When people talk about "being matched" they're talking about "having a similar sonic signature".
They're also reminding you that the center channel speaker does have to work together with your main left and right speakers.
(In the past, some folks have bought center channel speakers that were entirely unlike their other speakers, and that usually doesn't end up sounding very good.)
Whenever a sound, or someone's voice, is positioned between two speakers, it is actually playing out of both.
The exact spot where the sound or voice seems to come from is then determined by the balance between those two sources.
If those two speakers aren't almost exactly the same, different parts of the voice will seem to come from slightly different places, which makes it difficult to pinpoint the location.
Likewise, if someone is walking across the screen, from left to right, while talking to someone else, his or her voice is moving from speaker to speaker....
And it will sound very strange if his voice changes as he walks because the speakers it's coming from actually sound different.
And it will sound even stranger if, for example, something is flying across in front of you, but the sound of it actually changes along the way.
The point is that, if you want to avoid strange effects like that, the speakers should "sound pretty much the same".
So, to use your example, obviously a set of three T2's, lined up across the front, will sound exactly the same, and will work perfectly.
But the C2 is part of the same series, uses the same sort of technology, and was specifically designed to use with the T2's, so it will also match them really really well.
Center channel speakers exist because using a full set of matched towers just plain may not be practical.
For one thing, unless you put it behind the screen, there's no place to put a tower speaker in the center.
If your screen is "acoustically transparent", and you put the speaker behind it, it will make a slight difference in sound.
And you can't just lay that tower speaker on its side because it isn't designed to be used that way... and its directional pattern will be wrong for that application.
Center channel speakers are designed with all this in mind...
They are designed to be placed above or below the screen... and to function properly in a sideways orientation.
(Again, to take your example, if you have T2 towers for your left and right speakers, a C2 center channel speaker will probably be a closer match than a third T2 laying on its side).
I think am I’m going the C2 and T2 for this. But then I keep reading about matching the LCR. Now I’m confused again.
Does anyone have the set up I was going to get? Thoughts on it?
Do you recommend a different LCR set up?
Room size is hard to say. At the moment around 11 x 16 and 8ft ceilings. But we are house shopping. I don’t want to wait until we buy, because we have been looking on and off for past two years. I hoping we will buy sooner than later, but I don’t want to put my life on hold either. Plus, when we do buy, the room is likely to be larger, so I’m shopping for now plus the future.
At the moment, no sub, but I will eventually get one. I have two ascend speakers I’m going to use as surrounds at the moment.
That’s about it for now. I’m new to all this, so thoughts and opinions are greatly appreciated.
