Which centre speaker?

[Smurfin]

The looong controversial thread on centre speakers has got me thinking...

Over the last few months I've upgraded my entire system (almost), all with the exception of my centre speaker, which is the classic 75c - now 5 years old.

My speaker set up is entirely mission, and generally I'm v v happy with it.

Mission 775e mains
Mission 773e rears
Mission 75c centre

I'm just wondering if it's time to finally upgrade the centre.

A couple of years ago I tried one huuuuge mother of a Boston centre, but it didn't match well and despite lots of tweaking, I found it overpowered the soundstage and sounded too bright (was using Wharfedales as my mains then).

If I did (and it's not burning me to upgrade atm, as generally I'm happy with it), does anyone have suggestions as to which speaker I should go for?

I would of course want a good quality centre, and as we all know...centres can make or break any system.

So, people with experience of my missions, any suggestions?

Cheers
Matt

 

[martin]

does anyone have suggestions as to which speaker I should go for?

I have a good recomendation , a speaker I have had for a while now and i still wont consider changing yet. I would think it will match in very well with your set up. Excellent quality and sound. B & W - C C 6

 

[Smurfin]

Got any pics and specs on it? Is it new or discontinued?

 

[Phil Hinton]

Matt,

Will this be going on top of the telly?

How far from the seating position will it be, and at what height.

Oh and the CC6 was a fine speaker in it's day (1995) but is no where near as good as plenty of others out there, the LCR6 for a start. More of that later.

Will you be upgrading all your front three, or just the center?

 

[martin]

Oh and the CC6 was a fine speaker in it's day (1995) but is no where near as good as plenty of others out there, the LCR6 for a start.

The LCR6 is all fine if you have the space for it (IT'S MASSIVE!). Where are you wanting to put the cenre speaker? The CC6 still kicks butt with alot of speakers on the market of relativly small budgets + you may be able to pick on up cheap. I hav'nt got any pics yet but i'm hoping to borrow a mates digi camera soon!

 

[Smurfin]

Phil

The layout is as follows:

Floorstander --- Sub ---Centre--- Sub --- Floorstander

I will try and get some pics of my system up this week, however it looks v v similar to your system (in your old photos)

There is no TV, just a projector screen behind it - the 775's are towering floorstanders, and the centre is basically mounted on an old speaker stand in the middle.

The centre actually sits just below the tweeters on my mains - about 6" below.

The front soundstage is 7' wide, the seating position is 9' back from this.

And I'll only be upgrading the centre, picked up the 775s cheap recently, and I'm very happy with them

 

[Phil Hinton]

MMMM.....bit of a difficult one this.

The CC6 as I have said is a fine speaker, but in your set up it would be the weakest link. With using the Foorstanders and the two Storms you got from me, the samll cabinet size of the CC6 won't be able to handle stuff as well as a larger volume unit.

I am not to good with the Mission Range as I have never owned any, but I do know the B&W, KEF, Boston range. You ideally want a large volume unit on a stand under the screen. Like I have said try the LCR 6, and some of the larger Centres out there. Be prepared to spend a bit of money £250 plus, but it will pay off in the end with a nice even sound stage.

Of course Three identical speakers accross the front would be better, but then that is maybe an upgrade path for the future.

Hope this helps.

 

[Smurfin]

Cheers Phil.

The 75c cost me £250 when I bought it, but it is quite a small enclosure....on the amp test tones it is COMPLETELY different to every other channel.

I know by a dedicated centre's nature that it WILL sound different, but I guess I'm saying that I want a "meatier" centre.

Another 775 in the centre would be ideal, however these speakers are huge mummas, and it won't be practical due to the height of the screen behind.

 

[Phil Hinton]

Matt,

My honest advice at this stage would be to say don't upgrade just yet then.

But when it comes to upgrade time, I would point you in the direction of three identical satalites (thx or M&K). With those two storms, the floorstanders will not be needed, but adding Sats will be ideal. It will give an even responce accross the front which adds greatly to the overall soundstage. That was one of the great things with my Boston THX LCRs, the huge sound across the front which was seamless in tone and level.
My next upgrade are three (poss 5) M&K sats and a New velodyne sub, so these will be the same accross the front.

So hang on till you tire of the florrstanders, or get that annoyed with the centre you have to upgrade, and go for three Sat accross the front next time. Those storms will kick ass!!

 

[petrobas]

Isn't the obvious choice a Mission 77c1

 

[Phil Hinton]

Originally posted by petrobas
Isn't the obvious choice a Mission 77c1

Might be worth a home demo

 

[petrobas]

I have Mission 774 fronts , Mission 773e rears & have just added the 77c1 centre , bloody marvellous.
All gel together superbly , I would certainly try it on demo.

 

[buns]

I'd tend towards holding my notes for now too. Unless your room is enormous, you probably dont need all that bass power! As fun as it may be!

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[Jasonjo]

If you like mission, you could also look as the Mission Cinema 8 range. (aka Mission 78 series)

I have the 782's with a 78C and 78DS's. Very nice as they also hold their own for DVD-A and Hi-Fi Music...;-)

JJ

 

[Nic Rhodes]

Originally posted by martin
I have a good recomendation , I would think it will match in very well with your set up. Excellent quality and sound. B & W - C C 6

Although the CC6 might be a decent speaker it will not be a good match for the missions here, I would also look to the mission ranges first, perhaps a 77c1. You can’t just pick good centre speakers and hope they work well with other speakers, especially missions.

 

[buns]

Originally posted by The Beekeeper
Although the CC6 might be a decent speaker it will not be a good match for the missions here, I would also look to the mission ranges first, perhaps a 77c1. You can’t just pick good centre speakers and hope they work well with other speakers, especially missions.

I would assume this to be true..... you are likely better of with a mission centre, even if reviews and such are not so good, simply because of the closer match of drive units and such.

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[Matt F]

You wouldn’t be trying to fix something that ain’t broken would you? After all, you did say you were generally v v happy with it.

The only other centre speaker I’d say you should consider is the 77c1 as that is part of the same series as your 775’s. If that doesn’t sound any better then stick with the 75c – it’s an oldish speaker but it’s still a damn good one IMO.

For the future I’d agree with THX 1138 and say you might be better off going for 5 (or 7 for EX/ES) quality satellites – with twin REL Storms you don’t really need floorstanders front (and rear) plus this would allow you to use identical speakers for the front soundstage.

By the way, with the twin Storms, do you set your front and rear speakers to small? If not, have you tried it? I say this because I just got my awesome Velodyne HGS15 and found (to my surprise it must be said) that my big KEF floorstanders (which can produce some pretty deep bass) sound better when set to small!

Matt.

 

[petrobas]

There is a Mission 77c up for auction on e-bay . not mine I might add , only being helpful.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1385184707

 

[petrobas]

Come to think of it there are a few on the Loot website.

 

[Dom H]

wanders into thread

In my opinion...

...ah fcuk it.


















p.s the cc6 isn't even in the same ballpark of clarity as a 602

runs away

 

Has a look at the thread to see if Don H has posted anything useful.............................goes back to what he was doing again.

 

[Dom H]

Has a look at the thread to see if Don H has posted anything useful.............................goes back to what he was doing again.

Zip it slappy

 

[Smurfin]

Well the thread was constructive before Dom butted in.....

Thanks for the info guys, I'll stick with my 75c for now methinks

 

[dunkyboy]

If you wanted something from the same 77 range, but a bit meatier than the 77C1, which is a bit on the weenie side, how about the 77C2? I'm sure such a thing existed at one time, though I don't know if it's still available... I think it was like a C1 but bigger.

Dunc

P.S. - Wahey, my 100th post!