What is best center speaker?


I have an HT set up with bryston 4b amps (4 ) an AV 9000 marantz a 65in HDTV and Piega P10 as fronts Piega P5 as back and the Piega Center. I have now blown the center twice and am tired of sending it back east to be fixed. I need a center that will fit in with the Piega and will take 200 to 400 watts and sound outstanding. Does a center like this exist? (The Piega center is a wimp)Thanks for your input.
128x128nicknapster
Are you Running the Piega as "large" on your pre/pro or receiver? YOu NEED TO BE RUNNING IT AS "small"!(or 80hz or higher) Really, no reasonably/practical sized center channel can handle full range properly for home applications. Deep dynamic bass will distort the speaker's woofer(s) and it's most always audible. Really, for passive speakers especially, you need large woofers to handle dynamic 20hz bass info and such. Actually powered active woofers are what's needed to control such heavy info properly. That said, even the more robust centers need to set to "small", and have the bass sent to a more aptly prepared sub.
I am not so familiar with Piega's speakers ingeneral however. But I have seen there speaker(mains) at shows. I couldn't tell you how the speaker hold up dynamically. But they seem, well, delicate! I could be wrong. Still, the best thing you could likely do if you're sticking with Piega's for HT purposes, would be to configure the speaker for "small". If that's still posing a problem for your listening habits, I would consider NOT USING THE PIEGA SYSTEM AT ALL for movies! They're likely designed first and for most with less demanding music dubties in mind!(like Magnapan's and such, which are delicate in my experiences, and don't handle dynamics well.
You'd be better off(as with most people who have more dainty audiophile rigs) using the Piega's you like with Music dubties only(I'm guessing you like lots of pretty instrumentals, vocals,jazz, and light classical?...which I picture Piega's doing best really), and getting 5/7 matching dedicated HT speakers for movie purposes, maximizing both formats to their best potential for your purposes!
Sooooooo many people try to take their fav speakers they like so much for listening to Diana Krall with and enlist them for HT dubties! They often try to do the whole system (running speakers full range no less) for HT applications, and it most often(yes, most often), isn't so spectacular or effective! Dedicated HT speakers are going to do better in most applications, and should be strongly considered! You could mount some very very effective acoustic suspenstion HT speakers on the wall for excellett results for movies, getting the speakers entirely out of the way! With something like a B&K pre/pro, you could use the parametric EQ on board to flatten out the response of the speakers/system, and have great HT sound with proper set up!
Anyway, I understand your desire to use your music speakers for HT dubties. I used to have Thiel 2.3's/1.5's and SCS3 center un my HT/music system. I eventually got better HT results using some Klipsch SB1/2's (running tubes out of a pre/pro...Outlaw preamp soon to be added).
This is the very reason most audio mag reviewers have two systems!..they can mazimize what they want out of both music and movies.
IF it where my money/system, I'd keep the Piega's for what you like out of music, and go HT speakers for movies. I think many reivers/editors from mag's would agree.
Good luck
Totem Mani-2- used 5 of them in an HT system driven by Theta Dreadnaught (400 wpc into 4 ohms)- interal dual isobarik woofers- could take whatever I threw at it...
The best Center channel speaker is actually a third speaker the same as the other two front speakers.

This could present a problem if your fronts are large floorstanding speakers. If you are projecting on a wall screen you could have one under the screen. Bookshelf speakers are no problem with any TV monitor.

George Lucas uses five B&W Nautilus 802's all around to mix his 5.1 soundtracks. So his center mix assumes you'll do the same (use a regular speaker for a center).
Nick: You can't expect a relatively low efficiency speaker using two small drivers to do low bass and play loudly and do it cleanly. As such, you have to accept that there will be trade-offs with such a design and either limit the volume and / or the amount of low frequency information that you are going to send to the speaker. As such, the suggestion from Foreverhifi to run the speaker on the "small" setting may help, but i don't know if it will get you all the way there.

By the way, what are you "blowing up" on this speaker ? Are you killing the tweeter, one or both of the mid-woofers, part of the crossover network, etc ??? If you are taking out specific parts, such as the tweeter, ask Piega to change the slope and hinge frequency of the crossover to something a little more conservative. If it is the mid-woofers, tell them that you want a custom model with four mid-woofers rather than just two. They can series-parallel the drivers. While this will will raise the impedance, it also increase power handling / maximum SPL capacity. You've obviously got plenty of power since you are smoking the speaker, so the change to a higher impedance probably wouldn't hurt you any.

If you want to avoid all of this, switch over to running another P10 for your center channel. That is, if it is possible. I agree with Sugar that running identical or a near identical center speaker to what you are running for the mains seems to work best. Piega may cut you a deal on a single P10 since you've already had problems and it may be cheaper for them to help you out than to have to repair the speaker under warranty. That is, if they are covering the repairs under warranty. Sean
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PS.. Forever: You might be surprised how well my low efficiency, low impedance "audiophile type" center channel speaker does in terms of bass extension and high spl's while retaining good clarity. Then again, with 800 watts driving two 8's, a dome mid and dome tweeter in a 4+ cu ft cabinet, it's not exactly "under-powered" or "little" : )
I guess I must be lucky. I have the Von Schweikert LCR35. I don't use a sub so all speakers are set for full.I actually get some rumbling out of this center when I use the THX set up. (At the begining of some of these THX movies.)---This, when the tone is for your sub part of the test---Yup,out of this center speaker. AND, yes it is a clean bass sound.
I think what determines this is how low the speaker goes. I can't remember how low. It's on Albert's site,I just remember the spec. is better than for Aerial cc3. AND this center is twice as musical.