Tower Speaker as Center Channel?

[grimmace19]

This may be a stupid question... or one that has been asked in the past. Has anyone experimented with using a tower speaker as their center channel? My thoughts would be that if you turned a big tower on its side it wouldn't be any different (other than size) of what a regular center is like. Am I being an idiot or would it be something to consider if I wanted to upgrade from the cs1 I am running now? Wouldn't a monitor 60 on its side (though it wouldn't look as good) sound better than a cs2?

[Face]

Not a good idea, it's dispersion would be less than optimal.

[cnh]

That is an odd idea....not using a tower as a center but putting it on its side..the speaker is not designed for that! The tweeter is designed to be at ear height and timed to reach your ear in the upright position. If you wanted to use it as a center it should stand upright. That would be OK. And some people do use 3 tower speakers of the same kind as L/C/R and claim that is even better than having an actual dedicated center channel?

All I can tell you is that a CS2 will definitely be an improvement over the CS1...that's what I use in my HT along with some M70s, etc.

cnh

[coolsax]

really the only time you would want to use a tower as a center is if you were using a projector and screen. and place the center behind the screen, but the screen would have to be audio transparent so that the sound would not be muffled coming from behind the screen.

[cnh]

coolsax...

That is exactly the situation I am refering to...sorry I wasn't more specific...but then again, how else would you use a tower as a center....that said.

Many who have such a projection system swear by it.

cnh

[wutadumsn23]

All I can tell you is that a CS2 will definitely be an improvement over the CS1...that's what I use in my HT along with some M70s, etc.

cnh

Couldn't have said it better myself. If you want/need a new center that bad the CS2 is the way to go. Laying a tower on it's side would cause all kinds of listening problems, the tweeter would be in the wrong spot and as stated above a tower speaker isn't designed to be layed on it's side. Just noticed you are running Monitor 70's as your mains, that may be why you are not happy with your center, that CS1 must have a hard time keeping up with those 70's. Get yourself a CS2 and call it a day, lol.

-Jeff

[ben62670]

If the tower were standing vertical it wouls be fine, but on it's side would be a no no.

[comfortablycurt]

In an ideal situation, all of the speakers in a surround sound setup should be identical. Using three identical towers in a front soundstage, in particular, would have big benefits. As others have said though, laying it on it's side is a no-no.

If you've got the space for it, a 3rd Monitor 60 would be a much better choice than either a CS1 or CS2.

[wutadumsn23]

In an ideal situation, all of the speakers in a surround sound setup should be identical. Using three identical towers in a front soundstage, in particular, would have big benefits. As others have said though, laying it on it's side is a no-no.

If you've got the space for it, a 3rd Monitor 60 would be a much better choice than either a CS1 or CS2.

Very true Curt, but from the sounds of it he wants to lay it on its side. That would lead me to believe he doesn't have room to stand it upright.

[xcapri79]

If you have the room, I would say that three identical floor standing speakers up front is ideal for your sound stage.
I did that on different occasions using Monitor 60's and RTi8's with the TV mounted high.
It can work really well.

Typically, one doesn't have the room under the TV to do this, so a horizontal center channel is used.
In a smaller room, I found that the CS1 works fine with the Monitor 60's.
In a larger room, I would go with the CS2, but then I would also recommend using the Monitor 70's up front too.

[grimmace19]

Thanks for all the info... I was more thinking hypothetically rather than actually considering doing it. I wasn't aware of the sound issues that would occur if you flipped a speaker on it's side. The cs1 is fine for now especially because the cs2 wouldn't fit anywhere. Besides the tweeter being in the wrong spot, what else happens if you tip one over?

[bluecomet]

I was thinking like xcapri79, if you mounted a plasma higher on your wall and had a floorstander underneath it, then it should work out. I am looking at my RT800's and they would work under a flat screen plasma or LCD. I have seen people put tv's over there fireplaces at that height. It's an idea. I have some older high def. large tube XBR Sony tv's that I just lay across a CS400 or something similar so I could not experiment with your idea of a floorstanding center. Let us know how you make out with it.

[apphd]

Here is some reading from audioholics on CC which may be of interest. After reading it, picture a 2 or 3 way tower laid on its side and it may be easier to "see" the draw backs.

Link (http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/vertical-vs-horizontal-speaker-designs)

[dcmartinpc]

I ran a tower as my center channel YEARS ago with a transparent screen. It wasn't bad, but when I upgraded to a REAL center channel, I was much happier. This was just my experience, but I found the vocal dialogue and effects to be much more defined, though that could have been the speaker too :D

Don

[mordir1297]

This is an interesting read about center channel speakers. This may give you an idea why a tower speaker would work better as a center channel.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=89614