Center channel speaker which excels at dialogue

Kgveteran- can you elaborate a bit more on this subject? This is a question I would really like to understand, as I just don't see why a "normal" speaker can't be a good center- in particular as it offers the ability to exactly match the L and R speakers.

Center speakers should be identical to the left and right.It took me about three years to accept this advice and what a difference.Try it.

Prior to my current center-channel speaker (Hales Revelation Center) I was using an Infinity SM-Video made in the late '90's paired with Infinity SM65 studio monitors. It had dual 6.5" woofs which flanked a single 1" polycell tweet in a fairly big ported box. While certainly not as refined as the Hales, it definately delivered crystal-clear dialog. It's been discontinued but could probably be found used for well under $300(original retail was around $350). NHT has some nice offerings in your price range as well, but I don't know if either would match your current speakers in timbre, etc.

Unlike traditional upright speakers, many horizontal oriented center channel speakers suffer from moderate to severe off-axis lobing which will muddy up the midrange. That's one reason they have earned a bad reputation for poor dialog intelligability. The frequency response and tonal quality can really suffer in as little as 10 or 15 degrees off-axis with some speakers. The more advanced designs may utilize a midrange driver and/or crossover tweaks, etc. to help minimize the lobing. You may have to invest a little more than your budget to get to where you want to be..

Get a 4 or 5 inch dia. Helix coax car speaker (you may have to buy a pair, but so what? They only cost $120 per pair.) They sound far better than any of the usual small speakers you'll find in a typical upper-bracket Hi-Fi store. Put it in a little box with some fiberglas padding. I know that you've never heard of Helix - I just found the brand myself while looking for superb-sounding rear-channel speakers.

You can get them through "The Autophile" website. e-mail the distributor: he is very helpful.

Have to agree the Maggie center is the best I've heard for dialog regardless of price, you do have to raise your budget to probably around $450 to get a CC1.

You have some homework cut out for you. The first is decent and $300. You may have to raise the bar slighly as very few dedicated center channel speakers show up on AudiogoN. Ya gits whatcha pay fo' especially at the mid-price ranges, (diminishing returns factor in at the extreme high price end). Second is time and timbre matching, and don't kid yourself, it is a huge factor as the sum of your parts become greater than the whole as an integrated speaker array. Your last post mentioned the Maggies - extremely fast with with many timbral nuances that might not even mate well with an elecrostat like ML's (a guess - they may), but certainly not a dynamic speaker or a horn. Try reposting your question with your mains (and sub?) mentioned an see what kind of responses you get.

alan

If I had to choose a center channel speaker the first and best that comes to my mind is Magnepans.They are pricier than what you are asking for one,but you might find one at A-Gon used!

most center speakers are just main speakers turned on its side, the aerial cc3 center was 1 of the very few that was actually designed to be a center, I owned 1, after selling it, I went through several centers, aerial cc3b, aerial cc5, definitve, etc, I recently bought a used aerial cc3, and won't make the mistake of selling it again, the aerial may be a little more then your budget, but it is the best, good luck

See my post to your other thread. To repeat, the Spendor SC3 is a phenomenal center....

Obviously, all depends on your mains. List those so we all know what you are up against.
Dan