Centre speaker recomendation

[GoodDoc]

I'm looking for a centre speaker recommendation. I have a JBL 'Mr Centre' that I've been using for years. I bought it well over 10 years ago with a old surround sound system. Despite replacing the front and rear speakers and moving to more capable amps over the years the centre speaker has reminded the same.

I have moved ,y previous AV amp to a spare room/office and figured I'd move the old centre speaker there and buy a new centre speaker for the main system. The main amp is a Denon 2313 and it's used for TV (freeview), Netflix, iTunes with an even mixture of TV shows and Movies. No games consoles or Bluray, everything is streamed so not we're dealing with the final word in audiophile quality (as my ancient JBL speaker suggests).

I know I should audition a new speaker but there is time constraint which means it would be useful to have a new speaker delivered before Friday, so right now my main criteria are;

- Decent centre speaker
- Eligible for Amazon Prime delivery
- Less than£200 (that's flexible, but less would be a good thing)

Any suggestions?

[OldSkoolRS]

Having tried many many different speaker combinations over the last 16 years or so of owning Av gear, IMHO the ones that worked best were the ones where the centre was a good match for the front left/right speakers. Even better yet were when the surrounds matched as well, but a smaller improvement that you could consider when funds allow rather than as a priority.

Therefore I'd suggest looking to see what matching three speakers you could get for your £200 and maybe include some secondhand options too in order to increase your buying power. Or at the least buy a centre that you can later add the matching left right speakers too (so not a good idea to buy a discontinued model if this becomes the plan).

Have a look on Richer Sounds website for new speakers (maybe something like the Q Acoustics which have various bookshelf/floorstanding options for left/rights as well):

http://www.richersounds.com/products/hi-fi-separat...

AVforums for used ones. (As an example I just sold three perfectly matching PMC speakers for £500 that would have cost over £2,000 when new):

http://www.avforums.com/forums/speaker-and-subwoof...

I know the above ignores your Amazon requirement but depending on what you find you may well be able to collect speakers from either link before Friday anyway depending where you and they are located.

[GoodDoc]

I was hoping for a link to a specific product (an entirely irrational hope of course), but your reply is overflowing with good sense and advice.

I was very impressed with a pair of Q Acoustics speakers I heard recently (a friend is using them as front speakers in his set-up) and when ploughing through Amazon I did look at the Q2000i centre. It fits my requirements and appears to have been designed to be part of a 'matched' system should I want to replace/upgrade my speaker in the future.

I think I might have a winner!

[OldSkoolRS]

Yes I realised after I'd typed that long winded reply, but although I've recently bought some MK speakers I haven't a clue what is recommended around the £200 mark as the MKs were a little more pricey. I have however heard good things about the Q Acoustics though not heard them myself.

Sounds like you're sorted anyway.