2. home-theater
  3. 1186968472

Good sounding, small center speaker

I'm considering the Gallo or Orb speakers for a home theater speaker system, but I'm concerned that especially dialogue will sound a bit light or thin coming from such small speakers. Anyone have experience with either of these in an HT setup, and if so how do they do as center channels for movies. Can they do a credible job with movie dialogue, and how do they compare to larger center speakers you've heard?

As an alternative I'm thinking about avoiding the center speaker altogether and just running something like 4 Maggie MMGWs and using a phantom center and adding a HSU STF-2 or VTF-2 sub.

Any thoughts would be helpful, but I'm really looking for a small footprint speaker that can do a great job with movie dialogue so I don't feel like I'm hearing a "small" speaker. Thanks all.
soix
soix OP
9,755 posts
 
Thanks for the input guys. Big help.

Sounds like the Maggies won't work for me since a lot of the time I'll be sitting off axis. I thought planars worked fine left to right but suffered in the vertical domain (i.e. if standing up). I think it was the 6 moons review that seemed to reinforce the off-axis behavior as a strength rather than a weakness. Limited dynamics would be an issue though.

Seems like there's some differing opinions on the Gallo/Orb design types. Might have to let my ears make that decision, or I might just run Paradigm Atoms all around (or maybe incorporate their center speaker which looks good to me since the mid lies beneath the tweeter, which I have found to be a superior setup for center channel duty).

Thanks again for all the help.
elevick
2,638 posts
 
Consider two centers? You can run a Y out from your pre-amp or receiver to incorporate dual centers. This will fill more area. However, you may get cancellation problems...
dgarretson
2,601 posts
 
Merlin TSM-MX is relatively compact & is very clear with dialog-- my key criterion for CC.
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
Well, I guess I'm the only one who has a Gallo as center, so I get to be the "authority" this time [smile]. I'm using a Due as my center (with Ref 3.1s for Fronts and more Dues in the Rear) and I think it sounds *great*. Those little speakers do NOT sound thin at all, and are VERY good on dialogue.

I do recommned, however, going with a "matched" setup if you can. By having the Gallos all the way around, I get a very smooth transition from one speaker to the next. This replaces a 3/5 Paradigm system (Studio 80s in Front, CC350 Center, and Infinitys in the Rear) and solidly kicks that setup's ass.

The Due is a very good center channel speaker. There is a pair on Audiogon for $750 right now...

-RW-
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Mirage Omnisat v2 or Nanosat, or the center channel version of either. They're all very small and omnipolar, which means you get wide coverage from a very small speaker. Center channel clarity does NOT suffer, however. Their midrange is exemplary, the synthetic enclosures with non-parallel lines avoid boxy resonances, and the Omnisats are linear down to 70 Hz for an easy and safe handoff to the sub. Power handling of 150-175 watts, too.

Check 'em out here.
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