Why not use mains as centers

Maggies are a special case. Considering their construction, using a pair, edge-to-edge with the HF drivers together, actually works well and, imho, better than any of their dedicated centers. In fact, one of the very best MCH systems I have ever heard consisted of three pairs of 20.1s with one pair as the center, edge-to-edge and sharply angled with the HF ribbons pointed at the listener.

As for others saying that they hear no interference with a pair of standard speakers side-by-side, that's fine. That there is interference can be demonstrated with measurements but the degree to which listeners hear it or are bothered by it varies greatly.

Kal

thanks for the input.I was just going to put them on both sides of a 73" screen,use them for movies and play music in two channel.I have the room I was just wondering why I don't see anybody doing it.

Sorry Kal, I disagree with you.

Mark

My two cents worth , a good center channel with 2 mid drivers flanking the right and left side of a tweeter mated with matching drivers in the left and right fronts will not only give a more seamless integration with timbre matching but the designs of most good center channels will pan sound across from side to side better than a speaker made to be used as either the left or right side of a pair of speakers. Center channels in home theater do more than vocals. The center channel is where 90% of a movies sound will come from no matter what type of movie. In my opinion it is the most important speaker for home theater sound. With 90% of the sound coming from the center channel why wouldn,t it be . I have to agree that a specialized design for the center is better for home theater use. I cannot agree with a statement that center channels are designed to accomodate positioning and not performance. NHT AC2 , Martin Logans ,to say that center channels like these two of many were not built with performance of sound first is hard to beleive. Sorry , my two cents actually ran up to five cents worth. Damn inflation! Cheers

Well, gentlemen, you can disagree with me all you want but the physics does not change. Two drivers emitting the same signals but displaced from each other by more than 1/2 wavelength will produce additive and subtractive interactions resulting in an extremely ragged spatial radiation pattern in the plane of the drivers. This means, for the typical center channel, in the horizontal plane, unfortunately.

Thus, a typical MTM arrangement is fine when vertical since its horizontal dispersion is uniform and the vertical dispersion less important as long as the listeners remain seated or in the direct beam of the speaker. A "center channel with 2 mid drivers flanking the right and left side of a tweeter" is a design that is made to accommodate design and convenience and suffers from the described uneven dispersion. Note the lack of any quality main speakers with laterally arrayed drivers.

I do not wish to single out ML, nht or any other decent company since they are almost all at fault. They want to sell speakers that people will want and, unfortunately, most people think that a wide center speaker with an array of drivers "looks" like it would have a wide dispersion.

None of what I say depends on my hearing but on physics. Speak with any design engineer or read any book on speaker engineering and the issue is clear. Whether you care about it is your own business.

Kal