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Timbre matching center to existing DIY speakers

344 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by MikeWhitis, Dec 23, 2005

MikeWhitis

Discussion Starter · Dec 23, 2005

I've got some older diy speakers that are currently pulling 2 channel duty in my downstairs family room/kids play room. I'd like to upgrade upgrade the room to 5 or 6 channels.

I'm really pleased with the speakers themselves, but the problem is that they're about 20 years old, so I doubt I'd be able to find matching drivers, nor necessarily timbre match them myself even if I could.

I know surrounds aren't as big of a deal, but I'm unsure what to do about the center.

Wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts or advice? Would you go with a phantom center? Pick a commercial one at random? Try to find out what the drivers are and match them somehow?

Thanks,

Mike

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F107plus5

· #2 · Dec 23, 2005

Hey, you're in luck! One of the formost speaker driver clone manufacturers in the business is right down the road from you!

I believe that one of their main reasons for being is the reproduction of older out of production drivers for guitar amps and other applications.

Maybe the folks from Eminence, in Eminence, Ky. can give you some clues if you decided to try to match a center!

Could be fun!! And at the very least, you could probably get a factory tour!

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Thomas Willard

· #3 · Dec 23, 2005

Exact timbre matching is not too critical (depends on your ears), but if the existing left and right channel speakers are full range, you might want to select a center with decent size woofers. The Ascend 340C SE comes to mind with dual 6.5 inch woofers.

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quadriverfalls

· #4 · Dec 23, 2005

Quote:

Try to find out what the drivers are and match them somehow?

Those drivers most likely have SOME form of identification on them. Brand, model number and the like. Take them out and see. If there is, you could maybe do some research or if they're from an existing MFG., you could email their tech services department and see if they could recommend a suitable replacement or complimentary drivers from existing inventory.

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MikeWhitis

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 23, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by quadriverfalls
Those drivers most likely have SOME form of identification on them. Brand, model number and the like. Take them out and see. If there is, you could maybe do some research or if they're from an existing MFG., you could email their tech services department and see if they could recommend a suitable replacement or complimentary drivers from existing inventory.

You know, I've been meaning to pull the drivers for a while to see what they were, so, prompted by John's message, I finally took the 10 minutes to do it... glad I put that off for so long...

Anyway, turns out they're 70s KEF drivers (SP1032 tweeter and SP1033 woofer). Googling around a bit, pretty much confirmed that I'm not tone deaf, and they are, indeed, pretty nice sounding (if a bit inefficient, which is also something I've noticed).

So, now that I've got that narrowed down, I think I'll drop Kef customer service an email and see if they've got any center suggestions.

Thanks for everyone's advice,

Mike

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