[Rinoue]

I was curious, is it possible to get 2 center channel speakers and use each for the left and right set up for a 2.0 desktop set up??
Would it sound bad? Why?

 

[PleasantSounds]

Obviously you have your reasons to consider this idea, however if you need to invest in it in order to try, then I'd advise against.
 
This may depend on the specific make and model of the speakers, but the general rule is that the center channel's role is to boost the speech clarity in movies. As such, they don't need to carry the whole audio frequency bandwidth - in particular, usually their bass performance is limited, when compared to the same range's left and right channel speakers. Their spatial sound dispersion characteristics may be different too, but this data is not always available.

 

[Rinoue]

Ah, I never thought about the center channel's role and not having the whole audio frequency because of it. This makes sense, thanks for the reply.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  I was curious, is it possible to get 2 center channel speakers and use each for the left and right set up for a 2.0 desktop set up??
Would it sound bad? Why?

 

A lot of HT set-ups by really, really, really OC people use center channels on every channel but the subwoofer. However this is for HT applications, where the primary goal for such people is to make sure that all channels sound alike (some even have them all vertical or horizontal, depending on the dispersion), so the added expense doesn't gain anything for a 2ch system where you can just get a normal 2ch pair.

 

[Rinoue]

one of the reasons why I asked this question was because I saw some photos of peoples 2.0 desktop set up, and a couple pics had speakers with 2 cones with a tweeter in the middle set up vertically, they looked exactly like center speakers that were used for the Left and Right channel so I started wondering what the pros and cons would be for unusual speaker usage like that.

 

[cdsa35000]

It doesn't have to be center speakers, its specific speaker design:

 

[PleasantSounds]

  one of the reasons why I asked this question was because I saw some photos of peoples 2.0 desktop set up, and a couple pics had speakers with 2 cones with a tweeter in the middle set up vertically, they looked exactly like center speakers that were used for the Left and Right channel so I started wondering what the pros and cons would be for unusual speaker usage like that.

 
If you mean something like that:
 

 
then these are NOT center speakers from a 5.1 system, but purpose designed and built near-field studio monitors. This type of speakers is ideal for desktop listening as they have been designed for the listener placed about 1m away. With 5.1 systems the design assumptions are different.
This particular model is Unity Audio The Boulder MKII. They may look like some center speakers, but that's where the similarities end...

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rinoue /img/forum/go_quote.gif

one of the reasons why I asked this question was because I saw some photos of peoples 2.0 desktop set up, and a couple pics had speakers with 2 cones with a tweeter in the middle set up vertically, they looked exactly like center speakers that were used for the Left and Right channel so I started wondering what the pros and cons would be for unusual speaker usage like that.

 

It's called an MTM (midwoofer-tweeter-midwoofer) design, formally called D'Appolito after the first person to use it. There are not center speakers, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwoofer-tweeter-midwoofer

 

In any case the design goal for an MTM speaker is to prevent how easy it is to localize the the tweeter as separate from the midrange or midwoofer, so they either mirror the midrange/woofer driver, or use a 3-way design, but either way the goal is to improve the vertical axis on the speakers. In some cases you can't adjust the crossover point or the attenuation on the tweeter without making it worse in other respects, so to prevent the tweeter from pulling the high frequencies up as the midwoofer pulls down the rest of the spectrum, they mirror the midwoofer or do a 3-way and put the midrange on top.

 

 

In other cases doing an MTM design can have its own downsides, primarily cost; the other is the crossover design and how it may affect impedance behavior as far as the amp is concerned. So one cheaper solution is to just put the midwoofer on top and the tweeter below:

 

Others angle the baffle to reduce time alignment variances:

 

In some cases there's also the problem of the bass driver along with reflections off the floor pulling the bass downward, so they mirror that or put it up top:

 

 

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In any case you have to understand how the design process works. Most speakers are measured and tested at 1m, in most cases they are also tested at a farther distance. Either way, it's still a lab, where they have managed room modes well enough, and the manufacturers still cannot fully account for variance in distance between each speaker to the walls and the seat, plus the reflections and other room effects, in each customer's room.

 

You'll notice that designs don't vary much with studio monitors as they do with home audio, and that's because presumably there won't be a lot of variance between the manufacturer's lab and the customers' studios. That's the keyword there - a studio would also have extensive treatment to reduce room modes, on top of which the distance from the seat to the speakers don't vary too much, and also they're not limited to speaker stands and can mount them on the wall angled down to prevent variances in distance from the ear to the tweeter vs the midwoofer. Even if you're not using them in a recording studio the shorter distance, their dispersion patterns that take into account how close they're likely going to be to a wall, etc, reduces the effects the room may have on the speakers' performance compared to audiophile speakers.

 

 

[Rinoue]

I had no idea there was so much going on with those designs. I don't have much experience with speakers, at the moment I just have 2 M-Audio Bx5a Deluxe for desktop, and I was researching what other speakers are out there for my tv , just want a 2.0 setup using a Schiit Modi 2 Uber dac and going to get a Amp next as well. Anything that'll make the audio better than what the tv has.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  I had no idea there was so much going on with those designs. I don't have much experience with speakers, at the moment I just have 2 M-Audio Bx5a Deluxe for desktop, and I was researching what other speakers are out there for my tv , just want a 2.0 setup using a Schiit Modi 2 Uber dac and going to get a Amp next as well. Anything that'll make the audio better than what the tv has.

 

If they're flanking your TV, how far apart are they going to be? How close are they to the walls? How far is your seat from the speaker and the back wall?

 

As it is the BX5A already have a couple of things going for it. I assume the space over all isn't that large, so the simpler the speaker lay-out, the better. Having more drivers requires that you sit farther back to minimize the path length difference from your ears to the tweeter vs the midrange vs the midwoofer - in this case you only have two to worry about. Even if MTM was designed specifically to try to avoid that, you're still going to end up paying a lot more money just to have a good quality third driver and a properly designed crossover.

 

The second thing the BX5 has going for it is that it's a studio monitor, and nearly all of them are designed to play close to a wall.

 

As it is it would probably be better and more cost-effective if you studied the room and figure out what tweaks you can do to reduce room modes. Even if you do decide to upgrade later, these room tweaks will still serve the new speakers.