Re: A center channel speaker sized between the Duo and Horizon
I have to agree that this is, IMO, the biggest hole in the Ascend lineup. (Though at some point in the future I'd be interested in seeing a larger tower with even better low-frequency extension—maybe 8" drivers—I think that's just me...)
While the performance of the Horizon is great, the fact of the matter is that an awful lot of AV furniture simply will not accommodate a speaker that's 11" high. The "magic number," as far as I can tell, is around 8" high. I think this is the Achilles of the Horizon. While the Luna Duo is a good center channel, it's still not a 3-way and it doesn't quite fill that size space.
If Dave could produce a 3-way center channel that was right around 8" high, I think he'd sell truckloads of them. I definitely would own one right now in place of a Duo.
The fact that he hasn't suggests this is a difficult design problem. I think Beave has it exactly right: the challenge is the height of the RAAL tweeter. It's hard to imagine a midrange driver that would fit vertically with a RAAL tweeter and allow the cabinet to be only 8" high. I think even a BMR would be a little big for that. So then you start thinking about things like WMTMW... ugh. The PSB PWM2 and PWM3 use this configuration, but it's not common. There's probably a reason for that.
I wonder how many hours Dave has spent pondering this?
Luna Duo V2 LR, Titan Horizon V2, and Rythmik L22 & L12 in HT, Sierra-LXs in study, S-2EXs and Duo V2 C in bedroom, S-1 NrTs in dining room, S-1s at work, HTM-200s in kitchen. Brother owns CMT-340s and dad has a pair of CBM-170s.