Center channel placement

[davef]

Hi Kurt,

Sparks??? Well, that is a first

The fact that you heard this popping sound does concern me... Are you still hearing it? Are you hearing any 60Hz constant hum from the speaker?

My initial suspicion is that you might have a problem with your receiver (DC offset).. What receiver are you using and how old is it?

The speaker itself would not hold a static charge but if the power supply filter caps on your receiver are bad, you could get some nasty voltage spikes when they discharge... Have your receiver checked out.

Regarding localization... do you have the speaker oriented vertically or horizontally atop the television? Could you post or send a pic of the setup?

Thanks in advance.

[Kurt C.]

I saw sparking again this morning when I turned on my receiver. It happened continuously for about ten seconds after I powered up my one year old Yamaha RX-V650, then stopped. I think the receiver is OK as I've not had problems with other center speakers when doing the comparisons described below. The sparks arched between the phase plug and the metal ring that separates it from the woofer cone. BTW the "popping" sound comes only from the spark, it isn't amplifed by the speaker. I didn't have time to turn the receiver off, wait, and then try turning it on again, but I'll do it tomorrow morning.

On to the localization question. The speaker is oriented vertically and placed directly on top of my monitor. (I'll post pictures tomorrow). After more listening comparisons versus my old MTM-style center, my impression is that with a little effort, I can localize both speakers equally well as coming from above the monitor. However, the single woofer on the 170 makes it a bit easier to localize the source of the sound left/right as coming from a single point above the center of the monitor. The net effect is that although the 170 sounds much better, the illusion that the voice is coming out of the actor's mouth is less well maintained.

[BradJudy]

My advice, arrange with Dave F to send that speaker back for a replacement. Even if it turns out being the receiver, that speaker might be damaged from the arcing. Perhaps the VC was damaged during shipping.

[Rustolamite]

Wanted to know can the Horizon center channel be placed too low? Right now mine would have to on a stand in front of the TV I only 20 inches from bottom of the screen to the floor.
Would this be to low that it would affect the sound (dialogue) coming from the speaker?

Thanks

[davef]

Wanted to know can the Horizon center channel be placed too low? Right now mine would have to on a stand in front of the TV I only 20 inches from bottom of the screen to the floor.
Would this be to low that it would affect the sound (dialogue) coming from the speaker?

Thanks

All speaker placement, regardless of how low, how high or even at an ideal location will affect the sound. That said, 20" off the floor will be fine

[Rustolamite]

Thank you for the quick response, actually it won't be 20" off the floor, I worded that wrong it would I have a total of 20" inches to use so the top of the center would only be 20" off the floor if that makes sense.

Thanks

[davef]

Thank you for the quick response, actually it won't be 20" off the floor, I worded that wrong it would I have a total of 20" inches to use so the top of the center would only be 20" off the floor if that makes sense.

Thanks

That is a bit low but you will still have very good performance I would recommend angling the center upward just a bit...

Thanks again!