Topic: Center Speakers for New Home Theater

[Vince_H12]

I will be building a dedicated HT in our house of around 8x9 meters. Since center speaker is considered the most important part of home theater set up this will be my main priority. And from there I will be choosing the matching floorstanders and surrounds speakers. I will go the 5.1 set up and will be getting the Onkyo TX-NR5008 receiver. For a budget of around 60K, what center speaker would perform well? I think the bigger the better right? 
I'm curious about the RTi A9 but it's matching center, the CSi A6, is quite small. I'm actually looking into the likes of Paradigm Reference Studio CC-690. I will be using this mainly for home theater as I have a separate audio set up.
Thanks Pinoydvd!

[streetsmart]

In my experience, even if the center speaker is very important, you cannot decide on the center without considering all the other speakers. At the minimum, you can’t really audition a center speaker without listening to the fronts at the same time. Those 3 speakers act in unison. 

I don’t want to suggest a particular speaker because I don’t know your total budget but I’d say that one of your biggest concerns will be power. The room is huge (72 square meters) so you will want to get highly efficient speakers. Probably 92 db or higher sensitivity.

Related to this, given the size of your room, you almost surely need more than a 5.1 system. I would suggest a 9.1 system with Audyssey DSX Wide and Height speakers (which the Onkyo 5008 supports). You can forego the Surround Back speakers.

[Vince_H12]

In my experience, even if the center speaker is very important, you cannot decide on the center without considering all the other speakers. At the minimum, you can’t really audition a center speaker without listening to the fronts at the same time. Those 3 speakers act in unison. 

I don’t want to suggest a particular speaker because I don’t know your total budget but I’d say that one of your biggest concerns will be power. The room is huge (72 square meters) so you will want to get highly efficient speakers. Probably 92 db or higher sensitivity.

Related to this, given the size of your room, you almost surely need more than a 5.1 system. I would suggest a 9.1 system with Audyssey DSX Wide and Height speakers (which the Onkyo 5008 supports). You can forego the Surround Back speakers.

Thank you sir streetsmart.
Actually my breakdown budget for the speakers are as follows:
Fronts L/R = 120K for floorstanders
Center = 65K
Rears = 40K

Maybe in the future I would add 4 more to have 9.1 
For now I just want the best my budget could afford for a 5.1 because I don't want to immediately go 9.1 then upgrade everything if I'm not satisfied.

[streetsmart]

Thank you sir streetsmart.
Actually my breakdown budget for the speakers are as follows:
Fronts L/R = 120K for floorstanders
Center = 65K
Rears = 40K

Maybe in the future I would add 4 more to have 9.1 
For now I just want the best my budget could afford for a 5.1 because I don't want to immediately go 9.1 then upgrade everything if I'm not satisfied.

I agree with your strategy of starting out with 5.1 and then adding more speakers in the future.

I'm sure a lot of people will suggest Klipsch or Paradigm speakers.

I would suggest a set of Focal Chorus 800 V speakers. A friend of mine has a 9.1 system in a 50 square meter room and it is pretty awesome.

You'd have to combine this with very good subs and probably the best value is SVS.

[Vince_H12]

I agree with your strategy of starting out with 5.1 and then adding more speakers in the future.

I'm sure a lot of people will suggest Klipsch or Paradigm speakers.

I would suggest a set of Focal Chorus 800 V speakers. A friend of mine has a 9.1 system in a 50 square meter room and it is pretty awesome.

You'd have to combine this with very good subs and probably the best value is SVS.

That's great to know sir. Thanks for the suggestion. Ok I will look into the Focals. I saw a store in Shangrila that sells them, I think it was infront of sights and sounds. Hopefully they the budget will fit kung magustuhan 

[Conan]

Klipsch RC-64 II Center Speaker (99db), SRP 44,299

http://www.klipsch.com/product/65527.75855.0.0.0/3689/_/RC-64_II_Center_Speaker

Klipsch RF-82 II Front Floorstanding Speaker (98db), SRP 48,299

http://www.klipsch.com/product/3684

Klipsch RS-62 II Rear Surround Speaker (97db), SRP 35,299

http://www.klipsch.com/product/1011856

May sukli ka pa!  Those prices are based on the original Reference line though the Reference II line only differs by a few hundred Pesos.

[bono vox]

I will be building a dedicated HT in our house of around 8x9 meters. Since center speaker is considered the most important part of home theater set up this will be my main priority. And from there I will be choosing the matching floorstanders and surrounds speakers. I will go the 5.1 set up and will be getting the Onkyo TX-NR5008 receiver. For a budget of around 60K, what center speaker would perform well? I think the bigger the better right? 
I'm curious about the RTi A9 but it's matching center, the CSi A6, is quite small. I'm actually looking into the likes of Paradigm Reference Studio CC-690. I will be using this mainly for home theater as I have a separate audio set up.
Thanks Pinoydvd!

ot... sir where will you getting your onkyo 5008 and how much? i've believe there's no stocks in toyama for this model.

[oReOsHaKe]

Better to get a Center speaker and Front speakers of the same series of a particular brand.. In that way, you be sure that the 3 speakers will match up.. You might want to audition speakers at the Architectural Audio in Greenbelt 5... 

[Onkyo606]

given this budget, id surely get my hands dipped on the SVS M series, this set surely deserves your time to listen to and Im sure Mike C would be more than willing to let you audition this.

to balance up everything, i came from a showroom of JBL in SM North annex and the JBL L studio series really is a head turner although im not sure if that will sound as nice if used with a different receiver, the one they are using is a higher model harman kardon. should be worth your time to audtion too.

[streetsmart]

Better to get a Center speaker and Front speakers of the same series of a particular brand.. In that way, you be sure that the 3 speakers will match up..

This is a given but ideally, not only the LCR speakers but all speakers should be of the same brand and series. Big beneficial effect on panning and imaging.

[oReOsHaKe]

This is a given but ideally, not only the LCR speakers but all speakers should be of the same brand and series. Big beneficial effect on panning and imaging.

I agree with this 100%..   

[avshop]

Check out the Jbl studio Lc2 and B&w cm centre 2

[ricky]

Check out the Jbl studio Lc2 and B&w cm centre 2

Lc2 very good for dialogues ESP if well powered, crisp and clean

[emman2008]

jbl lc2 maganda para center.

[Vince_H12]

Thanks so much for the great inputs and suggestions. Actually haven't decided yet what set to get but here's my shortlist in order of priority.

1. Focal Chorus 816 V; CC800 V; 806 V - if I could just stretch the budget a little more.
2. Paradigm Signature S6; C5; S1
3. JBL LS80; LS center; LS20
4. Klipsch RF 7 II, RC-64 II; RS-62 II

[Sanjay]

Why don't you also consider the Polk Audio CSi A6 or CS20 big center speakers?

[streetsmart]

Thanks so much for the great inputs and suggestions. Actually haven't decided yet what set to get but here's my shortlist in order of priority.

1. Focal Chorus 816 V; CC800 V; 806 V - if I could just stretch the budget a little more.
2. Paradigm Signature S6; C5; S1
3. JBL LS80; LS center; LS20
4. Klipsch RF 7 II, RC-64 II; RS-62 II

Good list. I'd suggest to make sure that the speakers you finally choose have high sensitivity (probably at least 92 db) because your room is 72 sq meters, which is pretty huge. Otherwise, you will waste a lot of money on huge power amps.

[avshop]

Thanks so much for the great inputs and suggestions. Actually haven't decided yet what set to get but here's my shortlist in order of priority.

1. Focal Chorus 816 V; CC800 V; 806 V - if I could just stretch the budget a little more.
2. Paradigm Signature S6; C5; S1
3. JBL LS80; LS center; LS20
4. Klipsch RF 7 II, RC-64 II; RS-62 II

Come by the shop to check out the Jbl ls80 and ls center.