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What is the Current Guidance on Stereo and AV Configurations

Hi,

I would really appreciate anyone's guidance and council on as to how you have your stereo and AV setups configured. I am particularly looking at the options from Primare as they seem to have a solution that can fit both use cases in a single system (SP25 Prisma + a35.8).

I have two primary questions:

  1. Knowing that perfection is never going to be achieved, can a single configuration be damned good enough for both use cases?
  2. How much of a difference does a center channel make for video?

 

My needs are best summed up as follows:

  • 80/20 use split (80 video (mostly streamed) and 20 music).
  • Currently running a NAIM integrated amp, paired with Vienna Acoustic speakers (simple, minimal and I like the sound, and the look, a lot).
  • My room space is open-plan, concrete floors and two walls of glass (yup -not exactly idea) and room treatment is going to be minimal. The two of us like the minimalist aesthetic.
  • IF the center channel makes enough difference I would like to flip between 2.0 (audio) and 3.0 (video) configurations.

 

Thank you.

kaizen28
rajugsw
246 posts
 

My my needs and my rig is both served well for 2.0, 5.1, & Dolby Atmos (5.4.4). My center channel is a Heresy IV. The L & R are Cornwall IV's. The surrounds are two stacked pairs of sealed box Bose 901's. In ceiling Speakers are two way 8" Klipsch's. 

L & R Amplification is Black Ice Audio F100 Monoblock's fed from an Onkyo PR-SC5530 A'V Preamp (2.0 channel always Pure Direct via the XLR inputs). 

Center & Surrounds powered by a custom "made by me" 3 channel Orchard Audio Ultra Amplifier. The height channels are powered by Emotiva BasX 4.0 Amp. DAC is PS Audio DirectStream Sr. DAC (MK1). Phono Preamp is PS Audio Stellar.

I always feel that one should follow the THX method regarding the CC Speaker. Either mounted vertically and the same model number as the L & R Speakers of least a bookshelf variant of the L & R Towers (if they aren't bookshelves anyways)

soix
11,237 posts
 

If you can both sit close to the sweet spot you might get away without a center speaker, but if anyone will be off center a center speaker is pretty much mandatory.  That aside, your biggest shortcoming for video/HT is not having a subwoofer, which will up the movie experience and involvement significantly.  

mikelavigne
2,258 posts
 

combo systems can work well and are real world solutions for sure.

personally i have two separate system in 2 different rooms. a dedicated 2 channel room and separate home theater with Dolby Atmos 9.3.6 speaker configuration. 

if you have questions about multi-channel speaker configuration here is the definitive guide for that from Trinnov, the experts.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qFpM5c9_n_0PU6EcW-J5qFvf4QDWqjg3/view

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