I was just reading over at AVS about micro-perf screens as an alternative for the center-channel behind the projector screen issue and like all things it seems to have it's drawbacks. I was wondering if anyone here is using a projector and what sort of compromises they had to make. I'm planning to get a VP150 as my center, and I wondered at what level will it need to be at to be effective? If I have to lower it's position so that it resides below the bottom of the screen can I angle it without acoustic repercussions?

Any general input on the needed angle and relation to listening position would be helpful. I know there's always discussion about this with the 22i's and the 60's.

-Nick

I have my center channel speaker mounted over the screen, tilted down to point at the listening position. I think it sounds great.

Hi x94blair3,

Putting it above and angled down is likely preferable to putting it below, although if you can keep it well away from the floor below the screen, you'll be fine. (The floor may introduce boundary effects and floor bounce if there is no rug or carpet.)

Another approach that works very well was used by Axiom founder and designer, Ian Colquhoun. He used two VP-150s, one bracket-mounted (with the Axiom FMB) above the screen and one also bracket-mounted below it. That way, for viewers, it images in the center of the screen, but of course you have to use two centers to accomplish this.

Send me a private message and I'll email you the photo of his installation.

Regards,

It came up talking back and forth with Alan that you could use 2 center channels (one low, one high) to "center" your dialog and get around a center channel behind the screen. He mentioned that if you want to do this you'd of course have to account for a parallel hookup of the speakers which means that in the case of the VP150's you'd be pushing your receiever at 3ohms.

Which leads you to the need for an amp to power them seperately. To be honest I don't know much about amps...I haven't really considered seperates so I hadn't thought about them. If you were trying to power two centers would you need a surround amp to be able to hook the wire into the "center" channel connections? If so, how would you then deliver the audio to the speakers? Would the center channel connections for different sources all be routed through the amp while the other channels simply go through the A/V receiver?

I'm not sure I'm making much sense, and I'm not even saying this is a worthwhile investment of time or money. I'm just curious to understand how it would work now that I've heard about it.