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Best speakers for home theater/voice clarity?

I presently have a Von Schweikert VR4/Gen II- the bass is superb, but the voice intelligebility is very poor. I even bought a pair of ribbon supertweeters from VS, to no avail. I am considering the B&W 802D, the Martinlogan SummitX, and the Magnepan 3.6 or 20.1. Also the Salk HT3 if I ever get a chance to hear them.

My room is 14x18'. For home theater, the most important feature is voice clarity, 2nd is bass depth and clarity, and 3rd is dynamics.

Any comments on the above, or other suggestions would be very much appreciated.
tvjunkie20
tvjunkie20 OP
4 posts
 
I have digital outputs from both my Sony PS3(Playstaion) and my Directv DVR. I am running 5.1 in phantom mode. I can't say that the clarity differs from one source to the other. I frequently notice that the vocals are buried in the "background" effects, but I attributed that to the mix. Also, live tv vocals (such as newscasts) are always clearer than movies.

I do not have a center channel speaker because it would be either to high or to low in front of my 72" RPTV.
sthomas12321
408 posts
 
For just voice clarity alone, Id choose the Magnepans. Spooky real. Easily the cleanest voices Ive ever heard. Just listen to a diana krall cd with them, incredible! For bass, get a sub. Nothing beats a good properly set up sub(better yet 2 or 4. Magnepans have better dynamics then some will have you believe. If you want loud, I would not go with the Magnepans. They can get loud(not very loud), but you have to drive them hard, and cross them over in my opinion.
martykl
3,578 posts
 
Personally, the first thing I'd try is increasing the level of the center channel. So many dvd/br these days are mixed with the effects and backgroung noise at distractingly high levels, making the dialog difficult to follow - regardless of the speaker.

Just one more idea.

Marty
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Speech inteligibility is maximized by limited and contoured frequency response, which, of course, is not good for music. Unless the speech is localized in one channel (center) you are between a rock and a hard place.
speavler
32 posts
 
the VR4 gen II's are exceptional speakers. Hearing these about 14 years ago driven by bi-amped brystons and naim front end is something i still remember clearly to this day. it was a religious experience. phantom mode is a no-go. pick up a VS center channel - there are still new ones to be had.
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