Planar center Channels

[bonzo75]

Hi, Panels like Logan CLX or Apogee, or Analysis Audio have asymmetric left and right speakers (soundlabs and Quads don't).

So, if I wanted to set up a multichannel (for Mch classical music), I would not be able to place a single Logan CLX in the center due to the asymmetry. Can it be placed sideways, with the feet on sides? Will this cause dispersion problems?

What do people think? Same case for the Analysis Audio, which has a ribbon on one side, top to bottom, and magnets make up the rest of the speaker. So if placed sideways, the ribbon would go either at the bottom or the top.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Hi, Panels like Logan CLX or Apogee, or Analysis Audio have asymmetric left and right speakers (soundlabs and Quads don't).

So, if I wanted to set up a multichannel (for Mch classical music), I would not be able to place a single Logan CLX in the center due to the asymmetry. Can it be placed sideways, with the feet on sides? Will this cause dispersion problems?

What do people think? Same case for the Analysis Audio, which has a ribbon on one side, top to bottom, and magnets make up the rest of the speaker. So if placed sideways, the ribbon would go either at the bottom or the top.

Yes, there would be dispersion issues. The best solution would be to make a symmetrical center channel out of a pair of them with their HF ribbons abutted. I heard a Magnepan setup like this and it was superb. Of course, it is still a vertical array and might get in the way of a display. You could use two smaller speakers from the same range.

 

[bonzo75]

Yes, there would be dispersion issues. The best solution would be to make a symmetrical center channel out of a pair of them with their HF ribbons abutted. I heard a Magnepan setup like this and it was superb. Of course, it is still a vertical array and might get in the way of a display. You could use two smaller speakers from the same range.

Thanks Kal. Is this the Maggie with the exasound e28? How was it on bass, and on brass slam?

What you say is also what I got from the Roberto on the ML forum: "Just use both speakers as one...put them L&R one next to the other and you are done. This way, it would be, I think, the largest center channel speaker, and the shape will be symmetric. When setting at the signal processor, use the large speaker config. Do not use the crossover...and to drive them, use a stereo power amplifier with a Y connector, so you can feed the same mono signal to both speakers."

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Thanks Kal. Is this the Maggie with the exasound e28? How was it on bass, and on brass slam?

This was from a demo about 10 years ago.

 

[DonH50]

Magnepan makes several planer center speakers. Mine goes down to 80 Hz (claimed) but the newere upper two models are only rated down to 200 Hz, which seems a little high to me. I think they would work better using their speaker-stand but unfortunately don't have room for one in my system. Fortunately the mains are close enough it hasn't bothered me... They also advocate their tri-center approach, a scheme those who have tried swear by, but it has always looked a little tough to dial in to me.

Martin Logan makes centers but I am not sure any of them are pure panels. I don't know, have not really looked.

 

[bonzo75]

Magnepan makes several planer center speakers. Mine goes down to 80 Hz (claimed) but the newere upper two models are only rated down to 200 Hz, which seems a little high to me. I think they would work better using their speaker-stand but unfortunately don't have room for one in my system. Fortunately the mains are close enough it hasn't bothered me... They also advocate their tri-center approach, a scheme those who have tried swear by, but it has always looked a little tough to dial in to me.

Martin Logan makes centers but I am not sure any of them are pure panels. I don't know, have not really looked.

What is the tri-center? The Logan center by itself is not supposed to be good enough, some create a stacked array of their center channel, enable the twitter only in one, and do such tweaks.

 

[DonH50]

http://www.magnepan.com/tri-center

Mind you, I am not advocating it, just pointing it out for reference. I have never heard it and it would not fit my current room.

 

[bonzo75]

Hi I have found an interesting planar hybrid in NJ, more DIY, and the guy said that he can cut a panel for the centre, without the ribbon tweeter and the bass, which will do 80hz - 6Khz. Is this sufficient for a center for music? The L and R speakers are planar hybrids (like Logan hybrids, but ribbon magnets instead of stats)

 

[DonH50]

My Magnepan center only goes down to ~80 Hz but has a much more extended top range. I think a lot depends upon what you like. For me, the bottom is OK since I sit fairly close to my big L/R speakers. A little larger room or a little further back and I think I would want more LF from the center. Although at my age my hearing tops out around 10k ~ 12k I would still like a little more high end -- 6 kHz seems a little low to me. IME the highs pretty much all go through the center, only the lows are restricted.

 

[bonzo75]

My Magnepan center only goes down to ~80 Hz but has a much more extended top range. I think a lot depends upon what you like. For me, the bottom is OK since I sit fairly close to my big L/R speakers. A little larger room or a little further back and I think I would want more LF from the center. Although at my age my hearing tops out around 10k ~ 12k I would still like a little more high end -- 6 kHz seems a little low to me. IME the highs pretty much all go through the center, only the lows are restricted.

Actually, his panels are slim enough to have two, without the woofer, going from top to 80. And cheap (in hifi terms). So I can consider that. A ribbon magnetic multichannel. Wow.

 

[DonH50]

Technically my center is not the ribbon model -- I was too cheap to pay 3x the price for the ribbon version. Mine has a standard planer-dynamic low panel and what Magnepan calls a quasi-ribbon high panel. FR spec is 80 Hz to 20 kHz; I think the ribbon goes to 40 kHz. I can only hear to about 12 kHz now (down from ~22 kHz in my youth ). My rears and surrounds are also QR (Magnepan MC-1's).