replacing Spendor C5e with Proac Studio centre worth it?

[Jonzey]

Hi
Long time Home Theatre nut but first time poster.

I have the following set-up which I have cobbled together over the last 30 years:

ProAc Studio 125 - (Cherry)
Spendor C5e Centre - (Oak)
Triangle Barea wall side surrounds (cherry)
Proac Hexa satelite rear surrounds (cherry)
Arcam AVR-350
Arcam BDP-300
Monitor Audio ASW Sub (Oak)

Basically I've spotted a black ash ProAc Studio centre for sale and I want to know if people feel it's an upgrade, downgrade or crossgrade from the Spendor? Ideally I'd love to have all the woods matching but those Studios are damn hard to find these days. Sound-wise I've always felt the timbre matching was...ok and in the same ball park but there was definitely sonic spacing issues between the different brands and I feel that the centre lacked a little something but that may be due to my speaker positioning (result of home spacial needs)

Any advice would be appreciated before I spend more money on my Frankenstein's Monster and find it wasn't worth it

 

[Gasp3621]

It`s very tricky to find matching finish centre with old model, need ton of luck. Technically they are very similar designs these two speakers. With the Proac you would get identical tweeter assuming the model is from same generation to your 125 mains so the voicing will be similar, but these 2-way center channels are always bit compromise, fine if you sit most of time middle/oppposite to speaker.

ProAc - Perfectly Natural | Speakers

www.proac-loudspeakers.com

Another option would be to find the bookshelf model of your towers, that likely has same drivers. You would keep it vertically upright as centre which is quite tricky with tv.

I know the feeling of mixing finishes, it could come haunt you later on so think carefully! The wood finish looks lovely, black not so much.

200£ is quite high price for such old speaker, but if it was expensive model then maybe fine.

ProAc Studio Centre Channel Speaker Black | eBay

ProAc Studio Centre. Future Audio is a specialist hi-fi dealer in the South East.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Jonzey]

It`s very tricky to find matching finish centre with old model, need ton of luck. Technically they are very similar designs these two speakers. With the Proac you would get identical tweeter assuming the model is from same generation to your 125 mains so the voicing will be similar, but these 2-way center channels are always bit compromise, fine if you sit most of time middle/oppposite to speaker.

ProAc - Perfectly Natural | Speakers

www.proac-loudspeakers.com

Another option would be to find the bookshelf model of your towers, that likely has same drivers. You would keep it vertically upright as centre which is quite tricky with tv.

I know the feeling of mixing finishes, it could come haunt you later on so think carefully! The wood finish looks lovely, black not so much.

200£ is quite high price for such old speaker, but if it was expensive model then maybe fine.

ProAc Studio Centre Channel Speaker Black | eBay

ProAc Studio Centre. Future Audio is a specialist hi-fi dealer in the South East.

www.ebay.co.uk

Thanks Gasp3621

that was my fear. I love my 125s and don't really want to part with them until I can afford a real big upgrade (even then I'll probably keep them for a stereo set-up as teuy are timeless imho.) As you say spendor isn't a huge departure in sound from Proac; hence my initial purchase but the physical material is very different between the two which does have an impact.

Ha! that was in indeed the eBay model I was looking at and whilst the original sold for £500-700 I agree the Black is horribly dated.

The vertical Proac isn't a bad call and I have thought about that- I have an 85" fixed screen currently but will be building a separate edit studio/HT next year and going bigger/re-postioning (I'm a film editor by trade) so decent placement is not an impossibility in the future.

I think I'll stick with my Spendor for now and just keep hunting for a cherry centre. (maybe save up for a response model - of which are there more available)

thanks for the advice

 

[Gasp3621]

Thanks Gasp3621

that was my fear. I love my 125s and don't really want to part with them until I can afford a real big upgrade (even then I'll probably keep them for a stereo set-up as teuy are timeless imho.) As you say spendor isn't a huge departure in sound from Proac; hence my initial purchase but the physical material is very different between the two which does have an impact.

Ha! that was in indeed the eBay model I was looking at and whilst the original sold for £500-700 I agree the Black is horribly dated.

The vertical Proac isn't a bad call and I have thought about that- I have an 85" fixed screen currently but will be building a separate edit studio/HT next year and going bigger/re-postioning (I'm a film editor by trade) so decent placement is not an impossibility in the future.

I think I'll stick with my Spendor for now and just keep hunting for a cherry centre. (maybe save up for a response model - of which are there more available)

thanks for the advice

Acoustically transparent screen (AT) would be one option and perhaps finding another pair of 125 if they pop up for decent price. Having third identical speaker to L/R behind screen is the most ideal route. Proac Studio 100 bookshelf speaker with identical drivers to your 125 would work great too (upright) and it would be better than the laying centre in few ways.