Songtower II center channel options

Ace Deprave

Songtower II center channel options
« on: 21 Jul 2026, 02:34 pm »
In 2022, I bought a pair of Songtower IIs second hand. They are great, and I've been using them in a 2 channel only system in my basement (I have Veracity STs and a Supercharged Song Center in my living room). As we are getting closer to becoming empty nesters, I've started planning turning the basement into a home theatre, and am looking at options for center channel speakers. Since Jim's not making them anymore, I'm just looking for something that will be neutral and somewhat timbre matched with the Songtowers.

The most obvious choice is the Philharmonic HT Center, since Dennis was so heavily involved with Salk. Any other options I should consider? Ascend Acoustics maybe? Anything else?

Current setup:



WGH

Re: Songtower II center channel options
« Reply #1 on: 21 Jul 2026, 04:25 pm »
I would trust the Philharmonic HT Center to have the clearest intelligibility, the single most important feature of a center speaker along with high power handling, as stated in the speaker descriptions first sentence.

I was lucky to find a used Salk Veracity HT2C, the center speaker matches my HT2-TL speakers. The HT2C is my third center speaker, along the way I found out intelligibility is the most important. When properly set up, almost 100% of the dialog comes from the center speaker. The center has to have fast, precise drivers and the frequency response has to be rolled off fairly high or males voices become too deep and boomy at high volumes. A sealed speaker sounds best, no ports allowed for the clearest dialog, the Philharmonic HT Center is a sealed design.

Dolby specifications for center, surround and Atmos speakers roll off low frequencies around 80 Hz. Surround processors are designed to send all low frequencies to the sub. The small mid-woofers in center speakers can't handle the elevated bass in action movies without compromising the dialog. And a home theater receiver is less stressed if it doesn't have to send low bass to 5 or 7 speakers.

Even though my home theater has 1850 watts (high current AB amps from AVA and Adcom), I still roll off my center speaker at 80 Hz, without trying to reproduce the lowest frequencies my setup can go as loud and clear as a premium movie theater. A REL G1 sub handles the bass into the teens. But I hardly ever listen that loud.



AllanS

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Re: Songtower II center channel options
« Reply #2 on: 22 Jul 2026, 03:09 am »
I would trust the Philharmonic HT Center to have the clearest intelligibility, the single most important feature of a center speaker along with high power handling, as stated in the speaker descriptions first sentence.
I don’t think you’ll get any better advice even if Jim or Dennis happen by. 
That said about 8 years ago I asked Dennis for a center channel recommendation to pair with his original BMR’s.  I didn’t have room for his center so he recommended the NHT Audio C-LCR.  It was also too big so I went another direction but I’ve long had a soft spot for NHT speakers.
https://www.nhthifi.com/products/c-lcr-center-channel-speaker-single

Ace Deprave

Re: Songtower II center channel options
« Reply #3 on: 22 Jul 2026, 01:04 pm »
Thank you for your replies. Philharmonic is my first choice, but they are almost always sold out. I'm not sure when I'll be doing this, probably farther down the road than I want, though. But my concern is when it's time to pull the trigger, the Philharmonic won't be available, so just researching alternatives. It looks like the NHT is currently unavailable as well, both through the NHT website and Amazon.

AllanS

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Re: Songtower II center channel options
« Reply #4 on: 22 Jul 2026, 05:14 pm »
Thank you for your replies. Philharmonic is my first choice, but they are almost always sold out. I'm not sure when I'll be doing this, probably farther down the road than I want, though. But my concern is when it's time to pull the trigger, the Philharmonic won't be available, so just researching alternatives. It looks like the NHT is currently unavailable as well, both through the NHT website and Amazon.
The NHT C3 book shelf speakers are showing as sold out but the center looks to be available.  The website is misbehaving for me and the link isn’t loading the center speaker page.

Ace Deprave

Re: Songtower II center channel options
« Reply #5 on: 22 Jul 2026, 08:45 pm »
Thanks, not sure what I was looking at.  :lol:

Rshorb

Re: Songtower II center channel options
« Reply #6 on: Yesterday at 04:10 pm »
I have the Philharmonic center with a pair of Song 3's and it matches very well with them. And the center is amazing sounding and looking.

AllanS

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Re: Songtower II center channel options
« Reply #7 on: Yesterday at 04:45 pm »
Though painful for the impatient audiophile, I’d add that waiting 6 months for the one you want compared to years of enjoyment is a good tradeoff.

Ace Deprave

Re: Songtower II center channel options
« Reply #8 on: Yesterday at 07:41 pm »


Though painful for the impatient audiophile, I’d add that waiting 6 months for the one you want compared to years of enjoyment is a good tradeoff.

Yeah, I have been through that when I ordered my Veracity STs and Supercharged Song Center in 2013.