advice on first diy upgrade: Center vs Rear

[Burnincoils]

Posted same stuff in "everything else" with no results, thought i would have morr success in multi-way please bare with me:

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Hello guys,

i was wondering what should i upgrade first.

i have 2 8" inch Goldwood wooders, and 2 Morel dome tweeters. original thought was two rear speakers to replace my original Sony rears which are full range drivers with very low sensitiviy that can go down to only 90-95hz.

but i have also weak 2 way center speaker which are inferior compared to fronts (3 way towers 40hz) that came with this set. movie speach dialouge seems to be better with phantom mode(center speaker set to Off and speach coming in stereo)

the real question is should i make a center speaker instead, knowing that it is preferable that a center speaker should be matched to the fronts(i.e same as fronts)? or not bother, make rears for now and then when it come to make fronts i do them all the same setup(fronts and center matched).

i play games 70% of the time which has matrixed rear sound as the POV changes.

so i'm at a delimma

[DrDyna]

I'd always opt for a better center speaker over surround channel speakers. A significant portion of the information contained in a surround mix is for the center channel, some might even say the most important information.

[Burnincoils]

Ok thanks for the input.

How much effect would you think for making the center speaker response matched with the fronts response?

Am i over thinking it? I dont even have a dedicated room its a 5.1 system in basicly a 3x5 m room lol

[DrDyna]

Originally Posted by Burnincoils

Ok thanks for the input.

How much effect would you think for making the center speaker response matched with the fronts response?

Am i over thinking it? I dont even have a dedicated room its a 5.1 system in basicly a 3x5 m room lol

Response matched? meh. Most speakers are designed to be mostly flat anyway, if you have an opportunity to make / build a good center channel that meets or exceeds the performance of your mains, it would probably be great.

[RockLeeEV]

I would build a pair of new fronts first. Forget the center and surrounds for now

[Burnincoils]

Originally Posted by RockLeeEV

I would build a pair of new fronts first. Forget the center and surrounds for now

Oh i see, now the real hardcore stereo fans are here

It is a good idea and then i run into dialoge, construction skill for fronts and money issues... Not that patient for now

Originally Posted by DrDyna

Response matched? meh. Most speakers are designed to be mostly flat anyway, if you have an opportunity to make / build a good center channel that meets or exceeds the performance of your mains, it would probably be great.

Perhaps i made a point too early i dont think anyone could build a speaker to match anothers (exact) frequency response lol

Yes flat is the baseline that evry speaker should look up too.

This is why it is importent to ask for advice thank you all

[Burnincoils]

I was going center until i added impedance for two driver per filter( 2 woofers per lpf, 2 tweeters per hpf)

Is 16 ohms that bad? (100 wats per ch.)

More learning curve definatley.

Edit: i guess it depends on the fronts sensitivity compared to the sum sensitivity of two series drivers of higher impedance.

[norman bates]

I'd use the exact same speaker (in the center) as you do for the fronts.
I know it is a pain, but it sounds the best.

Then again, when the rears are the same as the fronts, the surround modes don't sound like they are coming out of a tin can.

So ideally you use the exact same speaker for all 5 speakers.

Norman

[Burnincoils]

Most elegant desciption of unmatched speaker i heard haha

Exactley how i hear the sound behind me as the pov changes in the game and the effect is behind me. "tin can"

Thank you, it is good to live in a perfect world dont you think?

[RockLeeEV]

Originally Posted by Burnincoils

Oh i see, now the real hardcore stereo fans are here

Not at all, in fact i'm big on subs and I plan to do line array surrounds one of these days.

I just think that if your stereo mains aren't right, the rest of the system could be the best ever and still be overall poor.

Perhaps i made a point too early i dont think anyone could build a speaker to match anothers (exact) frequency response lol

Voice matching a center takes.. voicing. The same frequency response might not do it. You need similar overall frequency AND power response with similar freedom from resonance. If your center is voice matched to crappy mains, then you have your work cut out you making a sufficiently crappy center that also does voices well.... hence why I think building some nice mains should be your starting point. Maybe the ZA5.5tt kit from Madisound.