[firewall]

I have a modest system; 20.7s will be here soon.

I'm also thinking about upgrading to the CCR center. Does anyone run a CCR? What are your thoughts? My dealer told me to stick to a CC5 for the center because of how the ribbon is curved w/ the CCR.)

For now:

1.7i - L/R
CC5 - C
MMG-W - S
.7 - R

Powered by Sunfire (800 watts x 7 @ 4 ohms - powered limited by home circuit.)

What does your planar home theater system consist of?

Do you have suggestions on how to improve mine?

[Leek2]

Nice room and nice system! I have two pair of Timpani 4A for the left and right front and left and right rear.
Mmgs for sides, and a pair of side height channels which are box speakers.
I auditioned the 20.7 and they are amazing!

[firewall]

I want to upgrade to 3.7i, but my dealer seems to think that 20.7 is the way to go.

[SteveFord]

Your dealer is not steering you wrong.
If you're getting 20.7s I'd hold off on doing anything with a center channel until you see what you've got.

[kmmd]

Nice room and system OP.

You have all the equipment needed for Wendell’s Tri-Center concept introduced over a decade ago.  Keep the CC5 and move the 0.7’s to the front close to your CC5 and in between your mains.  Connect the 0.7’s in series to give you an 8-ohm load and keep the CC5 on its own.  Use a Y-cable for your center channel signal cable and use two channels of your amp for just the center channel.  By doing this, you’ll have center channel height which is something you won’t gain by going to a CCR.  I also never understood why the newer centers have a low frequency cutoff of 200Hz.

If you search Tri-center, you’ll find that I was an early adopter.  Same thing for over a decade…MG10’s with CC3…centers now being run by a single Modwright 150SE and augmented by a Velodyne DD12.  Everything is controlled by my Theta CB IVa with D3 Xtreme DAC card running my center full range.

Happy listening and enjoy center channel clarity.

[EkW]

My magnepan HT has a CC3 and whatever the wall mounted speakers are. Have had the system for 20 years now. The tri-center concept sounds interesting.

[ajzepp]

My magnepan HT has a CC3 and whatever the wall mounted speakers are. Have had the system for 20 years now. The tri-center concept sounds interesting.

Great to see someone else still has a CC3. I don't have it in use at the moment, but it's a great center, even being long in the tooth.

[Jeff_From_Michigan]

This is something that I'm hoping to accomplish when funds allow for it.

From reading about the Tri-center concept on the Magnepan website years ago, I seem to remember them talking about a Bryston processor (was it the SP-3?) that was a perfect way to drive this setup.

Maybe kmmd or someone else has experience with the SP-3, or the newer SP-4, or can tell us what amp(s) or processor they use with the setup.

The Bryston is currently out of my price range, but if it is the best option for this setup, and something that I can buy and use for over 20 years for both stereo and A/V, I would be willing to save up for it.

[/mp]

This is something that I'm hoping to accomplish...
From reading about the Tri-center concept on the Magnepan website years ago, I seem to remember them talking about a Bryston processor....

 The late Jim Bongiorno designed a trinaural processor. I never heard it myself. It's still on Spread Spectrum Technologies' website. https://www.sst.audio/new-products/trinaural-processor

[kmmd]

Maybe kmmd or someone else has experience with the SP-3, or the newer SP-4, or can tell us what amp(s) or processor they use with the setup.

The Bryston is currently out of my price range, but if it is the best option for this setup, and something that I can buy and use for over 20 years for both stereo and A/V, I would be willing to save up for it.

No unfortunately I have no experience with Bryston pre/pros.  I’ve used a B&K AVR, modded Anthem AVM20, Theta CB IIIHD and then upgraded it to the IVa.  For now, I don’t see the need to upgrade to the CB V for $4k.

After I posted, I watched Dune 4K.  Wow what a soundtrack!  Amazing video and audio throughout!  My 3 REL subs (212/SE, 2 x S5 SHO’s) and Velo DD12 were given a nice workout.