[czuponcic]

I have an upstairs room pre-wired for 5.1 that I am planning to make into an entertainment room for my family. It is currently an audiophile room. The speakers currently in the room are AMRIT-Towers (they sound great - at least to my ears) and are 12 years old. I was hoping to retain these speakers as my L/R fronts and augment them with a good center channel speaker. Some of the specs for the AMRITS are:

- Tweeter: 1" Metal Dome

- Mid-Range: 6-1/2" acouostic suspension

- Woofers: Dual 10", bass reflex, compounded

- Port tuned to 26 Hz

- Frequency Response: 23 Hz to 20 kHz

- Impedance: 7 Ohms (Minimum 4 Ohms)

- Crossover: 6dB per Octave

- Crossover Points: 4,500kHz and 240 Hz


My questions are:

1. Almost everything I've read on the forum seems to indicate that the left, center, and right speakers should all be from the same manufacturer - due to crossover points etc, and things I simply am not knowledgeable to understand. Is this true?

2. Some of the pretty good center channel speakers I was researching were the Aerial Acousics CC3B, the Von Schweikert LCR-15, and the Vandersteen VCC-5 (among others). Some of their statements seemed to lead me to believe that these speakers could be used positively with other companies L/R speakers. Is this true?

3. If trying to find a center channel speaker that is compatible with the AMRIT-Tower speakers, what do I need to look for within that speakers specifications?

4. If I'm simply barking up a hopeless tree, what L/C/R speakers would you recomment under $7,000.


To any who respond, I thank you very much for your time and input. I found this forum a couple of weeks ago and I've been simply overwhelmed by the depth of knowledge of the forum members and how little I know about anything.

 

[quadriverfalls]

I'm not familiar with your speakers at all. But, the "voice matching" issue is definitely important for HT applications. Even if you found a CC that was close in sonic characteristics (probably very hard to do), You would still have some panning problems.


For example.... VOICES.... as someone moved left or right out of the screen shot, the different speakers would reproduce the sound of the voices differently. SOUND EFFECTS panning across the front sound stage.... I used this example in another thread the other day, but it holds true all the same.... consider a Shelby Cobra racing across your screen.... only it sounds like a '97 YUGO through the center or R/L front channels, but a true throaty roaring Cobra in the other channels. That type of thing is VERY distracting IMHO.


With that being said.... Even dedicated CC's are sometimes not a perfect timbre match. But, if made by the same manufacturer, using the same or similar sized and type of drivers.... it is at least very close and WAY less noticable.


Reading a speakers specifications are all well and good. But you don't listen to specs. And frankly, other than maybe extension.... they don't say squat about how they sound. You are just going to have to try different ones and find one that comes as close as possible and/or pleases you with how it integrates with your L/R mains.


As far as recommendations.... I could tell you what I've heard and like.... but that isn't going to do a whole lot of good. You REALLY do need to do some actual auditioning and determine what sounds good to YOU. The brands you already mentioned are VERY well respected as are B & W, Dynaudio, Paradigm, PSB, Boston Acoustics, NHT, Kef, Klipsch, RBH, Revel, Silverline and Vandersteen to name only a few. Some of the ID brands that are popular are Ascend, Aperion, Axiom, AV123 and HTD.


With the kind of $$$ you are talking, you should be able to put together a killer sound system for your HT. Just take your time and listen, listen and then listen some more. You will be happy you did.


Good luck in your search!

 

[czuponcic]

Thanks for your response. You have officially put me over the edge and I am now proceeding for a L/C/R solution from the same manufacturer. Though I wanted to incorporate those towers, I now see the dilemma. Thanksagain

 

[moovtune]

Quadriverfalls answered your question beautifully. But keep in mind the same timbre matching is also important with the surround speakers, for things that pan front to back and for ambience effects that try to place you in a location. For those films where care was taken by the effects editors to place you in an environment, matching speaker timbre all around is important for the correct effect.

 

[TurboFC3S]

I'm interested in those speakers. I googled and came up with nothing ... could you post a picture?


But yes, best chance is to start from scratch and delegate these "AMRIT" speakers for den or office duty as a 2 channel setup.

 

[davidpa]

But you are on the right track w/the aerial CCB3, definitely keep that line on your "to audition" list.

I became a huge fan of Aerial Products af few years ago, and havent turned back since, except to see where the [email protected] all my money went!

 

[davidpa]

What'd you do?

 

[davidpa]

if anything yet