Speaker upgrade question (1 Viewer)

[Josh W]

I have a Klipsch SC.5 center speaker. I also recently upgraded my towers to the Klipsch RF-5. Now my center speaker sounds drowned out by the sound from the towers. A salesman told me I'd need to get a more powerful center. I've been looking at the Klipsch RC-3II. Should that fix my problem, or do I need to make an adjustment on my receiver? (I do have the volume for the center turned all the way up on my receiver). Any help is appreciated.

 

[Bry_DD]

Have you calibrate your speakers yet? If not I suggest you start there before you start replacing your center channel.

 

[Josh W]

How do I calibrate them. I know people recommend sound meters. But I don't know how to go about it, because my receiver doesn't let me adjust the sound for the towers. I have a Sony STR-DE485 receiver.

 

[Nick V]

Josh,

If I was you I'd consider upgrading that receiver before anything else.
All you need to do to adjust the fronts is change the R/L balance. Depending on what disc you have: Video Essentials, AVIA, Sound & Vision, you calibrate your speakers using an SPL meter to either 75 or 85 dB.

 

[Josh W]

Great! Thanks for the help.

 

[John F. Palacio]

Josh W. What has happened is that your newly acquired L&R speakers appear to be more efficient than your old ones.

If you do not have an SPL meter you can get close to a level match by ear. Listen to the tones/white noise and pay special attention to the levels of the L&R compared to the center. Bring the center up or the L&R down to get them to sound the same.

What the salesman probably meant was to get a more efficient center speaker. This will work perfectly of course if the efficiency gain of the new center matches the efficiency gain of your new L&R compared to your old ones. It will also fatten his wallet and thin yours. So I would try level matching what you have, if you're still not happy change the center.