Originally Posted By: Ian
Hi cohesion,

Andrew and I have been chatting about if there is need for a centre channel model to specifically match the M100 and LFR1100. And we are just not sure; everyones feedback on this would be appreciated. The upside would obviously be the higher achievable max SPL in the lower frequencies but this would become marginal using an 80Hz crossover to your sub. The downside would be that there are only two of the heavy duty drivers which would mean it would be less efficient than the towers it is being mated with (the VP180 has the efficiency to keep up due to the lower mass of the woofers). Putting three woofers in the centre channel would be best but the layout might prove challenging.


Ian, it looks like you were reading my mind as I had speculated about this very topic in the center channel reference thread on June 30. You will remember that for years, although on a considerably smaller scale, Mirage had center channel models with a rear firing speaker designed to expand the sound stage, however, they were fairly expensive, especially for their size.I am not sure but I believe "DefTech" had a couple of these designs as well. As you know, Mirage later replaced these with their "omnipolar" designs and I owned one for a brief period and although I wasn't particularly thrilled with the over all sound, it did have probably the best "off-axis" performance, by far, that I had ever heard in a center channel speaker.

I wondered myself, in order to match these new "giant size" mains, how one would design it and how big would it have to be in order to compete performance wise with the M100/LFR1100? An interesting design challenge, I am sure, however, I would suspect, if you were able to be successful in coming up with such a model in a type of "bi-polar" center channel, it would be a winner and because of the expanded soundstage, and the more I think of it, it could probably be an easier and more flexible match with any of the other models as well.