Reconfigure large tower speaker as a horizontal center speaker?

[surfmail]

Hey team - I am a newbie....have what I think is a basic speaker design question, but not sure:

I have some very large tower speakers as L/R in my home theater setup (Boston Acoustics VR3s). I have a third tower, but not able to use it as the center channel speaker vertically due to room configuration.

Can I reuse the entire speaker, components and crossover, (i.e. leave the dimensions of the speaker exactly the same), but re-build the front baffle to allow me to lay the speaker on its side, but center the midrange driver and rotate & center the tweeter? Or is this going to dramatically change the sound of the speaker?

I have strong woodworking skills and engineering background (mechanical), so the implementation is not concerning, just the design itself.

Any one with knowledge in this area, please let me know....

Thanks!

 

[planet10]

Sure it can be done. Most important keep the verticlorientation of mid+tweeter. There might also be issues getting the bass alignment right, as an ML-TL, vent and woofer placement in the line play a role. Different orientation of the drivers might affect he XO as well.

dave

 

[surfmail]

dave - thanks, so if I understand you, then I should orient the mid and tweeter vertically and keep the original spacing like this:

There is a rear port on these, can I just leave that as-is? Its roughly centered on the cabinet.

I would rather not modify the crossover if at all possible. Will likely replace the caps while the cabinet is apart, but like for like to keep things simple.
Thanks again!

 

[planet10]

Yes.

The relation between the midpoint of the 2 woofers and the vent wrt the height of the box directly affects bass response.

dave

 

[surfmail]

Just clarifying that I understand what you are saying: if the port is centered between the two woofers originally, then I center the woofers at same distance on either side of the port, that is the target? (or if the center point of the two woofers is not aligned with the port originally, I should maintain the same offset for the woofers center-to-center point vs the port that is in the original design.) Do I have it correct?

Dane

Port appears to be centered between the woofers, but not quite centered on the box

 

[planet10]

If you do not want to change the bass alignment the arrangement of drivers and port in relation to the height (width) of the box maintain those same distances.

There may be enuff room to put the mid&T between the woofers. If you push them closer to the ends to get room, as long as you change the distances of the woofers such that their centre point remains the same.

dave

 

[surfmail]

Thanks....appreciate your help! Holiday project planned.

Dane

 

[Andersonix]

Have you thought about making the new center a smaller 2-way instead using that mid and tweeter?

Also, have you checked ebay for a matching center speaker? Prices on center speakers are rock bottom, so it might not be worth chopping up a tower to make a center....

 

[surfmail]

Andersonix - Yes, thanks....I may end up doing that, but haven't had good luck with the matching. I have a VR-12 center (also Boston Acoustics) that didn't match well with my previous VR-975's, but I will try before "getting out my saw" 😉!