Subject: Center Speaker Recommendations for Main Horn Speakers

[ajant]

Troy Crowe is doing a custom build for me which will resemble these.

3D CAD files --- Horn No.1994 -- ES450 Biradial for JBL 2446 2" Throat

The horn achieves a 450Hz cutoff frequency (Fc). We recommend a crossover point in the 600Hz-800Hz region so that a standard 2nd order crossover slope can be achieved to match slopes with the low frequency driver's low pass function. Features 3D CAD files of upper and lower halves of horn...

josephcrowe.com

The question is that with the 3.1 system I want to build for DVD and BD movies, would I likely notice the main speakers playing much when watching movies, if indeed like ELAC, SVS and Definitive Technology say that ~ 70% of the movie soundtrack is intended for the center speaker? If yes, then with just music listening, since I don’t play any multichannel music, the center channel speaker won't even be playing with stereo and mono recordings.

So, will timbre matching between center and main speakers still be very important when watching movies? If yes, the trouble is that Troy Crowe gives no recommendations for a center speaker.

Therefore, how to find a center speaker that will blend best with that ES450 horn and Fostex T900A bullet tweeter?

 

[DonH50]

Troy Crowe is doing a custom build for me which will resemble these.

https://josephcrowe.com/products/speaker-system-no-2015-10-mtm-with-1-4-horn

The question is that with the 3.1 system I want to build for DVD and BD movies, would I likely notice the main speakers playing much when watching movies, if indeed like ELAC, SVS and Definitive Technology say that ~ 70% of the movie soundtrack is intended for the center speaker? If yes, then with just music listening, since I don’t play any multichannel music, the center channel speaker won't even be playing with stereo and mono recordings.

So, will timbre matching between center and main speakers still be very important when watching movies? If yes, the trouble is that Troy Crowe gives no recommendations for a center speaker.

Therefore, how to find a center speaker that will blend best with that ES450 horn and Fostex T900A bullet tweeter?

The link you provided shows a center using the same components and layout as the L/R speakers. Why not ask Troy to just build you a center like that? That would be my first choice. It basically centers the MTM array in the cabinet using the same drivers, and perhaps rotates the horn (waveguide), for horizontal placement.

IME, center matching is not super critical since you are focused on the video, but having a large discrepancy (mismatch) between sides and centers can be distracting (at least it was for me). My Maggies sounded better with a Maggie center, for example, though the conventional speakers I had in place before getting them set up worked OK for me with several different (conventional) centers. I ended up getting a Magnepan center after living with a conventional center and Magnepan L/R speakers for a while. My current (conventional) system uses the center speaker recommended to go with my L/R speakers. My gut says you would be better served having a horn-based center given you have horns in the L/R mains. With few exceptions, horns tend to sound different to me than conventional cone or planar systems. I feel I'm in good company; Paul Klipsch designed the Heresy as a center between Klipschorns back when he was pushing for three-channel playback systems instead of stereo.