[NeilF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^ From someone with a low end center, once you move up the line you'll do a 180. A higher end center is about sounding better, with wider frequency response, more natural, able to play louder, and sounding great whilst going loud. You'd think a matching £200 center be fine, but trust me when you hear a higher quality center you won't bother with that £200 speaker anymore. A center is used for music, do you watch any concert DVD's? Multi-channel DTS, DVD-Audio or SACD? The center actually does more in a home theatre than the left & rights. For one thing most speech comes from that speaker, so is critical. I cannot understand why you're not interested in sound quality, after all if you are why are you upgrading left & rights? Why then ignore the center?

If we assume the tonal response is much the same (as Peter Tyson and the individual who owns such a setup suggests), then all we're talking about is clarity.

Given the choice of:-
Left - average clarity
Center - average clarity
Right - average clarity

Or:-
Left - good clarity
Center - average clarity
Right - good clarity

How can the second be anything but better than the first, as long as the difference/sound is not so significant it makes the center sound out of place.

Of course, in an idea world you'd upgrade everything. But I don't want to spend what I don't have to... If I can spend £100 and get a noticable improve (with no real downside) in my front response, I'll be happy

So yes, I'd love to upgrade the center too, but if I can get away without doing it, fine...

ps1: The individual I'm talking to has the same speakers as me, and has simply upgrade the woofer and 302s to 902is. And says it's been a nice improvement. He certainly doesn't suggest the center is out of place. And it appears he takes his setup/system far more seriously than I do...

ps2: From your experience of ported speakers, are the ports there just to 'breath' and let air in/out of the speaker? Or are they actually used to emit bass sound (in some way)?

 

[iriverdude]

The latter. But the latter will show up the center. Will you be able to go back to the smaller stereo speakers after upgrading? Nope. Trust me you'll notice something isn't quite right if you upgrade stereo speakers. Take this from someone who's used various center speakers.

Bass reflex - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[NeilF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif The latter. But the latter will show up the center. Will you be able to go back to the smaller stereo speakers after upgrading? Nope. Trust me you'll notice something isn't quite right if you upgrade stereo speakers. Take this from someone who's used various center speakers.

I can understand how it might in many case... And might not in some others?

Is it possible you've not experiences jumps across speakers from the same family which have very similar output natures?

Anyway, it is a very important consideration, and I'm glad this thread has made me aware of it!

 

[driftingbunnies]

Even if there is no tonal difference, depending how large of a jump you make, upgrading the center is recommended. Sure if you jump one line up it might not make too big of a difference. However, if you jump one more after these 902's, are you going to keep the same center? I personally wouldn't because now you're two levels up and just cause they're in the same family doesn't necessarily mean they'll keep the same balance and tones.

To me you can't just make $100 differences at a time to hear a difference unless you start selling what you already have. There is nothing I can get for $100 that will be better than what I have now. But I guess if that's all you're willing to budget then there's not much we can do here.

 

[NeilF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by driftingbunnies /img/forum/go_quote.gif Even if there is no tonal difference, depending how large of a jump you make, upgrading the center is recommended. Sure if you jump one line up it might not make too big of a difference. However, if you jump one more after these 902's, are you going to keep the same center? I personally wouldn't because now you're two levels up and just cause they're in the same family doesn't necessarily mean they'll keep the same balance and tones. To me you can't just make $100 differences at a time to hear a difference unless you start selling what you already have. There is nothing I can get for $100 that will be better than what I have now. But I guess if that's all you're willing to budget then there's not much we can do here.

The speakers I'm talking about are $200

If people are now suggesting the 902i's sound no different/better than the 302's then surely that's a new argument?

Yes, in an ideal world I'd upgrade:-
- My front spears
- My woofer
- My center
- My rears
- My amp
- My TV
- My car
- My house

Somewhere though, I'll draw a line between cost and return and practicality... Thus far upgrading/replacing the front LR speakers seems possible (jury still out though) and it appears it will improve sound hopefully without making the center appear out of place. So this seems like an all out win surely. If there's no downside and only better sound, great.

If I later want to improve again, then most likely (from feedback) the woofer is next... Followed then by the center...

If I do get the 902is and for some reason the center sounds bad (against first hand accounts) then I'll see what I want to do from there. Either return back to the 302s having learned an interesting lesson, or upgrade the center.

 

[driftingbunnies]

Why don't you just buy them and tell us what you think. Then maybe we can end this debate.

 

[iriverdude]

yeah it's only £200, I spend more on a audiophile volume knob. Maybe.

 

[NeilF]

Well, so far so good... A couple of days in the 902I's seem to have 'opened up'. You know what's it's like when you get new speakers and initially they sound limited and take a while to loosen up. But although I haven't done a direct test between the old 302s and the new 902I's I'll swear they sound fuller and more details.

The cross over on the amp is set to 100hz, so the lower frequencies are not going to the 902I's, mainly as one of them is buried on a shelf so the port is completely covered.

So, I'll give them a few more days and then do a direct comparison to see if I've wasted my time/money or not. But, unless I'm imagining it, I think the sound is definately clearer and warmer. A couple of times I've thought my amp was playing up when listening to some electronic tracks, but realised I'm hearing detail from electronic instruments in tracks I've not picked up on before (eg: synth clicks and buzzes that are suppose to be in there)

Next it's the woofer upgrade to a BK XLS200