What Is A Center Channel Speaker And Where To Place It?

This article will answer the question “what is a center channel speaker?”

Surprisingly, many people out there don’t understand what it’s used for and how to set one up. The fact of the matter is it needs to be time well spent.

The more you learn about your home theatre system and these components, the better you will be able to keep enjoying it for years and years.

First Of All, What Is A Center Channel Speaker?

A center channel speaker is the most important speaker in a surround sound setup. A best center channel speakers is usually the same as a regular speaker, but some exceptions have been designed differently with a smaller woofer cone. A center speaker is connect with the left and right speakers. These left and right speakers give you high sound quality in your home theater system.

In order to provide voice and movie dialogue with a specific anchor location, center channel speakers are used. A crucial aspect in any surround sound setup is how the system is configured, whether you are upgrading an existing system or designing a new one.

Usually, you’ll place this in the middle of your television screen so that the sound is projected directly into the middle of the room.

This helps by creating a more ambient sound that fills the whole room instead of just projecting straight out to the front, and even some of that little bit in all directions.

Specifications Of Center Channel Speaker

Most dedicated center channel speakers are the same as regular speakers, but some have a few different specifications.

Usually, it has two woofers and a tweeter for highs in one speaker enclosure. You’ll usually find 5-1/4 inches woofers and 1-inch tweeters. These are the most common sizes currently found on the market.

The speaker itself may be a little longer depending on where you plan to place it, but usually, around 16 inches long, 8 inches high, and 8 inches deep is about average.

This is also one of the reasons why they are designed differently than regular speakers because they need to fit in that small space between your television and where your couch is.

Frequency Response – The human ear is capable of responding to frequencies between 20Hz and 20KHz. Accordingly, the frequency response of a speaker refers to its ability to reproduce these frequencies without causing irritation to the ear.

Enclosure Requirements

The center channel speaker is usually a slot-ported enclosure that will help provide the best performance, but it does require some extra attention.

You need to measure out about a 2-inch clearance from the wall behind your television so that this can still function properly.

Center channel speakers are great for keeping ambient sounds in the room and not pushed out into another room.

This is the main point of using a dedicated center channel speaker in your home theatre system if you are unsure where the best place to put these speakers would be directly between the two front speakers and slightly below them about 2-3 feet away from the listening position seated on the couch.

Having it closer to either side of the screen will cause the sound to be projected more directly out into that direction and away from the center.

People usually set their front speakers up about ear level with a seated listener for this reason because it helps keep sounds in the room instead of going straight out into another room where people are not at.

What Are The Benefits Of Having A Center Channel Speaker?

1) It gives you a more surrounding feeling that will be engaging and exciting for everyone.

2) You have less sound loss since it projects straight into the middle of the room, and there are no sidewalls, etc., to block or diminish the signal before it reaches your ears.

3) You might not even be able to hear some audio from other speakers once your center channel sound speaker is located and installed properly with the rest of your surround sound system.

4) You might even get an increase in volume since you don’t have to worry about any other speakers blocking part of the signal, etc.

5) You will be able to hear all parts of a movie or game without strain to listen to parts that are far away, and it will be much clearer with every part coming from the same location.

6) You can actually understand decently well what people are saying, even if there is a lot of action in the background. This was impossible with many systems but is becoming much more common as technology has progressed.

7) You can set up your center channel speaker as far away from your television screen as you want, but it should be at ear height or slightly higher and centered in front of the seating area.

What Are The Disadvantages Of Having A Center Channel Speaker?

1) It might be hard to install and get it in just the right place without making sure you measure everything out carefully. You can always hire someone to do this for you, but most people will want to give it a shot themselves if they have some basic knowledge of home theater systems.

2) It can be a bit expensive, but you get what you pay for. You don’t want something that will sound bad or wear out quickly. Trust me; it’s worth the extra money though. I would much rather have one nice speaker, and decent surround speakers than four crappy ones like some starter systems come with these days.

3) It should be placed in a centralized location with a seating area. If it’s behind you, it won’t project well into the room and surround sound speakers you as much.

4) It will make your speakers look somewhat bulky, which might not be what everyone wants aesthetically.

5) You might have to buy all new speakers depending on your setup if you don’t already have a center channel speaker.

6) It could be hard to fit the wires and plugs in just right, which might cause extra stress trying to get it installed, but this is once again where hiring someone can come into play or having some basic knowledge of home theater systems.

It also helps project sounds better into the room instead of just straight out.

Hope you now understand what is a center channel speaker and how they work and what are the advantages and disadvantages of using a center channel speaker.

If you still got any questions! Feel free to ask in comments!