I received it this morning and the packing was bomb proof. I will post a few pictures of the packing. The box was double wall as well.
Rob
I received it this morning and the packing was bomb proof. I will post a few pictures of the packing. The box was double wall as well.
Rob
"I could be arguing in my spare time"
Here are a couple of pictures out of the box. The flash makes it look more brown toned than it is under normal room lighting. The fit and finish on it is great! Really nice looking speaker. It's perfect fit for where I had my original Urei 811C center. Looks a whole lot nicer as well.
Rob
"I could be arguing in my spare time"
I spent a good part of the day looking for music with a varied center fill to check things out. I ended up using mostly SACD and DVD-A with a couple of Blue-Ray disks to finish off. I have used a Urei 811C clone for my center channel for several years. I was always impressed by how natural vocals sounded through it. In my mind it would be a hard act to follow.
I took down the old center, set the Urei 839 EQ to flat and reset the gain to help match the efficiency of the mains. I went to plug in my speaker leads and found the 5 way binding post holes blocked. There are little black and red caps that are easily removed so you can use banana plugs with the terminals. There are 4 terminals and shorting straps so you can bi-wire if you want. Ran some pink noise and checked the levels with my SPL meter to match them up across the 3 front channels.
Dropped in a disk and started listening and was struck by how smooth it sounded. No emphasis or chestiness on male vocals. Female vocals were smooth and not strident. Percussion was fast and clean with plenty of power and snap. The clarity and definition on everything I tried was exceptional. Even really busy movie sound tracks had everything all clearly laid out and easy to hear. All in all a very nice center channel and definitely a step-up.
If you have heard one please add your thoughts.
Rob
"I could be arguing in my spare time"
Hi Rob,
I was playing around with my HT configuration comparing the 880’s to the 800’s for L/R mains. The 880’s won hands down and the 800’s have been moved upstairs. I don’t have much to compare the center channel to but I’m very happy with the setup.
My thoughts are that if your 1400 clones come close to the real thing you don't need a center channel unless you're spreading your room with off center guests during movies. The 1400s image rock solid into the center if you're in the sweet spot, and if you have guest(s) you can either plant them in your perfect spot, or let them enjoy less than perfect sound, they really don't care, you do. I'm a 4.0 advocate.
Hello AudiomagnateMy thoughts are that if your 1400 clones come close to the real thing you don't need a center channel unless you're spreading your room with off center guests during movies. The 1400s image rock solid into the center if you're in the sweet spot, and if you have guest(s) you can either plant them in your perfect spot, or let them enjoy less than perfect sound, they really don't care, you do. I'm a 4.0 advocate.
My
My 1400 clones are not in my HT set-up. They are in a stand alone 2 channel set-up. My mains in the HT system also image very well but that is independent for the need of a center channel in the set-up. I remember 4.0/Quad from way back when and it never worked for me. Could have been the limitations of the media and decoders available at that time. Any material mastered today is formated specifically for the use of a center channel and not using one imposes another set of avoidable compromises. If you want to start a thread about the merits of using or not using a center channel in a surround set-up please do.
Rob
"I could be arguing in my spare time"
Very nice Rob. I guess it's time to enjoy!
Johnny Haugen Sørgård
That looks like zebrawood. Absolutely gorgeous. It's amazing that they would hide that behind a grille cloth.
Wow, those look really, really nice! Wish I had room for something like that in my HT setup...
jblnut
4.0 advocate
There is a difference in speaker placement. Nowadays for music this placement is often recommended, not equally distributed in four corners.
For music all speakers (L, C, R, SL, SR) are recommended as the same fullrange type.
According to my experience the center may be omitted if L and R have good imaging. (Don't forget to adjust the DVD player )
Use a sub for music if adequate.
Fully ack.
______________________
Peter (sorry for chiming in)
So the guy in the center is a horer. That means my ex was right! That's what I was saying. Dolby phantom works for me, and the centers I've tired out fail miserably in comparison to my mains. Centers help keep the dialog in the center of the screen if you're off center, but if you're in the sweet spot, they are superfluous. At least for me. For a "real" HT you need one, and that 880 is freakin' amazing, but the people that watch movies here don't really care that much, and if I want to impress them, I plop them down in the sweet spot. If I get a bigger place and some friends I'll go 5.0 or maybe even 7.0.
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