CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[perisoft]

I'm in the final stages of finishing my HT (when I don't feel embarrassed pics will follow) and am trying to streamline things.

I've got an electric rolldown screen - partially because it was free, and partially because there's a door to our downstairs patio behind it. So I want to keep access. The screen is nice in that regard, but the center channel speaker - which is now a two-way cerwin vega - has to be moved around to get access to the door, which is obnoxious.

What I'd -like- to do is hang a center channel speaker on the screen. Yes, this is far from optimal - I have two HUGE cerwin vegas as mains, and the center should be the same... but space and practicality mean that ain't gonna happen.

The questions are thus:

1) How much weight can I ask an 84" wide Stewart electric roll down screen to support? The screen itself is pretty damn heavy, and the motor is heavily geared (and is probably the same one used for much bigger screens) so I figure it shouldn't be an issue. But I'm not completely sure.

2) I only have 5.5" of clearance between the bottom of the screen when retracted, and the top of the door - which, naturally, swings out under the screen. Is it remotely possible to get a reasonable quality / cost speaker in that form factor?

Any advice is appreciated!

[zaphod]

well, a phantom center might work .... i would never try to hang a center from the screen.

some of the Martin Logan speakers are that slim, that is what i am most familiar with.

i do remember that one of the owners of ML had a suspended center channel, but it was on pipes/rods/tubes that hung in front of the screen - brrrr.

have you considered putting the center on a trolley and wheeling it into a marked position before the movie?

[WTS]

WHy even bother with a center channel, I think they sound wrong! Get a 2 speaker system that images properly and don't worry about it

[perisoft]

[zaphod]

further to what Walter said, before i had a ML center, i had a friend over who happened by the news playing on a TV between a pair of ML mains. he was convinced that the sound was coming from the TV, until i explained that it was just a phantom center setup. so, like walter said, you can do it without the center.

ML centers usually run about a grand in the used market, but there are other thin wide centers out there as well - i'm just familiar with the ML line.

as for the willies - well, i'd be afraid of both tearing the screen from the weight and the pendulum effect of the weight at the end of the screen.

[perisoft]

Well, not twice what I've spent on the whole HT, but pretty close. I'm running a super-low-buck effort here - pretty much everything I have I got for free or next to nothing through sheer force of will, kinda.

I'm not sure the Vegas I'm using can image well enough for a phantom center like you describe. I have a pair of Wharfedales I use in the living room upstairs that are probably good enough, and I suppose I could move those downstairs and run them alongside the Vegas, but I hate to lose them for regular music listening up here - they're pretty gorgeous. I could always drop back to something else up here, I guess, if I were convinced it could sound good to add the Wharfedales to the Vegas in the HT (I don't want to get rid of the Vegas; they have insane low frequency response and I route a big chunk of LFE to them; the Wharfedales can't even come close in that regard).

Hmm... Something to consider, I guess. It wouldn't be massively hard to spend an evening trying it out.

Anyone else want to chime in on the phantom center idea? I can't recall hearing about it before, and I presume there's a reason everyone uses a physical center channel... but everyone doing something is hardly the final word on whether it's worthwhile to do!

[perisoft]

[zaphod]

what are you useing for your processor?

[perisoft]

AC3Filter in Media Player Classic, to analog outputs and separate receivers - 1 for R/L, 1 for C, several for various subs, 1 for surrounds.

The center amp is run through a 16-band EQ.

[dturco]

Forget using the screen for the mounting. Use the ceiling, this will give you more room for a bigger speaker. Take a piece of 3/4" inch plywood screw it into the ceiling joists with 3" screws then attach a bracket or channel to the plywood and screw into the speaker back side to support . This assumes you don't mind putting screws in you speaker, and that there is enough room to clear you door when open, and the reflective sound from the ceiling won't be to bothersome. Of course that last part is unavoidable with your space restrictions.

[CRT_Ben]

Given that any decent speaker will be heavy (even with small woofers you need a dense cabinet to damp the vibrations), probably in the range of 10-15 pounds minimum, I'd be afraid that the screen fabric and/or roller frame wouldn't be able to hold that much, or that it might become damaged over time (not to mention the strain on the electric motor and possibly plastic gears). Having just taken apart a Da-lite roll down screen to convert for flat use, I just wouldn't trust it. Especially that you're going to be walking under this thing, it might drop on somebody's head.

[zaphod]

dturco probably has the best idea. if you mount a center on the ceiling infront of the screen housing, that should give you lots of room. you have about 10" to 12" between the ceiling and the top of the door at least - right? you might have to shift the image down if the top of your image is higher than that.

[perisoft]

[dturco]

O.K. then use the plywood on the ceiling then use meatal rods or bands to lower the speaker to the lowest spot you can. Or build a shelf, down from the ceiling built like a soffit in a kitchen above the cabinets.

[zaphod]