Hello everyone, first post, looking for some quick advice (1 Viewer)

[chupacabra]

Hello,
Been lurking for a while and I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on which of these 3 speakers would be a better center channel for the following circumstances. I know they may not be the "ideal" speakers but they fit within the criteria.
Priced around $250 or less.
Size has to be 7 1/4" tall or less and 10" deep or less.
Fill a room with 16 foot high ceilings, and otherwise fairly large space
Onkyo Tx-nr509 receiver
1.) Paradigm cinema 200 center channel $220
2.) Polk CS10 center channel $120
3.) Yamaha NS-C310BL. $200
Price aside, (within the $250 ceiling) I would really just rather have the better sounding speaker. The large living room with 16 foot ceilings combined with the fact that I am currently only using an older focal sib satellite speaker as a center, seems to make the voices not nearly as clear as they should be, among other annoyances and to regurgitate an old quote, it makes me "mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!"
Quite frankly I'm not opposed to the idea of upgrading the receiver if anyone has any suggestions, but my main focus right now is the center.
Any help or advice you can give me is greatly appreciate!!
Thank you!
Cliff

 

[gene c]

It would be near impossible to say for sure which center speaker you would like best. Paradigm has an excellent reputation for building quality speakers. Yamaha can surprise me at times with their offerrings and Polk is one of the most often recommended speaker lines in your price range.
The most important thing to do is to match your front speakers to the center channel as closely as possible. Often times the center and fronts produce the same signals at or near the same time. If they sound too different from each other the front sound stage will sound goofy. What front speakers do you have?

 

[chupacabra]

Thank you for the reply Gene!
Currently all of my speakers are the older Focal Sibs and they are no longer in production so I can't get a matching center channel (I've looked) and although I otherwise love the sound the Focals put out, (they sound much larger than they look) they are just too hard to get a hold of and the only local place that sold them is now closed so I'd like to go with something more consumer friendly anyway. I suppose eventually I will upgrade all of the speakers so if the center I purchase now happens to closely match the sound of the current fronts, great, if not I guess I would rather have the better sounding center so later I can upgrade them all to match.
Thank you again for the help!
All the best,
Cliff

 

[schan1269]

I'd stick with the Paradigm.
The only JM Lab/Focal center on Fleabay at the moment is a CC900 for $585.

 

[gene c]

If you go outside the brand of the fronts speakers the next thing to look at is the tweeter. The Focal Sibs use a Mylar tweeter. Of the three you mentioned I'd go with the Paradigm. But that's 5% good advice and 95% out of the air. But the Polk should be easier to sell when you do upgrade. At this point, that might be your deciding factor.

 

[TonyD]

Hi Cliff just wanted to say welcome to HTF.

 

[Dave Upton]

I'll echo that recommendation - Paradigm does build a quality product and owning them, I think their tweeter is most likely to match what you already own.

 

[chupacabra]

Thank you Tony, Gene, Sine, Schan for all the input so far!
I guess that makes the score Paradigm 3, everything else, 0. Sounds like you all know what your're talking about so I'm inclined to take your word for it and give the Paradigm a try.
Gene, I'm pretty impressed that you knew the Focal speakers had a mylar tweeter. They don't seem like what would be a "mainstream" speaker to me, although I'm admittedly not well versed in the audio field (yet).
I can't get the Paradigm speaker until Monday so I have the rest of the weekend to browse if you guys have any other suggestions. Especially anything that you would consider getting for yourselves, personally. I would be interested to hear what you audophiles would be looking at if you were in the market for a set of speakers in the sub ~$2000 range, maybe even a little above that. By the way, I bought the Focals pretty much on the spot, taking the word of the sales person a few years back. He recommened these over comprobable speaker systems by bose, polk, and I think even Klipsch at the time. What are your personal opinions on the Focal sibs? I suppose that question is a bit like asking some that plays in the majors to give their opinion of what is going on in the minors, but I'm kind of interested.
Thanks again for all the help and the warm welcome!
All the best,
Cliff

 

[gene c]

"Gene, I'm pretty impressed that you knew the Focal speakers had a mylar tweeter."
Actually, I didn't. But I have Google on speed-dial.
I was surprised they do have Mylar tweeters. They're usually used in the very least expensive models around. But that doesn't mean they can't be used in better speakers. And Focal-JM Labs are very good speakers.
I had Swan Diva speakers for several years but it was time for something different. Since then I've had Revel Concerta's, Polk LSi's and Infinity Beta's. I pretty much buy all my stuff on the used market and currently I'm looking for my next setup. If I can't get a decent price for my LSi's then I might add a pair of LSi15's towers off ebay (Factory refurbished from Polks ebay store, $849 shipped). Others I'm looking at are Swan D2.1se, PSB Image and AperionAudio's Verus series. Maybe the SVS M series but they were dis-continued. But for the price on the used market, Infinity Beta's are hard to beat. I might just keep them instead.
http://www.theaudioinsider.com/index.php?loudspeakers=swan-high-end&cPath=21_23&osCsid=0cf7ee3cae432441e78caf29e369a982
http://www.saturdayaudio.com/
http://www.aperionaudio.com/speakers/verus-family
But there are so many others it's hard to list them all.

 

[Dave Upton]

My progression through audio went from several mainstream brands like Energy, Polk to AV123 Rockets and now I've settled on Paradigm Studio v.5's. I'm sure you'll be happy!