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Anchoring the Center Channel Audio vertically to the center of the Screen

post #1 of 8
2/15/13 at 8:05pm
Thread Starter 
When I finally got my HT setup going I soon realized that I actually need a perforated screen to get the center channel behind the screen. My center channel speaker is already as close as it can get to the bottom of the drop down 100 inch screen. Since a perforated screen is out of my budget range, I started to play with the idea (in my mind) of mounting another center channel speaker immediately above the screen on the center in the hope to "move" the sound to the center of the screen. However, this will introduce a few other technical problems such that it will require a separate amplifier to drive the two speakers in phase and that the driving electronics will now not match the L&R channels etc potentially introducing unwanted effects etc..

Has anyone tried this in real life?
Edited by RamKat - 2/15/13 at 8:11pm
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post #2 of 8
2/16/13 at 5:43am
I have a center channel beneath my 92 inch screen and honestly can't tell it's beneath the screen.
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post #3 of 8
2/16/13 at 7:58am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ctviggen View Post

I have a center channel beneath my 92 inch screen and honestly can't tell it's beneath the screen.
Good to know. It could be my setup. I may have to play a bit by tilting the center channel slightly upwards towards ear level at the seating position. Maybe it is also something that my brain will compensate for as time goes by.
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post #4 of 8
2/16/13 at 1:38pm
I originally was thinking of doing something like what you're thinking of (that is, mounting the center channel near the ceiling, pointing downward toward the couch). I originally had an upward-facing stand made for the center channel, but this was pretty low. Even with that, I didn't notice where the sound was coming from once the movie started. I put the speaker on a movable stand (with wheels) that was higher but flat. I still don't notice where the sound is coming from.

This is a picture a few years ago with the original stand:



The new stand is slightly higher, and there's trim around the screen now. That's a sliding glass door behind the window shades, which are behind the center channel. The movable stand is so that I can slide the center channel out of the way.
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post #5 of 8
2/16/13 at 1:39pm
You may have made the problem of trying to localize the sound. if I don't do that, the sound is great.
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post #6 of 8
2/16/13 at 2:12pm
Thread Starter 
I think you are correct, I may be too critical of my setup. Sound wise the room is also still too bright an it still needs some wall treatment.
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post #7 of 8
2/16/13 at 2:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RamKat View Post

I started to play with the idea (in my mind) of mounting another center channel speaker immediately above the screen on the center in the hope to "move" the sound to the center of the screen. However, this will introduce a few other technical problems such that it will require a separate amplifier to drive the two speakers in phase and that the driving electronics will now not match the L&R channels etc potentially introducing unwanted effects etc..

Has anyone tried this in real life?
You don't want to bother with this. Driving two loudspeakers with the same signal causes interference between the two in-phase waveforms. The interference is will lead to frequency response irregularities (that would plot as a comb filter). link - read all the way to the endFurther, I think psychoacoustic studies show that it's very difficult to move an image vertically. The ventriloquist effect normally takes over and allows you to image the sound to the screen if it's reasonably close. Maybe there's something else in the way your center is set up that is drawing your attention to it? Make sure that it's as high as possible, and aimed at you; commonly the vertical off-axis response is pretty wild when compared to the more carefully designed on-axis (or even horizontal off-axis) response.
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post #8 of 8
2/18/13 at 6:07am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the response HopefulFred and the link to an informative discussion on the subject. Watched the first movie with the family last night - no complaints from them.
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