Feltran
Well-known member
A while back, I bought a Stage speaker to complement my Spires in a home theater setup. For various reasons, it sat in the box for about six months, and I was doing HT with just my Spires. I was pretty happy this way, I wasn't completely sure why people bothered with center channel speakers at all, but since I had never heard a system with and without a center channel speaker, I had no way to know except to experiment.
So, about a month ago I finally got around to setting up my Stage. Within minutes, I had decided that having a center channel speaker really did help. It made the sound in movies much more dynamic, and overall produced a pretty great effect. I definitely like having a center channel speaker.
However, it's the Stage itself that I'm not sold on. I don't think it's an attractive looking speaker, and not only am I not sure that it pairs very well with the Spires, I'm not sure the sound quality is very good at all. Now, I have no center channel speakers to compare it to, but here are my complaints:
It sounds a little bit... I don't know if tinny is the word, but a type of sound that I would expect from a much less expensive speaker. Not bad, just not good.
The sound seems to come about 15% from the side woofers, 5% from the panel, and 80% from the tiny little cone in the middle. Almost makes it seem like a Bose Jewel Cube would have the same effect.
I can't tell if it's the recording of the voice tracks or the speaker, but voices often don't sound lifelike to me.
Am I just ignorant of center channel speakers? Have other people had similar experiences with the Stage? Is there another center channel speaker that might have better sound without being a total eyesore? Might my Stage be damaged?
So, about a month ago I finally got around to setting up my Stage. Within minutes, I had decided that having a center channel speaker really did help. It made the sound in movies much more dynamic, and overall produced a pretty great effect. I definitely like having a center channel speaker.
However, it's the Stage itself that I'm not sold on. I don't think it's an attractive looking speaker, and not only am I not sure that it pairs very well with the Spires, I'm not sure the sound quality is very good at all. Now, I have no center channel speakers to compare it to, but here are my complaints:
It sounds a little bit... I don't know if tinny is the word, but a type of sound that I would expect from a much less expensive speaker. Not bad, just not good.
The sound seems to come about 15% from the side woofers, 5% from the panel, and 80% from the tiny little cone in the middle. Almost makes it seem like a Bose Jewel Cube would have the same effect.
I can't tell if it's the recording of the voice tracks or the speaker, but voices often don't sound lifelike to me.
Am I just ignorant of center channel speakers? Have other people had similar experiences with the Stage? Is there another center channel speaker that might have better sound without being a total eyesore? Might my Stage be damaged?