A Pair of Center Channels?


A co-worker of mine currently has a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 10.something speakers that he really enjoys. He has them sitting high on a bookshelf and almost never sits down to listen. His wife suggested that he get some additional speakers so the he could have some in his kitchen so he's trying to see what his options are.

His book shelves are not very tall or deep and when comparing the Wharfedale Diamond 10.2 and the 10 CM (center channel) it appears that the cabinet sizes are fairly similar considering the CM has two bass drives. The spec downside is that the center is only rated for a nominal low of 55Hz vs 40Hz on the 10.2. Is there really that much difference? I was thinking that he could get more quality sound out of a center design that might be an interesting solution to his space constraints while maintaining a speaker that we know he enjoys.

Any thoughts?
mceljo

Showing 2 responses by realremo

another interesting thing about center channel speakers is
all of them are magnetically shielded for close placement to
a television, so you're paying extra for that if you are
using them for two-channel listening. I ruined a tube set
by placing non-shielded speakers too close to it; have no
idea what non-shielded speakers would do to a flat screen,
maybe nothing, it is different tech.
Center channel speakers are meant to be placed right next to
the monitor, so the human voices that it is optimized to
reproduce seem like they are coming from the TV. They are
not designed as full-frequency-response loudspeakers.
Most center channel speakers have a mid-tweeter-mid design,
which would put the tweeter a little low when the speaker is
placed vertically on a typical stand.
That said, lots of floor-standing speakers feature this
configuration, called "D'Appolito" or MTM, but
these speakers desire a specific type of crossover, which
probably is not present in a typical center channel speaker.
Wharfedale 9.1 is a much loved, classic bookshelf, gets mucho respect on these forums. They are pretty hard to find. I auditioned the Wharfedale 10 series floorstanders at a local brick-and-mortar, and was underwhelmed. Of course he had the Quad 22L2s in the same room, so that wasn't fair, and I wound up buying the Quads eventually (used on A'gon). I have a long-time audiophile friend from college who owns the Wharfedale 10.2s, and he enjoys them very much.
I used the B&W 685 bookshelfs in two-channel for a couple of years and I was pretty happy. Needed a sub, tho. The B&Ws are going to have a warmer mid-range, I think the Wharfedales are a bit more neutral.
Haven't heard Epos.