Center channel to side or phantom?

Well, i bought a new 40" LCD TV that's on its way. Its going to completely fill up the space i have allocated for it, and not leave enough room on top to mount any of the ascend speaker center channel options (without having a nice cabinet taken out which I am not willing to do.).

I have about 9' spread between my left and right front, and my viewing location is about about 8' or so away from the TV. My question is, for home theatre, am i going to be better off just eliminating the 340C from my configuration and going phantom 4.1, or will i get decent performance if i place the 340c immediately adjacent to the LCD and standing on one end? My typical viewing spot is slightly off center to the right, so i was thinking it might actually sound decent with the center channel on the left side of the TV.

Which would you go, center channel on the side or just take it out?

Azanon

What about below the TV? Do you have space where you can sit it on a stand or the floor angled up towards the listening position?

The TV will be sitting on a built-in cabinet with a depression designed for the TV to sit on. Below the cabinet counter is just some wooden cabinets with doors that open and close, so there is really nowhere to put a speaker below the TV. Sitting some short stand in front of the TV on the carpet would be a serious eye sore and traffic hazard. But i do have shelf space to the side of the TV, and it would also be equal height to the front L/R 170s.

The total height from where the TV would sit to the bottom of my glass cabinets above the TV would be less than the height of the TV + ascend's smallest speaker (though i have a 340c) so there's no way i can fit both within the limited height whether its below or above.

So the only phesiable options are phantom or speaker to the side. Now i could buy one of those really slim/lightweight speakers for a center that would fit in the remaining 4" of height I have, but it wouldnt be a tonal match to the ascends.

Azanon

Hmmm. Sounds like whatever solution you choose, you will make different compromises. If you elect to use the phantom setting, you will be limited to sitting directly in the center of your mains or the center image will collapse to the closest speaker to your position. If you place a center to the side of your tV, the center's sound, as well as the entire front soundstage, will be biased towards it and pull everything out of sync.

Decide which option you can live with. Try the phantom mode first, as it will not cost you anything at this point. If you have an extra speaker, or can borrow one, try the other setup and see what you think. Even if the speakers are not timbre matched it will be a good indication of how the system will sound.

Well i own a 340c now, so i can certainly try the speaker to the side configuation out. For the TV i have now, i just have the 340c sitting on the top of a sanus shelf and my current CRT just suppots the weight of it.

But for a smaller/thinner new speaker, i'd have to borrow or buy one. I just assumed using a different kind of center channel would be worse than phantom due to the tonal unbalance.

It would seem like in theory, the CC immediately adjacent to the TV on the side shouldnt be much worse than above or below it, because it will be almost the same distance from the speaking actors (though slighly greater since it is a widescreen TV). In fact, one advantage (at least for me) will be that the speaker is on an exact equal plane to the front L/R whereas before it was higher than my other 2 speakers because it sat on top of my TV.

I would think your brain would do a lot of the work of attaching the voice to the actor.

I dunno; guess i'll find out soon enough.

Also, how bad a deal is it that my tweater is going to be 90 degrees off (since i'll have it sitting on its side, though i have a 340c).

Azanon

I assume you have the 340 Classic center. It has a diffuser ring that is configured for horizontal placement. Contact Ascend for sure, but, I believe you should be able to rotate the tweeter for vertical placement. The new tweeter on the SE's no longer have the diffuser so orientation should not be an issue.

Randy

I do have the classic center. I see there are 4 philips screws holding the tweeter in place. Hopefully I can do it myself.

Azanon

Are you better off actually calling Ascend for help? I wrote them a brief message yesterday morning to their technical support and still havent heard back.

Azanon

I bet you will hear back from them today.