What would you use for a center channel?
When I get the alpine dsp, it has a 5.1 converter/decoder, so I was thinking I would add a center channel speaker or pair. I lost a bid on ebay for a set of diamond hex 4" components (they sold for $200 shipped - a little out of my price range), but I was thinking that maybe just a single aluminum or a pair of silk tweets would work for a center channel. Maybe even 4 silk tweets arranged in a dome.
Any suggestions? Thoughts?
Replies (14)
swez on 12/18/2007 04:18:44
What is the function of the center channel in car audio? Knowing more about how this encoder/decoder handles frequencies and content of the center channel is key to speaker usage and location on the front stage.
I have the idea that on H/T and DVD, the center channel handles voicing and other ambient audio signals. What I don't know, is if the signals are MONO, (A+B) channels or true stereo output and of somewhat limited frequencies in the band of audio, (Say 150 - 10KHz.) fed to the center channel? (Midrange and highs, but very limited lows.
Say more about this feature and how Alpine recommends using it well,
Swez
jamesp on 12/18/2007 07:25:47
Cplkittle,
If you decide to use textile tweets, I saved a link on my home computer that has the Infinity 4 Ohm tweeters for about 40 dollars. Let me know if you want it.
Victor on 12/18/2007 09:58:51
center channel is mostly a mono signal derived from a down mix... Alpine has a center channel product in form of an on-dash speaker coupled with an amp. all you need to do is plug in the center channel RCA into the amp...this is a pretty efficient center channel setup i have used quiet a few times in recent past...
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-WY0uUhf5rBP/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=62900&I=500SBS0715
if you want a more powerful setup then you can go with this single din center speaker by alpine and power it with any tiny amp you manage to find...
http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/product.php?model=SBS-05DC&lang=en&tab=F
Victor...
cplkittle on 12/18/2007 11:00:04
I like the 1 din center channel, that looks pretty nice. I think I want to stay with diamond for no other reason than that I am really anal about everything being the same. I know there may be better options, but I just like the continuity. I found Diamond HEX tweets on ebay for $50/ pair.
The center channel is true if the source is delivering a 5.1 signal, otherwise it is like victor said, just a synthetic stage created by the DSP. I like the additional imaging options it brings. I believe most of the center channel frequencies are 1kHz+ even though the alpine products mentioned above pickup down to 150Hz.
My next dilemma is where is a center channel speaker placed? Center to the driver would be directly infront of them. If the center is placed in the center of the vehicle does it not become an additional right channel (for american cars) that is a little out of phase. I am thinking of placing a tweeter in front of the driver and passenger seat on the dash. It would spread the center channel across the dash, but the center focus would be stronger directly infront of each listener I believe. Either that or place the centers above the listeners in the headliner. I haven't decided yet, and I will probably have them velcroed all over the front of the car testing them out before I install them.
swez on 12/18/2007 18:39:21
OK, I have done a little research and there are several ways to configure a balanced center channel speaker system. (Depending on size of the driver(s) used and symmetry) Since this is a syntheized composite of parts of the L&R channels, a single enclosure would be fine. Making it small and unobtrusive, but effective makes a lot of sense.
Am sure most peeps would not care for a very bulky speaker enclosure in the center of the dash. The options I see as workable here would be:
1. Dual Midrange and 1 tweeter in the center (Good for solid mids and some highs
2. A single MR driver and dual tweeters (Wide angle array) I would take this route over the other arrangement
Here, one would probably use a single 3-4" MR in the center and matching tweets a few degrees off axis by say 15-30 degrees. One can either fire them to the rear of the vehicle or perhaps bounce signals off the windshield. (I like the latter for a wider sound stage..but experimentation is a good idea)
Amping the center channel with adequate power would be desirable and filtering it to say 300/500-15,000 Hz., makes sense.Passive filtering for the tweets and BP filtering for the midrange if possible.
In a way, I intuitively sense this as "front fill only" to compliment Front Stage L&R speakers.Before pressing forward, any comments or suppliments?
Swez
cplkittle on 12/18/2007 21:06:36
If It all comes together like I plan, I will probably use a 4" component set for the center stage. If I can not get a good deal on the components I want, I will probably just use 1" tweeters.
My goal is a complimentary front fill center channel as you said. I do not have any video capabilities at this time, so it is just for the added experimental staging options to fully utilize the capabilities of the DSP.
Victor on 12/19/2007 02:10:36
Swez gives some solid basics here,
center channel mostly reproduces decoded vocal frequency content in a genuine 5.1 setup, most music content is eliminated.
performance of a center channel and its integration largely depends on the recorded , encoded and decoded content. A 5.1 encoded DVD will perform better than a 2ch stereo audio CD.
car being a smaller environment , it gets difficult to give individual identity and imaging to each channel at SPL's above 110db.
Adding a center channel in a Car is much like having those integrated LCR speakers in home audio due to space limitation.
http://miragespeakers.com/v2/product_page.php?open=lines&subid=677&id=598
orientation and angulation of L C R speakers, phase difference and time alignment give individuality to these speakers and creates an interesting front stage.
Victor...
Here is something interesting, although it has got a lot to do with PA systems with larger listening environment but you can get a great insight on many other aspects or sound and acoustics, with a bit of understanding a lot of it can be applied to car audio too....
http://www.termpro.com/articles/center.html
http://66.161.33.39/images/photos/uploaded/pdfs/10_06%20Car%20Audo%20Mag_CS_TSXT.pdf
http://www.smartdev.com/cs_paper.htm
http://www.sound-technology.com/Research2/Multichannel%20Mixing%20AES01.pdf
swez on 12/19/2007 03:42:04
Right... am drawing on some experience with Pro Audio and live sound and very limited exposure to mixing as in studio recordings here. They are worlds apart in some ways as most Live sound mixes are actually a combination of MONO and Stereo to L/C/R channels and then near field monitors for very large venues.
These are much more complex than in car or HT apps because of the space we have to deliver audio to and time delay factors in the entire field of sound we try to create.
In a small scale format like Mobile Audio, time delays are minimal and ambient sound fill is often done with encoder/decoder digital circuits. To get this done well, encoders sample 2 channels of stereo recordings, splits them into 4,5 or 6 dicrete channels and assigns various audio content to each location. They deliberately cancel out certain parts of the original 2 channel format via phase reversals and time delay the rest to give the illusion of surround sound in a compact format for cars and a larger sound stage for HT. (This is a very complex set of digital signal mixing techniques)
Getting back to DSP in Mobile audio formats, it seems that the center channel gets mostly verbal/vocal tracks information that is extracted from a typcial 2 channel stereo mix. The frequency response of the center speaker is limited to human speech and other content that the decoder assigns to the center channel. If done well, the user likes this new mix and finds it very appealing in best case scenarios. Get it wrong and the results are well out of whack with the rest of the system. That's why the center channel output and location of the transducer(s) are so important. (Yadda...)
Finally, when listening at high SPL levels, (Above ~103dB) all coherant sound mixing techniques are lost and thrown right out the window. Our ears get saturated with high SPL from several locations and intelligibilty and imaging are lost in a wash of SPL noise, cancellations and reflections. Keep that in mind as you move deeper into this project.
Swez
Victor on 12/20/2007 03:28:38
What alpine DSP are you talking about here...???
most of the DSP's have time alignment and phase settings. many of them have it in form of time ( seconds )and some work on distance (cm ) settings.
with the time option you can decide on the delay of each speaker signal.
and with the distance setting the unit itself decides the time delay.
mounting the center speaker on the dash will not sound a second right ch speaker if you can handle the time delay factor well.
installing the speaker in such a way that sound reflects from the front windshield will give you a better front stage effect.
if you just want an effective vocals reproducing center channel then any 4" coaxial would be ample enough powered by 20 wrms.
but this would be effective only in case of using 5.1 decoded formats.
If you want something that is effective while listening to 2ch stereo recording then using a 6" MB driver coupled with a x-over and a tweeter with an odd 50wrms will really help to bring the bass upfront and also have the flexibility of performing with 5.1 applications.
In any case since you have to custom fabricate the enclosure for mounting center speaker.
Apart from orientation and location of the center speaker, the location and angulation of other speakers in the car specially the front L & R will play an important role and they carry most of the front stage signals. integrating them with the center speaker will be very important here.
try imagining or putting on paper, volume covered by the sound waves from each speaker. ( like the one you see on page one here, http://66.161.33.39/images/photos/uploaded/pdfs/10_06%20Car%20Audo%20Mag_CS_TSXT.pdf)
that is a 2d image, try putting it in 3d and see the interaction of sound from each speaker.
find overlaps and voids and try balancing all, if you can , try changing the angles of L C R speakers and see the difference. do all the experimentation below a 100db to get accuracy...
doing a successful surround sound install has a lot to do with the listening environment, specially with mobile audio.
Victor...
cplkittle on 12/20/2007 10:55:04
That is some very sound advice (no pun intended). The link does not work though. I understand what you are trying to say though.
The processor is the Alpine PXA-H701, the delay is in .05 ms increments set manually or automatically with the included mic.
swez on 12/20/2007 14:52:52
One can research the details for the best possible fit, but we know that sound travels at at roughly 344 meters/sec at sea level, 21 degrees C. (70 degrees F) or 1130 ft/sec. Humidity, barometric pressure and several other variables can be factored in as well for a more accurate sense of sound speed.
In a small vehicle, a few micro-seconds is what we are often dealing with in time delay between the closest speaker source and the furthest one. (Front Left vs Right Rear) By changing the time delay sequence, we can add/delay audio signals as they reach the "sweet spot" for any given system. It's a nice "ambient feature effect" for larger vehicles, but in a typical sedan or mini-SUV, the values are minimal.
I like Victor's idea of a small coaxial speaker mounted in a low-profile pod, firing toward the windshield though. That makes a lot of sense and the curvature of the windshield and placement of the center speaker would be a neat experiment too. The frequency range of this center speaker would not need to be wide to get a nice affect either. (500 - 15,000 Hz would be fine) A modest mono amp channel would be reasonable too.
The curvature of the window will reflect and disperse mids and highs across the whole dash. That would be a nice thing if it is tailored to blend, but not dominate the front stage as a whole. A little experimentation will tell whether this is a image enhancer or detract from results. (Play it for all it's worth and see)
Swez
MrBrownstone on 12/20/2007 16:47:20
I think your main issue here is can you get it integrated with your current audiosystem...and can you maximize stereo separation in your audio system without this speaker. Otherwise, you end up with a mono system anyway.
Since virtually nothing is recorded on 5.1 other than DVD audio for movies, it begs the question, what would you need this for? The car environment is so crowded the way it is, so the whole system would have to be played at very low volumes and the center channel be very frequency limited to be effective. AND, how are you getting the correct information to the speaker?
Extracting from 2ch into 5.1, although done by some equipment, just can't guarantee you capture the artist's goal for music. If they encoded 5.1, then sure, use it. If not, I've never heard a system, no matter how complex or well-intentioned that actually enhanced the 2ch experience in a car audio environment. In home audio, still, a great 2ch setup isn't usually enhanced unless the recording is encoded in 5.1...which nothing is. The purpose of THX, 5.1 are spatial perception. You can't get that without SPACE. PROUD
Essentially, during stereo sweeps from left to right & vice versa, this speaker needs to be dulled when there's information on one side or another. Since what is recorded in audio, besides movies, etc., is primarily in stereo, anything coming out of it is wrong information. Only when the music/voice is centered is it providing a service to your audio system.
As far as time delay, spend all the money you want on that. It's going to be hard to make it worth the money as time delay approaches meaningless at higher volumes. Your ears can tell the difference the farther away the sound is, but at 3.75ft & 5.25ft, it just doesn't seem worth spending the money.
The whole center channel idea is predicated upon 2 things:
the information in the recording/amplification
the distance between the speakers & your ears
If you don't get the best stereo separation, all you have is a center channel already installed :-)
At any rate, Is the goal to listen to movies/watch DVDs in the car? Because if not, save the money on fancy gadgets. 2Ch audio doesn't convert well. Those guys who do movie sound spend months trying to create '3D' sound, and that's why today's movies are so awesome from a cinematography standpoint.
PS 1125ft/sec or 343m/s on the speed of sound in a standard atmosphere.
PPS getting all front speakers as far away from you as possible is ideal. This minimizes the left/right issues. Get the tweeter WAY out there to the corners of the vehicle.
cplkittle on 12/21/2007 01:26:58
I understand the 'peeing in the wind' aspect of the center channel, but even if you get a little wet, the bladder is still relieved.
I didn't buy the processor for the center channel feature, but since it has it, and I have a little money to spend I thought I would use it. I am just looking for the added imaging options.
I have a diamond d5 300.2 that I will be using to power the center channel on a pair of 4" components.
I got the processor for these features:
• 11-Band Digital Parametric EQ 4 Bands Front, 4 Bands Rear, 2 Bands Center, 1 Band Subwoofer
• 17 Band Digital Parametric Equalizer
• 31-Band Graphic Equalizer
• 4 Volt PreOut
• 6 User Programmable Presets
• 6/12/18/24/30dB/OFF Selectable Crossover
• Adjustable Center Delay
• Auto Time Correction
• Digital Time Correction
• Dolby Digital®, Dolby Pro-Logic® and DTS® Decoding
• Independently Adjustable Channel Level
• MDAC Digital to Analog Converter
• Manual Time Correction
• MediaXpander™
• Rear Mix Capibility
• Selectable Listening Modes Standard/Maximum/Late Night
• Speaker Selection Mode
Front: Large/Small
Center: Large/Small/Off
Rear: Large/Small/Off
• Subwoofer Level Control
cplkittle on 12/21/2007 03:16:50
Hey Victor, just got up for a minute for a glass of milk.. a little trouble sleeping tonight, sorry but I have to pass on the chatting this time.
The MSRP is $750 for the processor, $300 for the RUX-C701 controller.
Online prices vary from $550-$750 for both pieces.
You need the RUX-C701 if you are not using one of the 3 indash Alpine monitors that will directly control the unit.
When I get the alpine dsp, it has a 5.1 converter/decoder, so I was thinking I would add a center channel speaker or pair. I lost a bid on ebay for a set of diamond hex 4" components (they sold for $200 shipped - a little out of my price range), but I was thinking that maybe just a single aluminum or a pair of silk tweets would work for a center channel. Maybe even 4 silk tweets arranged in a dome.
Any suggestions? Thoughts?
Replies (14)
swez on 12/18/2007 04:18:44
What is the function of the center channel in car audio? Knowing more about how this encoder/decoder handles frequencies and content of the center channel is key to speaker usage and location on the front stage.
I have the idea that on H/T and DVD, the center channel handles voicing and other ambient audio signals. What I don't know, is if the signals are MONO, (A+B) channels or true stereo output and of somewhat limited frequencies in the band of audio, (Say 150 - 10KHz.) fed to the center channel? (Midrange and highs, but very limited lows.
Say more about this feature and how Alpine recommends using it well,
Swez
jamesp on 12/18/2007 07:25:47
Cplkittle,
If you decide to use textile tweets, I saved a link on my home computer that has the Infinity 4 Ohm tweeters for about 40 dollars. Let me know if you want it.
Victor on 12/18/2007 09:58:51
center channel is mostly a mono signal derived from a down mix... Alpine has a center channel product in form of an on-dash speaker coupled with an amp. all you need to do is plug in the center channel RCA into the amp...this is a pretty efficient center channel setup i have used quiet a few times in recent past...
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-WY0uUhf5rBP/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=62900&I=500SBS0715
if you want a more powerful setup then you can go with this single din center speaker by alpine and power it with any tiny amp you manage to find...
http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/product.php?model=SBS-05DC&lang=en&tab=F
Victor...
cplkittle on 12/18/2007 11:00:04
I like the 1 din center channel, that looks pretty nice. I think I want to stay with diamond for no other reason than that I am really anal about everything being the same. I know there may be better options, but I just like the continuity. I found Diamond HEX tweets on ebay for $50/ pair.
The center channel is true if the source is delivering a 5.1 signal, otherwise it is like victor said, just a synthetic stage created by the DSP. I like the additional imaging options it brings. I believe most of the center channel frequencies are 1kHz+ even though the alpine products mentioned above pickup down to 150Hz.
My next dilemma is where is a center channel speaker placed? Center to the driver would be directly infront of them. If the center is placed in the center of the vehicle does it not become an additional right channel (for american cars) that is a little out of phase. I am thinking of placing a tweeter in front of the driver and passenger seat on the dash. It would spread the center channel across the dash, but the center focus would be stronger directly infront of each listener I believe. Either that or place the centers above the listeners in the headliner. I haven't decided yet, and I will probably have them velcroed all over the front of the car testing them out before I install them.
swez on 12/18/2007 18:39:21
OK, I have done a little research and there are several ways to configure a balanced center channel speaker system. (Depending on size of the driver(s) used and symmetry) Since this is a syntheized composite of parts of the L&R channels, a single enclosure would be fine. Making it small and unobtrusive, but effective makes a lot of sense.
Am sure most peeps would not care for a very bulky speaker enclosure in the center of the dash. The options I see as workable here would be:
1. Dual Midrange and 1 tweeter in the center (Good for solid mids and some highs
2. A single MR driver and dual tweeters (Wide angle array) I would take this route over the other arrangement
Here, one would probably use a single 3-4" MR in the center and matching tweets a few degrees off axis by say 15-30 degrees. One can either fire them to the rear of the vehicle or perhaps bounce signals off the windshield. (I like the latter for a wider sound stage..but experimentation is a good idea)
Amping the center channel with adequate power would be desirable and filtering it to say 300/500-15,000 Hz., makes sense.Passive filtering for the tweets and BP filtering for the midrange if possible.
In a way, I intuitively sense this as "front fill only" to compliment Front Stage L&R speakers.Before pressing forward, any comments or suppliments?
Swez
cplkittle on 12/18/2007 21:06:36
If It all comes together like I plan, I will probably use a 4" component set for the center stage. If I can not get a good deal on the components I want, I will probably just use 1" tweeters.
My goal is a complimentary front fill center channel as you said. I do not have any video capabilities at this time, so it is just for the added experimental staging options to fully utilize the capabilities of the DSP.
Victor on 12/19/2007 02:10:36
Swez gives some solid basics here,
center channel mostly reproduces decoded vocal frequency content in a genuine 5.1 setup, most music content is eliminated.
performance of a center channel and its integration largely depends on the recorded , encoded and decoded content. A 5.1 encoded DVD will perform better than a 2ch stereo audio CD.
car being a smaller environment , it gets difficult to give individual identity and imaging to each channel at SPL's above 110db.
Adding a center channel in a Car is much like having those integrated LCR speakers in home audio due to space limitation.
http://miragespeakers.com/v2/product_page.php?open=lines&subid=677&id=598
orientation and angulation of L C R speakers, phase difference and time alignment give individuality to these speakers and creates an interesting front stage.
Victor...
Here is something interesting, although it has got a lot to do with PA systems with larger listening environment but you can get a great insight on many other aspects or sound and acoustics, with a bit of understanding a lot of it can be applied to car audio too....
http://www.termpro.com/articles/center.html
http://66.161.33.39/images/photos/uploaded/pdfs/10_06%20Car%20Audo%20Mag_CS_TSXT.pdf
http://www.smartdev.com/cs_paper.htm
http://www.sound-technology.com/Research2/Multichannel%20Mixing%20AES01.pdf
swez on 12/19/2007 03:42:04
Right... am drawing on some experience with Pro Audio and live sound and very limited exposure to mixing as in studio recordings here. They are worlds apart in some ways as most Live sound mixes are actually a combination of MONO and Stereo to L/C/R channels and then near field monitors for very large venues.
These are much more complex than in car or HT apps because of the space we have to deliver audio to and time delay factors in the entire field of sound we try to create.
In a small scale format like Mobile Audio, time delays are minimal and ambient sound fill is often done with encoder/decoder digital circuits. To get this done well, encoders sample 2 channels of stereo recordings, splits them into 4,5 or 6 dicrete channels and assigns various audio content to each location. They deliberately cancel out certain parts of the original 2 channel format via phase reversals and time delay the rest to give the illusion of surround sound in a compact format for cars and a larger sound stage for HT. (This is a very complex set of digital signal mixing techniques)
Getting back to DSP in Mobile audio formats, it seems that the center channel gets mostly verbal/vocal tracks information that is extracted from a typcial 2 channel stereo mix. The frequency response of the center speaker is limited to human speech and other content that the decoder assigns to the center channel. If done well, the user likes this new mix and finds it very appealing in best case scenarios. Get it wrong and the results are well out of whack with the rest of the system. That's why the center channel output and location of the transducer(s) are so important. (Yadda...)
Finally, when listening at high SPL levels, (Above ~103dB) all coherant sound mixing techniques are lost and thrown right out the window. Our ears get saturated with high SPL from several locations and intelligibilty and imaging are lost in a wash of SPL noise, cancellations and reflections. Keep that in mind as you move deeper into this project.
Swez
Victor on 12/20/2007 03:28:38
What alpine DSP are you talking about here...???
most of the DSP's have time alignment and phase settings. many of them have it in form of time ( seconds )and some work on distance (cm ) settings.
with the time option you can decide on the delay of each speaker signal.
and with the distance setting the unit itself decides the time delay.
mounting the center speaker on the dash will not sound a second right ch speaker if you can handle the time delay factor well.
installing the speaker in such a way that sound reflects from the front windshield will give you a better front stage effect.
if you just want an effective vocals reproducing center channel then any 4" coaxial would be ample enough powered by 20 wrms.
but this would be effective only in case of using 5.1 decoded formats.
If you want something that is effective while listening to 2ch stereo recording then using a 6" MB driver coupled with a x-over and a tweeter with an odd 50wrms will really help to bring the bass upfront and also have the flexibility of performing with 5.1 applications.
In any case since you have to custom fabricate the enclosure for mounting center speaker.
Apart from orientation and location of the center speaker, the location and angulation of other speakers in the car specially the front L & R will play an important role and they carry most of the front stage signals. integrating them with the center speaker will be very important here.
try imagining or putting on paper, volume covered by the sound waves from each speaker. ( like the one you see on page one here, http://66.161.33.39/images/photos/uploaded/pdfs/10_06%20Car%20Audo%20Mag_CS_TSXT.pdf)
that is a 2d image, try putting it in 3d and see the interaction of sound from each speaker.
find overlaps and voids and try balancing all, if you can , try changing the angles of L C R speakers and see the difference. do all the experimentation below a 100db to get accuracy...
doing a successful surround sound install has a lot to do with the listening environment, specially with mobile audio.
Victor...
cplkittle on 12/20/2007 10:55:04
That is some very sound advice (no pun intended). The link does not work though. I understand what you are trying to say though.
The processor is the Alpine PXA-H701, the delay is in .05 ms increments set manually or automatically with the included mic.
swez on 12/20/2007 14:52:52
One can research the details for the best possible fit, but we know that sound travels at at roughly 344 meters/sec at sea level, 21 degrees C. (70 degrees F) or 1130 ft/sec. Humidity, barometric pressure and several other variables can be factored in as well for a more accurate sense of sound speed.
In a small vehicle, a few micro-seconds is what we are often dealing with in time delay between the closest speaker source and the furthest one. (Front Left vs Right Rear) By changing the time delay sequence, we can add/delay audio signals as they reach the "sweet spot" for any given system. It's a nice "ambient feature effect" for larger vehicles, but in a typical sedan or mini-SUV, the values are minimal.
I like Victor's idea of a small coaxial speaker mounted in a low-profile pod, firing toward the windshield though. That makes a lot of sense and the curvature of the windshield and placement of the center speaker would be a neat experiment too. The frequency range of this center speaker would not need to be wide to get a nice affect either. (500 - 15,000 Hz would be fine) A modest mono amp channel would be reasonable too.
The curvature of the window will reflect and disperse mids and highs across the whole dash. That would be a nice thing if it is tailored to blend, but not dominate the front stage as a whole. A little experimentation will tell whether this is a image enhancer or detract from results. (Play it for all it's worth and see)
Swez
MrBrownstone on 12/20/2007 16:47:20
I think your main issue here is can you get it integrated with your current audiosystem...and can you maximize stereo separation in your audio system without this speaker. Otherwise, you end up with a mono system anyway.
Since virtually nothing is recorded on 5.1 other than DVD audio for movies, it begs the question, what would you need this for? The car environment is so crowded the way it is, so the whole system would have to be played at very low volumes and the center channel be very frequency limited to be effective. AND, how are you getting the correct information to the speaker?
Extracting from 2ch into 5.1, although done by some equipment, just can't guarantee you capture the artist's goal for music. If they encoded 5.1, then sure, use it. If not, I've never heard a system, no matter how complex or well-intentioned that actually enhanced the 2ch experience in a car audio environment. In home audio, still, a great 2ch setup isn't usually enhanced unless the recording is encoded in 5.1...which nothing is. The purpose of THX, 5.1 are spatial perception. You can't get that without SPACE. PROUD
Essentially, during stereo sweeps from left to right & vice versa, this speaker needs to be dulled when there's information on one side or another. Since what is recorded in audio, besides movies, etc., is primarily in stereo, anything coming out of it is wrong information. Only when the music/voice is centered is it providing a service to your audio system.
As far as time delay, spend all the money you want on that. It's going to be hard to make it worth the money as time delay approaches meaningless at higher volumes. Your ears can tell the difference the farther away the sound is, but at 3.75ft & 5.25ft, it just doesn't seem worth spending the money.
The whole center channel idea is predicated upon 2 things:
the information in the recording/amplification
the distance between the speakers & your ears
If you don't get the best stereo separation, all you have is a center channel already installed :-)
At any rate, Is the goal to listen to movies/watch DVDs in the car? Because if not, save the money on fancy gadgets. 2Ch audio doesn't convert well. Those guys who do movie sound spend months trying to create '3D' sound, and that's why today's movies are so awesome from a cinematography standpoint.
PS 1125ft/sec or 343m/s on the speed of sound in a standard atmosphere.
PPS getting all front speakers as far away from you as possible is ideal. This minimizes the left/right issues. Get the tweeter WAY out there to the corners of the vehicle.
cplkittle on 12/21/2007 01:26:58
I understand the 'peeing in the wind' aspect of the center channel, but even if you get a little wet, the bladder is still relieved.
I didn't buy the processor for the center channel feature, but since it has it, and I have a little money to spend I thought I would use it. I am just looking for the added imaging options.
I have a diamond d5 300.2 that I will be using to power the center channel on a pair of 4" components.
I got the processor for these features:
• 11-Band Digital Parametric EQ 4 Bands Front, 4 Bands Rear, 2 Bands Center, 1 Band Subwoofer
• 17 Band Digital Parametric Equalizer
• 31-Band Graphic Equalizer
• 4 Volt PreOut
• 6 User Programmable Presets
• 6/12/18/24/30dB/OFF Selectable Crossover
• Adjustable Center Delay
• Auto Time Correction
• Digital Time Correction
• Dolby Digital®, Dolby Pro-Logic® and DTS® Decoding
• Independently Adjustable Channel Level
• MDAC Digital to Analog Converter
• Manual Time Correction
• MediaXpander™
• Rear Mix Capibility
• Selectable Listening Modes Standard/Maximum/Late Night
• Speaker Selection Mode
Front: Large/Small
Center: Large/Small/Off
Rear: Large/Small/Off
• Subwoofer Level Control
cplkittle on 12/21/2007 03:16:50
Hey Victor, just got up for a minute for a glass of milk.. a little trouble sleeping tonight, sorry but I have to pass on the chatting this time.
The MSRP is $750 for the processor, $300 for the RUX-C701 controller.
Online prices vary from $550-$750 for both pieces.
You need the RUX-C701 if you are not using one of the 3 indash Alpine monitors that will directly control the unit.
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