Frequency range of the human voice & full range center channel speakers

[RobHance]

With Dolby Digital the center is full range not just voices like on the original Prologic. You will be missing content by running a center that only produces up to 1k or 3k Hz.

Also, even with ProLogic IIx you should be able to tell your receiver that you don't have a center channel and it will produce a phantom center with the front L&R speakers. You should hear dialog just fine.

I have been running 4.1 for several years and I like the way it sounds. I am building a center soon to see if will improve anyting in my setup.

 

[Wavebourn]

If surround sound is a poor man's stereo, what's the point of making it expensive?

 

[Robh3606]

Hello Planet 10

'IMO the best centre is no centre... proper seating placement and good LR that image with a virtual centre is my preference, (and my preferred LRs are FR)"

I would have to disagree with that. If a center is poorly implemented it will sound bad. If done properly an HT/5.1 music set up can sound quite good.

I don't have an issue with full rangers. I just don't see them as a good option in that application. There are too many compromises working against you. Especially using a driver with that sensitivity power handling and frequency response.

Rob

 

[catapult]

I state this as people with age-related hearing loss always report difficulty understanding speech especially females and young children. Studies show that hearing loss from 4000Hz and up causes great difficulty differentiating words that sound similar, for example: Hit Sit Fit.

Yup. The harmonics of vowels let us tell the difference between O and I. But some of the consonants are much higher, say F and S, and that's where the real problems with understanding speech come in.

 

[Svante]

Yup. The harmonics of vowels let us tell the difference between O and I. But some of the consonants are much higher, say F and S, and that's where the real problems with understanding speech come in.

True, OTOH a regular phone line is limited to 3500 Hz, but this does not usually limit the understanding. The language is so redundant that we understand anyway, without being able to differentiate between f and s.

Of course in the case of a home theatre, one would also be interested in the naturalness of the sound, so then at least 10 kHz bandwidth would be required to cover the fricatives.

 

[catapult]

True, OTOH a regular phone line is limited to 3500 Hz, but this does not usually limit the understanding. The language is so redundant that we understand anyway, without being able to differentiate between f and s.

Of course in the case of a home theatre, one would also be interested in the naturalness of the sound, so then at least 10 kHz bandwidth would be required to cover the fricatives.

Tonight, I've had a great example. I've been watching a 1937 Cary Grant movie on TNT (US cable TV channel). I can mostly understand the dialog but I have to concentrate a bit. When I zero in on the S's, they are almost inaudible, and I think that's causing part of the difficulty in understanding what they are saying.

Edit: still watching. The S's are there but the HF part is gone and they just don't sound real. You can hear most men's S's but some of the women's S's are totally inaudible. Bottom line, I'm having to strain to understand what they are saying. It's a pretty good lesson in how old people hear.

 

[myhrrhleine]

Telephones do 300~3k for voice.
PA systems look at 500~5k for articulation of consonants,
so, i like 300~5k for midrange.

 

[jwmbro]

Hello, how about using a single coaxial driver-pair for the center channel - this would eliminate all lobing effects right? all the while keeping the driver hight fairly low.

 

[Robh3606]

"Hello, how about using a single coaxial driver-pair for the center channel "

I use a single coax driver and it works great. If you go to a coax you won't need a pair.

Rob

 

[LineSource]

I also favor a coaxial for the center channel. I use a 12" or 15" because I believe the beaming from the large diameter helps lock the voice to the screen.

A DiY coaxial can work well. I built a Lambda TD15M + SEAS Millennium tweeter crossed LR4 at 1200 Hz by cutting off the tweeter baffle and using two rods to hold the tweeter in the center of the woofer's cone.

 

[jwmbro]

Hello,
by pair I meant the large and the small driver, not two sets of coax.

Wouldn't coax make the vertical dispersion go crazy though, and cause ceiling and floor reflections?

 

[Robh3606]

"Wouldn't coax make the vertical dispersion go crazy though, and cause ceiling and floor reflections?"

It shouldn't and in some cases the dispersion is the same at any angle. Depends on the driver. Many have the tweeter driving a horn or waveguide that determines what the directivity is. The center I am using has a horn that limits the vertical dispersion. You need to look at the coax drivers you would want to use to see how they are set-up.

Rob