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What is the best use of a 3rd speaker?

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jwb

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What is the best use of a 3rd speaker?

PostSat Feb 20, 2021 6:16 am

My current speaker setup is a Johannus UL3300 subwoofer and 3 Johannus UL110 speakers which I use as front speakers. These came with the Johannus Opus 37 which I am using as my console. I have then also 2 Eris E8 speakers for surround sound.

My question is, since I have an odd number of front speakers, what would be the best use of the 3rd one (the other 2 obviously being used for left and right channels). The speaker would be located in the middle between the left and right speakers. My initial thoughts were on these options:
- Mixing the front left and right signals into one and output this to the speaker
- Use the speaker as a separate division (L&R channels mixed to one), eg chamade, choir or solo
- Separate certain families of stops to the speaker alone (L&R channels mixed to one), eg reeds (any suggestions on which stops to isolate?)

Are there any other suggestions?

Thanks
Jaco
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josq

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Re: What is the best use of a 3rd speaker?

PostSat Feb 20, 2021 6:37 am

You could try to use it as a centre speaker (with a mix of left&right) to stabilize the stereo image.

If you routing specific notes/ranks to a single separate speaker, the stereo information will be losts for these notes/ranks. I would not recommend that except for bass frequencies but for that you have a sub already.

Another option is to use it as supplementary "subwoofer". Multiple subwoofers in different corners of the room are often recommended because peaks and nulls in the bass response can be averaged out to some extent. Because the ULL110 is a full range speaker, it might perform reasonably well in the area down to 60Hz or so (don't know, speaker measurement data appear to be unavailable).
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Frank_VTPO

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Re: What is the best use of a 3rd speaker?

PostSun Feb 21, 2021 5:36 am

The following option might be worth considering, if you prefer direct sound over reverb: Use the 3rd speaker as (mono) reverb (while loosing the stereo property of the reverb) and route the free speaker pair to a separate front division.
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jwb

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Re: What is the best use of a 3rd speaker?

PostMon Feb 22, 2021 1:39 pm

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try them out. I have the spec sheets of the speakers. The UL110 goes down to 45Hz.
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Jan Loosman

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Re: What is the best use of a 3rd speaker?

PostMon Feb 22, 2021 2:41 pm

The lower tones / bass tones are more non directional, thats why you can use a subwoofer for lower frequencies from the left, right channel together.
May i suggest to route only the 32 and 16 foot stops to the center channel or preferably use bass splitt in Hauptwerk to direct only the lows to the center speaker, freeing up resources for the left and right channels to improve the sound, And so retaining stereo impression as much as possible. I know this is a compromise.

Regards Jan

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