Hey guys;

As I've said in a few other threads, the guy that did my parents home theater, and he really screwed things up. I have a question about the center channel.

We built the house from the ground up, and he was involved since day one, but he never accounted for a center channel and where to place it and what not.

The way things are, there isn't a really easy way to mount or have center channel speakers where they should be (and where they should be would pretty much mean directly behind the projector screen. Would this be a problem?

Currently, he has two speakers for the center channel (??), and they are sitting right next to the front left and right surround sound speakers. Is this bad or is this ok?

Also, the center channel speakers, as I said he has two of them for the center channel, and they are both ran off of a single speaker output on the amp. (I mean, he has two black wires on one terminal, and two red wires on the other terminal.) This would be wired in parallel (I think?). Is this bad, or is this ok? Can this cause the amp to overheat?

Thank you
Aychamo

Screen manufacturers actually make perforated screens for just this purpose. Commercial movie theaters place the center behine the main screen. Note that you do need a perforated screen, a plain screen with center mounted behind it will not sound good. For info on perforated screens, I suggest the Stewart Filmscreen website.

http://www.stewartfilm.com/


This will not do what the center channel is meant to do. The center can be positioned above, below, or behind the screen. If above or below, be sure to tilt the speaker to result in the best imaging.


Yes, they are wired in parallel. This will cause the impedance presented to the amp to be half the impedance of a single speaker. If your amp is capable of driving a 4 ohm load, and the speakers are 8 ohms, this will likely work without damage. If the speakers are 6 ohms, 2 in parallel is 3 ohms, and all but the best amps will start having problems. If the speakers are 4 ohms, the load presented to the amp is 2 ohms, yikes... I'd definitely fix in this case.

Lower speaker impedance will result in greater heating of the amplifier. Lower speaker impedance also means the amplifier has to have larger output capacitance to support the speakers. I'd check the impedance of your speakers (look at the manual) and the capability of your amp (look at the manual) to determine if this setup is ok.

Hey there!

Thank you for the info!

Here is the ohm rating of my receiver (Denon AVR 3805)

• 7 Channels equal power amplifier section
• 120 watts per channel (8 ohms, 20 Hz-20 kHz, <.05%THD)
• 160 watts per channel (6 ohms, 1 kHz, <.7%THD)

Would it be 8 or 6?

is the projector a DLP? If so Do Not use a perf screen. Try not using a center and "matrixing " one from the left and right front speakers

What do you mean by matrixing from the left and right?

Why not? I've seen the Stewart Micro Perf screens used with DLP front screen projectors, and I don't think anyone could see the perf from any reasonable viewing distance.

It's interesting that you say that a perf screen shouldn't be used, as I believe the THX Ultra 2 standards require it.

When you tell the reciever you do not have a center it splits the signal between the l+r front speakers creating a center
It is not that you "see" the holes, but creats a pattern on the screen. I have not seen this pattern because i have never done a perf with a DLP on the advise of my local Stuart screen rep