Upgrading from CXA-60 with B&W 683 to avc-x3700h plus b&w center

spockz

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Currently I have a CXA-60 with B&W 683 LR setup that I use for both music and television sound. The performance for music is more than satisfactory but we are unhappy with the audibility of voices especially the distinction between voices and other noise in movies. They seem to overlap. The tv is an lg oled 55C7 with Apple TV. The TV is connected to the receiver with an optical cable.

First question: I am under the impression that to improve the voices, I need to add a center speaker. Is this correct or can I do something else. (Tv presets don’t seem to help.)

Then, in order to add a center to the setup I need to pick a center and a new receiver. After reading reviews and getting advice it looks like the Denon AVC-X3700H would be a good fit paired with a HTM6 S2.

Second question: do you agree that this matches the sound of my other speakers and is a good match?

Third question: on reviews here I read that the HTM72 is unequivocally a lot better. But does it match my 683? Can I mix them?
 
It would make more sense to buy the better HTM 72 S2 as you can get it for 349£ ex-display which is less than HTM6 costs while being the better speaker. Personally i would buy the HTM71 S2, but if it`s too large and expensive then stick with the smaller one. It`s going for 625£ now as being discontinued very likely, normally 1250£ so that is quite dramatic discount. Which ever product you buy make sure you optimize the placement for the centre. Preferably in free air on top of your av-unit than inside too low shooting your knees.



Poor time to buy av-receiver as new models coming in fall very likely, but if you want it right away then yes X3700H would be quite ideal choice. I believe Richer Sounds and Peter Tyson gives 6year warranty for it where as some others only 2years so make sure you check that out.
 
I understand that the HTM71 s2 and 72 are better speakers. But what will it do in combination with my existing ones? In other threads I read about different sound characteristics. Volume being a simple one that can probably be fixed in the receiver.

The thing I’m interested in most is whether this will make voice really clearer to hear.

Regarding the discounts, they don’t seem to happen around here in the a Netherlands.
 
As another option, what does your room look like? Lots of hard and reflective surfaces? For me, one of the biggest improvements was treating the room. If you have lots of echoes then a better centre won't necessarily won't help it.
 
I understand that the HTM71 s2 and 72 are better speakers. But what will it do in combination with my existing ones? In other threads I read about different sound characteristics. Volume being a simple one that can probably be fixed in the receiver.

The thing I’m interested in most is whether this will make voice really clearer to hear.

Regarding the discounts, they don’t seem to happen around here in the a Netherlands.

Sure it won`t be 100% tonal match as it has much more expensive drivers, crossover audio parts, cabinet structure is step up too plus nicer finish and finally is much newer. If you were to buy tonally similar centre you would look for old HTM61 S1 which is the "matching" one to your mains, but reading the feedback it is not good:

"The problem was the HTM61 center channel speaker. Despite the pedigree offered by its FST midrange, it blended poorly with the left and right 683s. Its sound was thicker, duller, and less open—a characteristic that was different depending on whether I was seated on-axis or off to the left or right by about 30-degrees (it was also different in the two directions)."

The next closest thing would be this HTM61 S2 which overall has been praised some, but i`m not sure can you find it locally used. If you can then think about it!

I don`t think having the 700 range new centre would become huge issue tonally wise. When you run the av-receiver setup it will level match the speakers and you can use the full range room correction for all speakers which very likely is helping some too. It´s still from same company and higher costing product so even if there would be tiny mismatch in some odd scenes if you really listen closely the panning (your mind is on what happens on screen/story of movie most time), would it become issue if you are otherwise fully happy with the centre hearing everything clearly?! I highly doubt it. In US ton of people are mixing front three even from different brands with the idea of buying the best center channel they can afford cause that speaker covers over 70% what you hear.

There is some clear negatives having the stereo amp opposed to av-receiver and then opting for center channel which you can manually tweak to your liking if required plus the Denon has also "late night" mode so if you enable it there won´t be sudden loud parts you running for remote while wife is screaming turn it down.

If the room isn`t total nightmare as Conrad pointed out, if you can place the center channel fairly high in free air or at least angle it shooting upwards if placed lower, if you sit opposite to it (no corner tv madness where you listen the speaker off-axis) then i would definitely consider going for the av-receiver + centre route.
 
Somethings not right if it's hard to hear speech, I think most people here and my system if deactivate center speaker and run phantom mode will still have a perfectly audible speech from their left and right speakers. Or press "stereo" mode so multi channel is downmixed to stereo, it'll should still sound fine.

Regardless I'd recommend the best, matching center you can buy.

Also try dynamic range compression, or dialogue lift, speech enhance if your AVR has it.
 
I am not in a hurry to buy anything as with the latest family extension there will be very little evening watching anyway. So I'm perfectly situated in buying a current gen device at a discount when the newer devices come around.

This is more or less the current setup (designs not factual so more for positioning.)

125423187-209950599-69989595-1658743120805.jpg

In our case the down mixing to stereo is done by the Apple TV as the LG at some point started to introduce all kind of noise into the audio or was outright unable to process the audio feed. What I understand from the link provided by @Gasp3621 above is that this can already lead to a reduced volume of the center channel and therefore voices. So upgrading to a AVR with my current speakers should in theory already improve the voices situation. Correct?

I was planning on putting the center speaker directly below the tv. But apparently it needs to be above it? (That will be a challenge because of the window.) So I need to angle it so it fires upward?
 
I'd let the avr to downmix instead rather the sources.
 
@rccarguy2, yes, I would do so too. Except that I don't have an AVR yet. The CXA-60 is an ordinary stereo amp. It cannot deal with 5.1.

Or do you mean to say "Only get an AVR, like the X3700H, and that will be enough."?
 

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