A center channel speaker sized between the Duo and Horizon

[natetg57]

What about a center with the full size Raal tweeter and the two best 6" compatible woofers? Maybe two of the Sierra 2EX woofers?

[SunByrne]

What about a center with the full size Raal tweeter and the two best 6" compatible woofers? Maybe two of the Sierra 2EX woofers?

Still not a 3-way. As much as I love my 2EXs—absolutely brilliant and a price/performance home run—the mids on the Horizon and especially the Tower are better still. I credit the dedicated mid driver you get with a 3-way. The two best centers I've heard in person are both 3-ways (the Horizon and whatever the older equivalent of the Revel C208 was) with stacked tweeter and mid between the two woofers. And both were, of course and unfortunately, taller than 8" high. (Let's be clear; all the best speakers I've ever heard, center or not, were 3-way or even 4-way.)

However, I'm not a speaker designer, so maybe two EX woofers would indeed do it. I suspect not, though, because if that worked as well as we all want, I think Dave would already be selling that design. He went from talking about the EX to actually shipping 2-EXs amazingly quickly; much faster than between when he first started talking about the S2s or the Towers to when he shipped those. Based on that, I would guess he has a good idea of what he'd get out of the EX in that configuration, and he hasn't mentioned it.

On the other hand, maybe you're onto something. It certainly is interesting that the 200 is basically a WTW, the 340 is a WTW, and the Duo is a WTW but there's no Sierra WTW. Hmm.

[davef]

For a compact height 3-way center, a coaxial / concentric driver flanked by a woofer on both sides would be the best approach. The problem I have found with even the best coaxial drivers is that tweeter performance is compromised as it must fit in a very small space, plus there is really no way to offer a coax with a RAAL ribbon tweeter. Additionally, in a coax the woofer cone acts like a horn and when the woofer moves, forward and back, it actually changes the high frequency response.

This is quite an engineering challenge, a properly designed WT/MW center under 8" in height. Even with a small 3" midrange, we would likely only shave off around 1.5" in height for the Horizon.

[racrawford65]

A potential option for using the Horizon with an entertainment/tv console where the shelf spacing is too small. Have a custom TV riser built (eg Syracuse Risers), put Horizon on top shelf of entertainment center, riser over the speaker, tv on riser.

I do this now, but with Luna Duo (previously S2) center. If I could go back a few years, I should have had the riser sized to work with the Horizon.

[RicardoJoa]

The horizon probably falls on the thick side in terms of center speaker but imo is a very high accomplishment considering the layout of the tweeter and mid, overall dimension and sensitivity and the fact it matches perfectly to sierra tower mains. The bmr driver might make it able to accomplish a thin center speaker but it needs to sacrifice the overall sensitivity.

[davef]

The horizon probably falls on the thick side in terms of center speaker but imo is a very high accomplishment considering the layout of the tweeter and mid, overall dimension and sensitivity and the fact it matches perfectly to sierra tower mains. The bmr driver might make it able to accomplish a thin center speaker but it needs to sacrifice the overall sensitivity.

BMR driver offers nice performance for such a small size and even more so for the very low price, I couldn't believe what we were quoted for volume pricing. With the BMR driver, we would still only be able to shave off about 1.5" from the height of the Horizon, and we would be losing one of the key features. That is, by using such a low mass but beefy midrange, we are able to cross to the woofers at a low enough frequency that keeps it out of the vocal band. And yes, sensitivity would drop by a massive 5-6dB .

[kingcrowing]

What is currently the best center to pair with Sierra Towers with RAAL if you can't fit a Horizon center? The Sierra 2EX or Duo?

[RicardoJoa]

What is currently the best center to pair with Sierra Towers with RAAL if you can't fit a Horizon center? The Sierra 2EX or Duo?

If I remember right, it should be duo due to higher sensitivity.

[N Boros]

If you look at the Luna height, it seems like if the port were removed, then you might be able to shave a couple of inches from the height. Now if the cabinet is widened so that the midrange and tweeter are flanked by two woofers, you have yourself a speaker somewhat close to 8 inches high. Maybe the slotted ports go below the woofers, or maybe is just remains sealed.

I honestly don’t see how 3 inches in height will make or break someone being able to fit the center channel speaker in their setup. I don’t think its a matter of looking for a different speaker as much as looking for a different stand. For example, most people simply look for one rack to house all of their gear, their TV and the center channel below it. Good luck with that. You can’t really find anything to fit anything taller than a sound bar let alone a real center channel speaker. But, what if instead we get a pair of Monoprice Monolith racks, maybe leaving off the top shelf on each one.


https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=39166

Then get a full motion Sanus wall mount for the TV.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-NMEOjR...k.html?tp=1416

The center channel will sit on a stand between the two Monoprice AV racks. The TV is pulled out from the wall so it kind of floats the same distance away from the wall as the front of the AV racks. This allows space for the Horizon no problem. I have a 77 inch Oled and the TV height would work out just fine. Something to think about. The total cost is only around $600 to $700 for the AV racks and TV mount, which is what a lower end to mid priced all in one TV/equipment stand would cost.

[racrawford65]

What N Boros suggested is also a good solution, as long as ok with wall mounting the TV. Could even do it for around 400 if purchasing the tv wall mount from Monoprice as well.