Best center speaker w/ 9.0's?

clairemontcat · « **on:** 10 Jan 2005, 06:51 am »

I am slowly building an HT system. I have a pair of marble 9.0's and now need a center, subs and surrounds. Any recommendations? Should I stick with norh? Do all the speakers need to match?

Woodsea · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 Jan 2005, 12:41 am »

Your front 3 speakers should match. Though you could go for the mini 9.0 for center capabilties. I would think the 4.1 prisms would be great for side/rear duties.

Marbles · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 Jan 2005, 01:25 am »

I had 5 9.0's (7 if you count the column 9.0's) and it made a killer system.

The ceramic 4.0's were very nice as rear surrounds when I tried them for a short period.

If you can fit a third 9.0, mini or otherwise as a center, go for it, if not, then the ceramic or marble 4.0's match up pretty well.

As far as subs go, there are almost to many to recomend. What's your budget for subs, and do you like box or sonotube?

clairemontcat · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 Jan 2005, 03:13 am »

A mini 9.0 for center is a good idea, why exactly do they need to match? Is it really necessary to have the same drivers and crossovers? I thought about buying a scanspeak speaker kit from speakercity, they use the same revelators tweeters and but new woofers.

http://www.speakercity.com/scanspeak_kits.shtml

As for a sub, I'll spend $1,000 max. I don't want earth shaking but fast and detailed. Thanks for the help! -John

clairemontcat · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Jan 2005, 03:23 am »

A mini 9.0 for center is a good idea, why exactly do they need to match? Is it really necessary to have the same drivers and crossovers? I thought about buying a scanspeak speaker kit from speakercity, they use the same revelators tweeters and but new woofers.

http://www.speakercity.com/scanspeak_kits.shtml

As for a sub, I'll spend $1,000 max. I don't want earth shaking but fast and detailed. Thanks for the help! -John

Marbles · « **Reply #5 on:** 11 Jan 2005, 03:26 am »

Quote from: clairemontcat

A mini 9.0 for center is a good idea, why exactly do they need to match? Is it really necessary to have the same drivers and crossovers? I thought about buying a scanspeak speaker kit from speakercity, they use the same revelators tweeters and but new woofers.

http://www.speakercity.com/scanspeak_kits.shtml

As for a sub, I'll spend $1,000 max. I don't want earth shaking but fast and detailed. Thanks for the help! -John

The reason you want it to match is because when a motorcycle pans from one side to the other, you don't want to have it sound like a motor scooter when it get's to the center channel.

It's even more important for music videos or hi-rez audio recordings that there is a seemless sound.

clairemontcat · « **Reply #6 on:** 11 Jan 2005, 05:25 am »

Now I get it! Good non technical explanation, sometimes all that high end mumbo jumbo makes my head spin. Now what about the sub, should it match in some way with the 9.0's? Any recommendations?

MaxCast · « **Reply #7 on:** 11 Jan 2005, 12:30 pm »

As far as subs go be sure to check out our speaker manufacturers here at AC. I believe they all make a sub. Tremendus bang for the buck

Once you narrow it down you probably can't make a bad choice.

Things to consider:
size
placement
room size
low freq. extension
powered or passive
volume levels
xo point
WAF

Jay S · « **Reply #8 on:** 11 Jan 2005, 01:11 pm »

A single ACI Force sub matches well with my 9.0s. If HT were more important to me I would get a 2nd Force or maybe a single Titan. I like the built-in amp in the ACI subs -- the cross over goes as low as 35 Hz, and it has a steep 4th order slope, which is important since the 9.0s have bass that goes down to 30-something Hz.