, and if its the CC1, then you may have to factor in a replacement tweeter but thats solvable.

Search results for: 'proac tweeter d15'

Failing that, you could try a KEF R200C which I've read goes well and is cheaper than a new Proac Centre.

 

[McTrucky]

Bought the B&W, definite improvement in clarity over the single Tablette. Not necessarily an improvement in quality, just clarity. This will do me quite nicely for now.