Center Channel for Sony MB150Hs

[blackknight]

Hi, I'm new to the forums and have not ever built speakers from scratch before. I have an ear for good sound, but without the budget to afford the best. I had worked at Best Buy in the Home Theater section and know a good amount, but probably not near as much as most of the people on these forums about speaker placement and design. Anyways, my topic is simple, I need a center channel. Currently, I have a room that is about 12x12; I have a pair of Sony SSMB150H's in the front corners on wall mounts and a pair of Infinity Efficiency Standard Series ES100's as my rears. The Sony's sound awsome for such small bookshelfs and I'm sure that when my Infinity's had their Passive Radiators in them, they sounded good too, but the surrounds on the foamboard (cheap radiators I guess) rotted out and I don't remember what I did with them, so in place of them I put some foam pad cut to fit the 10" wholes.

Okay, now for the fun part. Without worrying about my rear speakers, I want to get my fronts to sound pretty good for hopefully under a 100 bucks. My TV sits right directly in the middle of my front speakers and is kinda high up so I'm not sure about a vertically aligned CC for fear of it falling over (I live in an apartment, and you know how parties can be). I would love to build my own, but only have a small understanding of electronics. I do have lots of sauldering experience though, it's the calculations that I don't quite understand.

This center will probably used mostly with movies and I watch a lot so it's a pretty important part of my system (the main reason I'm posting on this forum; otherwise I would have just bought some piece of crap KLH center or something). I also listen to music constantly using Dolby ProLogic II - Music setting, though I doubt the Center gets used much for that. Also, I'm using a Yamaha 5540 Dolby Digtal/DTS Receiver. I'm open to just about any suggestions except for buying a cheap a$$ center from Circuit City or something.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

[Chris8sirhC]

I cant claim to be a diy speaker expert yet, but I am pretty sure you wont ever be getting any suggestions to buy something from best buy or circuit city from this forum... The center channel my younger brother is currently building is a .8 cu ft box with 4 of these http://www.creativesound.ca/details.php?model=W3871S in a close square configuration in the center. I'm sure there are lots of better center channels you could build, but thats a simple way to start (8 ohms, no x-over to make)

[JOE DIRT®]

Paul....your persuit on a centre channel speaker is viable and there are many low cost drivers out there....but then you have to remember that your gonna be into some money for wood/fasteners/etc..so if this is a one off deal...go buy a decent speaker....but if this will be a on going thing (DIY)...then down the road you will save money on future projects because you will have the basic resources.....you just need a place to store your parts like all of us other phreaks

DIRT®

[Chris8sirhC]

Good point, I guess i sometimes forget that everybody doesnt have a full wood shop in his or her garage and a dad thats been making furniture etc as a hobby since he was in highschool.....

[blackknight]

I thank you guys for your concern about woodworking supplies, except my dad loves to make furniture and has almost every type of saw or sander I can think of, not to mention I love to work on my car, so I've got almost every tool I need. The only thing I really need are wood for the cabinet, glue, drivers, tweeters and the stuff needed to make the crossover. I also already have tons of resistors from my ongoing electronics projects that I do, so that shouldn't be an issue, I just need to know which one's I need.

Now, just to let you know, I am not planning on this as being my only speaker project. I will soon be needing to build a subwoofer, though I was highly contemplating buying a used JBL PB12 with a dead amp and installing a new one for PE or something. Basically, I just need something to tide me over for a while and fill the center of my movies, and if I get tired of the sound of that, I will take on another project later down the line.

I have a pretty good source to find MDF and can sometimes get it for free, and glue I should have plenty of, including silicone sealant. The other issue is not so much the building part, it's the electronics equations that I need help with. These include the parameters for box dimensions and crossover networks. Fortunately I know the differences between a tweeter, midrange, and woofer, and to some degree know where each should be cut off, but designing for a particular sized room or matching it to my current front speakers is the challenge I'm confronted with.

Again, thanks for your help guys.

Paul

[blackknight]

I hope I don't sound rude or anything, but I'm still wondering if anyone can help me out. Thanks.

[Timn8ter]

Originally posted by blackknight
I hope I don't sound rude or anything, but I'm still wondering if anyone can help me out. Thanks.

Well you sure ticked me off! (kidding)

There's many options for building center channels. Perhaps you want to be thinking down the road a bit. Are you planning on keeping the Sony's or replacing them? A center channel should be closely matched in tonality to the mains, otherwise it's going to draw a lot of attention to itself. Ideally, another Sony 150H. If you're replacing the Sony's then build the matching center for your future mains. It might sound weird for a while but eventually it'll be great.

[blackknight]

well, I just recently purchased the Sony 150's and I really like their sound. They have a frequency response of 80hz-50khz at 87db. I've just been on Ebay though and I have found some of the Sony 350's for a pretty good price. They have the same 50khz, though they go down to 50Hz, and they are at 88db. So, most likely I will be keeping the Sony's, but possibly getting the new 350s which are the same series and almost identical, except with a larger woofer and a 3 1/2 midrange. Same tweeter though. Anyways, should I just go buy the Sony CN550H center channel that is supposedly matched to them; should I go buy another set of 150s and build a new box using the woofers and tweeter out of them; or should I just start with a new design and woofers and tweeter that are close to the one's I have? I'm probably going to be adding a JBL PB12 for the low end as well. Thanks for the advice guys.

[dooper]

I think this is on topic. My main L and R speakers are Tannoy PBM-8 nearfield monitors from the late '80's. I'd like to find a matching speaker for center channel, but these Tannoys were discontinued years ago, and so I think I'll have to try to come as close as I can using a homebrew design. To that end...

Would anyone happen to know what the HF component in these speakers might be? Seems to me that they might be Vifas - they appear to be 1" (?) soft domes - anyone know what model?

TIA,

dooper

[blackknight]

Ok, so I ended up buying another set of Sony 150Hs cause I got them on Ebay for cheap and I have two options: 1) to disassemble them and use the drivers and tweeter to make a center channel, or to use those as my new surround speakers and keep looking for a new center idea. Let me know what you guys think. Later.

Paul