How big should center spkr be to set to "large"?

D edwards,

Well, actually, I aquired the Legacy Signatures some time ago, when I acutally had some money, and before I had 2 kids in college, as I do now!

I have been aware of the Legacy center channel speakers, but they were pretty pricey. I was not aware it might be possible to get a Silver Screen in that price range.

And no, nobody suggested the Paradigm Speaker. I did that myself, as a result of poor intelligibility of center channel dialog with a PSB Image 9C speaker. The Paradigm 570 is a pretty good speaker, and is quite a bit better than the PSB. And it really seems to blend with the L/R okay to me. (I have now found out that a lot of the clarity problem was due to the center speaker cable and interconnects, but live and learn).

Also, my center speaker sits on top of my Mits RPTV. How much does the Silver Screen weigh?

Correction...Mine are the Legacy Signature II, which do not have the kevlar mid-woofer. But they seem pretty good to me. Any time I listen to other speakers of any similar price, I find myself thinking of what aspects of the sound I would be giving up.

We're not talking about $$$, were talking about Brown belt with black shoes.

If I'm correct the Paradigm is a $900 center channel? Which you should almost be able to swap for a used Silver Screen, it should be a even trade or +/- $100 at the worst.

I don't know how much the Silverscreen weighs, just know having one will make a huge difference.

I have the 570 myself and use it on large. Paradigm themselves told me to use the large setting. In fact if you are using a sub and any of you speakers do atleast 40Hz or lower. Use the large setting for those with your systems crossover but not rolled off.

Well, now we are getting back to my original question.

The thing is, I do NOT use a sub. And it seems when I set the center speaker to "large" in the receiver menu, I lose a lot of overall bass. I think that is because in 5.1, the center channel is full range, but the Paradigm only goes down to ~50hz. But when I set it to "small", I get a lot more overall bass.

And not only that, but when set to "large", I think because it is trying to reproduce more LF, the clarity of the center is poorer.

Perhaps I should have asked not only how big, but how GOOD a center speaker needs to be, to be set to "large".