Party coming up... Sub would be beneficial but I want a center (1 Viewer)

[Mando-R]

Alright so I'm piecing my home theater set together and I already have a receiver, but next is an important piece. Me and my friends are throwing a party on the 31st and with music, it might be good to have a sub. The thing is, I already have two towers that have two 8" drivers each, and they put out really good bass. My options stand as follows:

Get a center channel, because a good center channel is really sexy!

Get a subwoofer so the bass is good and the mid-highs - highs are good because I'll have less bass running through my fronts.

What do you guys think?

 

[MikeLi]

You cannot beat the (Bigfoot) 200 from Onix at av123.com for a center channel.

 

[brentl]

Centre channel for sure!

B

 

[Jon_Krug]

if u r going to get a center, i would suggest u get a matching center to whatever your 2 fronts r.

 

[Doug BW]

Assuming the sub you'd buy is a decent sub....not a puny sub and not a boomy sub... I'd say, get the sub. A home theater isn't really a home theater without a decent sub.

Your friends will be impressed with a good sub because it will shake the room and punch them in the chest. Your friends won't be impresssed by a center speaker, except for the one guy who isn't happy unless the dialog is perfectly centered in the middle of the TV.

 

[Richard_B]

I second the bigfoot center from av123.com but you might want to match the towers you've got unless you plan on replacing them in the future.

If you're going to be playing only music at this party I say get the subwoofer. The center channel would not be used in 2 channel music anyway. Look into some SVS subs if you really want to get that party started.

svsubwoofers.com

 

[AlanZ]

I just got rid of my center channel and in all honesty I don't hardly notice a difference. In fact, my wife even says it sounds less harsh this way at higher volumes. I'm sure this is largely because my studio/100's are great little speakers, but the studio/cc wasn't exactly a slouch. But even when I can afford to add a center channel again, I probably won't. As for the sub, I cannot say near enough about the SVS product. I LOVE my PB2-isd....it is absolutely amazing, and it COMPLETELY chnged the movie and music experience in our home. I say, get the S(ub)VS!!

 

[Lew Crippen]

For most music, you should already be OK—for HT, it should depend on how you feel about your current setup (which I assume uses a ‘phantom’ center) vs. a lack of bass, especially for the LFE channel.

Get the one where you feel your biggest lack. For example if you think that understanding speech in movies is a bit difficult, you probably want to get a good center. But if you feel that you are missing the effects of the depth charges in Das Boot but are happy with your fronts also acting as your center, then get the sub first.

 

[Mike Strassburg]

Sounds like you can only afford one or the other at this time. Buy whichever you want for the long run and "borrow" the other for the party. Perhaps even someone attending would be willing to come over a day early and lend his sub and help you calibrate it. What else are friends for.

Personally NOTHING creates more crowd appeal than an earth-moving sub. Many have noticed my DIY CC, but once the old dual Tempest beast starts shaking the walls that's when the comments start flying!!

My vote is for a sub...

 

[Mando-R]

Being an avid movie watcher and lover of DTS, I decided to go with the Center Channel. I feel as though the center channel makes the most out of your home theater set, so I decided to go with a Polk CSi3. (Not the CSi30 but the CSi3, the new series center channel)

It's three way and I plan on replacing my two fronts with Polk RTi towers, so I figured, "keep it in the family". Most of you are suggesting SVS, but I am thinking to go with two Velodyne CHT-8's. The room I'm using for a theater doesn't have the size or space for one large sub, so rather, using two active smaller subwoofers will better suit the job. Plus I feel as though having bass coming from a wider range will more elevate the home theater experience.

As one suggested, I don't really need the sub for the party. The two 8" drivers on the towers I have now suffice, and my receiver puts out 100 watts RMS a channel, so it drives them enough.

 

[Arthur Vino]

Get a sub.. U mostly need bass for party music and nobody cares about your center channel..
What kind of music gonna be there? Remember, its all about the BEATS (aka bass) and nobody needs to hear crystal clear speach or female vocals.. Club mute those frequencies on purpose actually...

 

[Frank Carter]

Aren't the CHT-8's like $300/ea? It would be a waste of money IMO. Anything from SVS would be a much better choice. If you're getting them cheaper and want to spend less, I'd look into the Hsu VTF-2 or the Adire Rava. Another great option is the the sealed DVC15 subwoofer kit from www.partsexpress.com.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...ID=14732&DID=7

It will have awesome output and should be good to ~30hz in most rooms. It's only $300 but you have to add an amp. I would choose the 380W Rythmik amp for it($140). It has variable boost to lower the extension to your tastes also.

 

[Ernest Yee]

I agree with the sub recommendations - it's half your sound - that .1 in your system will be most likely driving the sounds from 80Hz and up. In my current setup - sometimes I have to put my ears up to my CC during a normal stereo television broadcast just to make sure it's not on b/c the phatoming done by my two Studio 40s is pretty damn amazing.

 

[TommyL]

mando...for 600 bucks you could get a sweet ars sub from SVS...grab a cylinder with a footprint of 16"....the depth of that velo is 18". Check the B-stock for a better deal..When playing some 2 channel I have fooled no less that 15 people (none have gottn it right yet) on my system...every single one has sat inthe sweet spot, and said it was playing....yet the CC wasn't on grab a sub..it'll be the talk of the party (beautiful cylinder svs)