Don't know why I've never thought about this before.

Regarding this article about center channel speaker placement...

If using two center channel speakers would there be any issues of placing them directly to the sides of the TV/Screen inside of the front mains instead of above and below, providing you have adequate room? Seems like a couple of M80's placed in this manner along with the pair of my existing M80 fronts would provide the perfect sound stage and imaging.

What do you all think?

Edited to add ... What about using a pair of M60s for the centers in the side placed manner along with the pair of 80s for the two front mains? Would they match?

That sure is an interesting thought. You should give the M60s a try in this configuration and report back to the rest of us how well it works. You really have nothing to loose seeing you already have the 60s.

Great find there! I think this also ties to issues some have with the VP150 not being enough speaker,

60s should work fine. 4 80s across the front would be quite impressive.

As long as your TV is of the type that doesn't have problems with magnetic interference.

Ken, so far our Sony plasma hasn't had any issues with either the 60s or the 80s parked right up against it ... hopefully the new Mitsu won't have any problems as well.

I'm going to give the 60s a shot first and see how they'll work out, I'm thinking they will be fine. Good thing I did an in-wall prewire for two center channels in our not-yet-quite-finished dedicated music/TV room. It's getting pretty darn close and looking like it's going to turn out mighty fine.

curious question. How would one wire two center channel speakers?

Clarence you can wire two speakers in parallel as long as you keep an eye out on the combined ohm rating issue or you can run a monoblock power amp to power one of the speakers...I'll porbably do the monoblock.

Why not a pair of M22ti's on stands?

Four M80ti speakers in a row! That's a nice picture. Hey, I can do that.....:-)

Spiff I already have a pair of M60s that I was originally going to use as the rear surrounds but due to ease of placement I'm going with another pair of QS8s for that application. Might as well try 'em.

Richie, there you go! Be aware that a pair of M80s wired in parallel will have an impedance rating of 2 ohms to the power supply...that's a heck of a load.

Rick:

Yikes! My M80ti's will turn into 2-ohm speakers! :-)

I am actually very happy with the VP150 as my center speaker. That plus the two front M80ti's are all I need in front (for now!). The M80-VP150-M80 trio create a seamless soundstage. The Denon 3805 is rated at 120wpc, and is very good in most HT's. But I am sure I will get better separation if I use a 200-300wpc amplifier for those 3 front speakers. I plan to do that later this year.

My rear M80's really shine when I am listening to multichannel music (SACD's and DVD-A's). I know they are overkill for Dolby/DTS 5.1 movies. I will probably get a pair of QS8's and use them as back speakers.

Still thinking...Four M80ti's as fronts...Hmm...
So where can I get a good amplifier for my 2-ohm M80ti's?

Something from Crown should do the trick.

Or you could split the signal from the preamp and then use a regular old 2 channel 4 ohm capable amp to do it.

Thanks for the link to the Crown amps. I just looked at the specs. Wow! Those amps certainly pack a punch! And I am sure they also cost a lot! :-)

I think I will just have to split the signal from the pre-out and use one of my unused amp channels.

Hi BrotherBob,

I've not tried it, and it should work OK but there is one little catch. The idea of using two center channels, one above and one below the screen, is that the two centers produce a "phantom" image that's locked in the center of the screen, which is a consideration with large 120-inch front-projector installations.

If you use two centers on each side of the TV display, there is a possibility that for viewers sitting off-axis to one side or the other, the dialog will move to the center speaker nearest the viewer, in the same way that if you just listen in stereo and sit to one side, the soundstage shifts to your side to the speaker nearest you.

With a large display, and centers to each side, the shift of dialog to one side of the screen might be perceptible and off-putting.

Incidentally, magnetic radiation from a speaker affects only Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) displays. LCD, Plasma, DILA, and DLP displays are immune to any sort of magnetic radiation.

Regards,

Interesting link. Yesterday, I finished hanging the plasma on the wall (pics soon). The change from a tube to the plasma meant that the center speaker (VP100, only) was moved from above the TV (~4.5 feet up) to around two feet off the ground, resting nicely at about the same level as the mid-range driver in the M60s. This placement was not only necessary, but prefereable from a cosmetic point of view.

I found the sound stage to be much tighter and panning was better. With the speaker lower, it is more at ear level, and voices are clearer and richer.

Comparing the two choices, I agree all the way with the problems associated with having a center channel too far above the other front speakers.

Now, of course, I'm itching to upgrade to a VP150 ... stop it, stop...[/swatting hand reaching for check-book]

I’ll be using two M22’s on stands as a center channel. I had intended to place them about one foot apart under the screen, as high as possible. Two M60’s as centers would be pretty cool two. I don’t have room under the screen though.