Non-compromised center channels

Let's talk about center channels that are not compromised in their design, that is, free from the usual lobing\\wave interference issues that plague most center speakers on the market.

Let me quote from another post:

"Center-channel speakers, although designed to serve that function, are, in reality, an accomodation for people that need a horizontally-oriented speaker to "fit" in their center location. Most people can't place a vertically-oriented tower or even a bookshelf in the center; hence the need for "center-channel speakers".

But a vertically-oriented speaker actually disperses sound horizontally, into the room, much better than a horizontally-oriented speaker, which disperses sound vertically, toward the floor and ceiling, providing a very narrow "sweet spot" and producing unwanted reflections off the floor and ceiling. That's why most "normal" stereo speaker pairs are, and have always been, vertically-oriented; they disperse sound best, horizontally. You also want your center speaker to disperse sound best, horizontally, with a wide "sweet spot", so that everyone in the room can hear it well.

Additionally, horizontal MTM speakers (midwoofer-tweeter-midwoofer; the design that the majority of horizontal center channel speakers exhibit) suffer from something called "lobing", which is, basically, an interference phenomenon caused by adjacent placement of two identical drivers that are producing acoustically identical output. The result of lobing, with respect to the horizontal mid-woofer to mid-woofer arrangement and distance encountered in most MTM center channels, is a dip in horizontal, off-axis midrange frequency response. Since most dialogue relies heavily upon midrange frequencies for reproduction of human voices, a midrange dip is exactly what you don't want from a center-channel speaker.

There ARE designs that attempt to alleviate the problems associated with horizontal center channel speakers; both the dispersion issue and the lobing issue.

Horizontal MTMs are usually designed with a lower crossover point between the midwoofers and tweeter, so that the single tweeter produces some of the midrange content that would normally be cancelled due to lobing. Sometimes an offset tweeter design is used which allows for closer spacing of the 2 midwoofers, which helps reduce the lobing effect. Another common method used in horizontal center speakers to reduce lobing is to simply add a midrange driver, arranged vertically with a tweeter, both located between the two midwoofers; the so-called WTMW design. There are also some asymmetric 2.5-way crossover designs where both midwoofers operate at the lowest frequencies, but only one midwoofer operates through the critical midrange frequencies. But none of these designs eliminates the vertical dispersion issues inherent to horizontal speakers.

Another design, and perhaps the best, is the coincidental array design, where the tweeter is located in the center of a single midwoofer. This design, with only a single midwoofer, completely eliminates the lobing issue. But even the horizontal coincidental array designs do not disperse sound as ideally as a vertically-oriented coincidental array speaker would.

So, the horizontal center-channel speaker, no matter the design, is not ideal. It is a compromise. Many people incorrectly assume that the best choice for their center speaker must be the speaker that the manufacturer of their speakers markets specifically as a "center channel speaker". But the best center channel speaker would be a single, vertically-oriented tower, bookshelf, or LCR (vertical MTM) that identically matches your front left and right speakers."

For further info on why most centers are inherently flawed, see this article:
http://www.audioholics.com/education...peaker-designs

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So what I'm looking for are center channels that have been designed well enough to minimize or even eliminate these problems.

Please chime in!

Here's an interesting design:
http://www.amazon.com/KEF-iQ2C-Chann...028445&sr=1-17


I wonder how this speaker sounds. I hear mixed opinions on coaxial speaker designs.

So Kal, based on what we know about center channel design problems, wouldn't you get a better result by simply buying a tower or bookshelf with no redundant drivers, and turning it sideways?

For example, take this speaker:
Pioneer S-HF41-LR


Or this one:
Sony SS-B3000


Both of these large bookshelves feature a WMT design. The only redudancy is where the frequencies overlap (where one driver crosses over to the next one). So you'd think there's less potential for wave interference compared to a typical MTM center design.

So, all other things being equal, wouldn't either of these speakers (turned sideways) work better as a center channel than a horizontal MTM?