200SE vs 340C for Center

[KPFury]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I searched and couldnt find an exact answer... So I'm currently using 2 340SEs from LR, and a Rocket UFW-10 sub. I'm looking to add a center speaker (will be using setup for 90% HT), do I need to go w/ the 340C, or will a 200SE suffice? I like that the 200SE is smaller (altho the 340 would still fit under my TV on the stand) and the fact it's $150 less...

[chas]

With 340 mains I would definitely go with the 340 center.

[Gov]

What Chas said ^^

[DougMac]

I'm looking to add a center speaker (will be using setup for 90% HT

I've read that 70% of the audio content in movies is from the center channel. I think you'll be happier with 340's across the front. I think Ascend does a great job with timbre matching in its series of speakers, but with all the care they take it's hard to get around the difference in driver sizes and basic speaker design (ported vs sealed).

What are you using for surrounds? How big is your listening space? Can you place your surrounds in an optimum position?

I've got 340s across the front, 170s as side surrounds and 200s as back. It's an amazing sounding set of speakers. I've listened to the 200s as mains and they are great. You could also use them as side surrounds with no problem in a medium sized room. I went with the 170's as sides because they weren't that much more and I had the room in my dedicated HT.

Doug

[KPFury]

My setup is weak. I have a 50" plasma that sits 10' in front of me when I'm sitting on the couch, the back of which is right up against the wall in the back.

As a temporary solution I was going to use two of my Logitech Z-560 speakers as the surrounds (for a 5.1 setup) until I can upgrade these to maybe the 200SEs later on.

Since my living room is small, i think even the 170s would be overkill as the surround speakers would be literally be > 1 feet from either side of the couch blasting into my ear haha. What do you guys think?

[Gov]

My setup is weak. I have a 50" plasma that sits 10' in front of me when I'm sitting on the couch, the back of which is right up against the wall in the back.

As a temporary solution I was going to use two of my Logitech Z-560 speakers as the surrounds (for a 5.1 setup) until I can upgrade these to maybe the 200SEs later on.

Since my living room is small, i think even the 170s would be overkill as the surround speakers would be literally be > 1 feet from either side of the couch blasting into my ear haha. What do you guys think?

Get the 340SE for a center and 200SE's for surrounds

[KPFury]

My current problem is when I have a movie in, the voices are very low but when an action sequence comes on the explosions are very loud, so I need to keep adjusting the volume up and down between action sequences. Will having a center channel alleviate this problem so that that the voices come primarily from the center channel and the explosions and whatnot come from the LR channels? I'm only using the two 340SEs right now (setup as "large" on my Panny XR-55)

[Down]

My current problem is when I have a movie in, the voices are very low but when an action sequence comes on the explosions are very loud, so I need to keep adjusting the volume up and down between action sequences. Will having a center channel alleviate this problem so that that the voices come primarily from the center channel and the explosions and whatnot come from the LR channels? I'm only using the two 340SEs right now (setup as "large" on my Panny XR-55)

I've just recently added a 340SE center to my 170SE mains. IME, while adding the center didn't alleviate this problem, it makes "fixable" with added flexibility. When I have a movie that's doing the low voice thing, I just boost the center up a db or 2 and voila, problem (mainly) solved.

[P Seastrand]

My current problem is when I have a movie in, the voices are very low but when an action sequence comes on the explosions are very loud, so I need to keep adjusting the volume up and down between action sequences. Will having a center channel alleviate this problem so that that the voices come primarily from the center channel and the explosions and whatnot come from the LR channels? I'm only using the two 340SEs right now (setup as "large" on my Panny XR-55)

My experience is a quality center speaker will virtually make this problem go away. It certainly did in my case.

[Down]

My experience is a quality center speaker will virtually make this problem go away. It certainly did in my case.

There's only so much it can do when the audio track was mixed poorly.