Re: Which center? Luna, S2, or Horizon?
My wife is addicted to British TV shows. Dialogue is a challenge and I'm wondering what the optimal solution would be. Considering Duo and S2 centers. Trying to avoid jacking up the center channel output so we can hear what the Brits are talking about.
Re: Which center? Luna, S2, or Horizon?
Dave has already recommended the Duo over the S2-EX as a center.
Re: Which center? Luna, S2, or Horizon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jaybeez
My wife is addicted to British TV shows. Dialogue is a challenge and I'm wondering what the optimal solution would be. Considering Duo and S2 centers. Trying to avoid jacking up the center channel output so we can hear what the Brits are talking about.
Been there, done that. I replaced my S-2 (not EX) center with a Duo when they came out. Haven't looked back.
My wife had similar problems with understandability with some shows. So I slowly increased level of center, ended around 1.5 dB hot. Wasn't enough of an improvement for her.
When the Duo came out, I bought one. It's running at 0.0 dB hot, and neither my wife nor I have problems with dialog on any of the shows we watch normally, or movies with the Duo. The Duo punches way above it's weight class. Just sayin'.
Re: Which center? Luna, S2, or Horizon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bruce Watson
Been there, done that. I replaced my S-2 (not EX) center with a Duo when they came out. Haven't looked back.
My wife had similar problems with understandability with some shows. So I slowly increased level of center, ended around 1.5 dB hot. Wasn't enough of an improvement for her.
When the Duo came out, I bought one. It's running at 0.0 dB hot, and neither my wife nor I have problems with dialog on any of the shows we watch normally, or movies with the Duo. The Duo punches way above it's weight class. Just sayin'.
Thanks for the real life feedback. Sounds like the Duo is just the ticket!
Re: Which center? Luna, S2, or Horizon?
I wonder what causes the intelligibility issues. I have S2’s across the front with no issues and no need to boost the center volume.
Re: Which center? Luna, S2, or Horizon?
Curtis - Perhaps room acoustics / layout or simply one's hearing?
Jaybeez - I made the same change as Bruce -- from S2 (no EX) to the Luna Duo. Initial impressions are that the Duo is better than the S2 for dialogue clarity. I've not watched a lot of movies or tv with it yet nor have I rerun ARC yet, hence "initial". I did think the S2 was a good center, as well, although depending on the program/movie, I did have to boost it on occasion for better clarity. My hearing isn't as good as it used to be.
Re: Which center? Luna, S2, or Horizon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
racrawford65
Curtis - Perhaps room acoustics / layout or simply one's hearing?
Yes, I was wondering more specifically.
Re: Which center? Luna, S2, or Horizon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
curtis
I wonder what causes the intelligibility issues. I have S2’s across the front with no issues and no need to boost the center volume.
I wonder too. I've heard it, I know it exists, but I can't figure out why, or what the Duo does differently to improve it. It's like magic. And as an engineer, I hate that. You'd think that eventually I'd get used to not knowing how some of these things work. But, I don't. Sigh...
Re: Which center? Luna, S2, or Horizon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bruce Watson
I wonder too. I've heard it, I know it exists, but I can't figure out why, or what the Duo does differently to improve it. It's like magic. And as an engineer, I hate that. You'd think that eventually I'd get used to not knowing how some of these things work. But, I don't. Sigh...
I think that it just comes down to symmetrical dispersion on the left and right, leading to better dialogue intelligibility. The variation in reflections on the left and right are likely the culprit, since the direct and reflected sound have slight differences. I bet it would be much harder to tell the difference if the Sierra 2 (or EX) was vertically oriented. Most can’t test this unless they either don’t have a TV as an obstacle or they have an acoustically transparent screen. Temporarily it would be easy to test though, in any setup.
Re: Which center? Luna, S2, or Horizon?
The DUO is on the product list! No one said?
I would expect it to have more to do with the frequency response differences. In any case, it will be interesting to hear if more people have the same experience.