Using a floorstanding speaker as a center speaker (1 Viewer)

[Scott Hayes]

I want all my speakers to be all the same make and model and I have the oportunity in the next few months to make that a reality.

Curently all my speakers are Polk Audio:

800I for the fronts

CS350LS center

600I rear

I have the oportunity to get four more 800I speakers in a few months at an incredible price. I am going to replace the 600I and add a rear center chanel. I am considering using the last 800I for a center speaker. Anyone have an opinion on this, is it worth it? Part of the problem would be how to position it. The 800I are floorstanding speakers and my TV is a 46" Mitsu RPTV so I dont know how I could place the 800I as a center.

Any opinions or suggestions would be apreciated.

Thanks

Scott Hayes

 

[EricHaas]

You summed it up. The issue with a tower is placement. Otherwise, there is nothing wrong with it. Indeed, many will say it is absolutely superior to a typical center, because speakers are supposed to be designed with more off-axis than than on-axis dispersion. Hence, some people say that typical centers have too narrow a sound stage, and that you should either turn the center on its end, or else use a regular speaker. But a tower presents a problem. If it is magnetically shielded, I guess you could place it right flush up against either side of the TV. Not perfect placement, but it will suffice. Otherwise, your options would seem finite.

 

[Scott Hayes]

I am good at building things. I was thinking of building a custom stand for the tv and laying the speaker under the tv. Will there be any bad side effects from lying a floorstanding speaker on its side?

 

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I have a 3ft Wharfedale mfm-5 lying on its side across the top of my toshiba tw56x81 (16:9 56") and it works quite well. Things I have learned in doing it:

1) I had to put it off-center so that the tweeter is more towards the center of the screen.

2) Using little feet to reduce contact between the top of the tv and the speaker to just four points significantly improved the sound quality.

3) Letting it jut a couple of inches out ahead of the screen below it improves the sound a little bit.

4) At close to 30lbs it isn't a problem for the tv to support.

5) The tone is slightly altered by laying it on its side, I can only hear the difference in the white-noise test-tone level-setup from my receiver, otherwise it sounds the same as my mains during pans.

6) Being on top of a projection tv, magnetic shielding is not required.

 

[EricHaas]

"I was thinking of building a custom stand for the tv and laying the speaker under the tv. Will there be any bad side effects from lying a floorstanding speaker on its side?"

Scott, go back on read my last post. Yes, you can lay it down, but you might cancel out the benefit of using a tower instead of a conventional center. Also see my thread started here called "placing speakers on their sides." The issue is explained by others there very well. You can find it by viewing all threads in this group from the "last 5 days."