My soundbar is getting a bit flaky, turning itself off etc. So I’m thinking of dipping my toes in the home cinema world.
I thought I’d start with a 3.1 setup since I already have front speakers (Kudos 606s) and a serviceable subwoofer.
The issue I have is that everyone recommends getting a centre speaker from the same company/range as the fronts so that they match timbre/tone. Oops, Kudos don’t do AV speakers.
I see lots of brands I know from the hifi world do centre and surround speakers, including B&W, Focal, Klipsch, Kef and others.
Does anyone have any idea which might best suit the 606s? It won’t be easy to arrange home demos but I’ll try; just trying to build a shortlist for now and gather some thoughts.
I don’t want to spend a fortune here. Ideally somewhere £500-1000. 1.5k tops.
As for the receiver, I’m looking at the Marantz Cinema 70S as it doesn’t break the bank, it’s a good size, and I have a soft spot for Marantz as my first ‘proper’ hifi 30 odd years ago. I’m guessing I don’t need any more oomph than that anyway since I’ll use the pre-out to my NAC252 (with AV bypass) and let the NAP300 drive the fronts.
Something like an ATC C3C maybe? (plus a NAP V145 maybe pre-owned?)
I don’t know how well you can match the performance of the 606/NAP300 combo and with something run off the 70S, have you considered just having a ‘phantom’ center speaker?
Final thought though this one is probably clutching at straws: I have seen listings before on auction sites/classifieds where people are selling a single speaker having bought two pairs and opting to use one speaker as a centre then selling the other for people looking to do the same, might get lucky with someone selling a Kudos speaker or two from lower in the range perhaps for an aesthetic match?
Thanks. I thought of a sideways kudos earlier today. A single Cardia 10 might work sonically, but it would still obviously be a sideways speaker. Not sure it would pass the wife test. A sideways 505 would be even more obvious.
I did actually send a message to Kudos earlier asking for their thoughts. Will see if they answer but I suspect they’ll be unwilling to suggest something that is either non-intended use of their products or use of a competitor which might not even gel well.
FYI I had a quick look on the four letter auction site that shall not be named and there is a single Kudos X3 Speaker going for about £800 at the moment. @robert_h suggestion is more sensible though, Neat Centrum Classic would probably look neater too (no pun intended).
If there are multiple TV users in the house, it might be simpler to avoid the whole manual AV input switch on the stereo and instead just opt for a new better soundbar with it’s own sub.
The clarity won’t be the same but it will generate surround effects and left to right panning will be 100% consistent and it will just work fuss free from the TV remote.
I have a couple rooms where I could route the TV through the hifi or bridge the hifi with an AV amp but choose not to because a soundbar is friendlier and more consistent.
Not the answer to the question you asked but food for thought.
I use the naim app and system automation for music so it will automatically switch to the right input for music I think?
I can use the app to switch to other inputs too, but I guess it would be nice if Naim did this automatically when it detects a signal from the AVR.
I can live using the app, and everyone else can be trained to press the AV button on the 252 (after washing, drying their hands and trimming their nails of course)
Fair point. I do have an old marantz receiver from around 2008 I think. I already checked though and it has no pre-out for the main speakers, only the sub. I would have used it if I could.
The one I’m looking at isn’t really that expensive in the grand scheme, and it has all the latest hdmi and dolby gubbins
My current soundbar was supposedly decent (Sennheiser Ambeo plus) but it never really shone for me. It sounded OK when it worked properly but certainly wasn’t immersive. I’m keeping the sub it came with for now, but might upgrade later
We have a 3 channel system in one room with a cheap Marantz AVR feeding pre-outs into an SN3 AV input to PMC 20.23’s. The centre is a very flat KEF T301C so not really an ideal match but it fits neatly under a wall mounted LG OLED. Used the AVR Audyssey system to set levels etc. Works fine, and whilst it is not as good as a properly matched system with Naim amps across all channels and matched speakers it is a lot better (in my opinion) for TV and movies than a soundbar or just using the front speakers in stereo