Centre speaker or subwoofer?

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Following on from my 'bookshelf speaker v soundbar ' topic, I'm not quite sure what's better for my situation in an upstars maisonette.
I received a lot of great advice from many on here , in that previous topic. The outcome is to stay with my bookshelf speakers on stands(b&w 601s),
and avoid the soundbar.
I was set to get a subwoofer off fleabay, but then realised how boomy that may be for the neighbours. If I didn't have to place the subwoofer on the floor, I would have went for that. So, the (final) question is; should I invest in a centre speaker instead?
Cheers;)

[Roger2611]

Hi Ray,

I use a really small Rell subwoofer on my system, it is amazing how little you actually need to fill the sound out, properly set up you would not even be able to actually hear it, the sound would just be full, incorrectly set up.......yep you will take the plaster off downstairs ceiling

On a serious note I did check with our neighbours if they could hear the bass (it is set up in a corner with one wall being the shared wall) they said they couldn't hear it over my bass playing.....I love my neighbours!

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Thanks roger;) in my previous post, the sub you mentioned was recommended by dingus I think . I've been looking at these on the bay.
Look good .

[mrtcat]

Try building a TV table a bit like mine. It's essentially a BFM SLA curve and I just integrated it into my design sounds killer at any volume wherever you sit and cost about £120 in materials.

Edited August 15, 2014 by mrtcat

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Thanks , but the TV stand I have is ideal.

[Bolo]

Get a centre speaker that matches the B&Ws. I have stereo floorstanders, so no lack of bass response, but the voices improved dramatically when I added a dedicated centre. I drive this 3.0 setup with a Marantz av receiver (6003 I think?)

[JapanAxe]

I thought the centre speaker was for dialogue (in 5.1 anyway), not enhanced bass?

[gafbass02]

Yep. In 5.1 etc the centre is considered the most important speaker as it carries most of the soundtrack, primarily the vocals. The sub does just that, just the sub stuff, I used to run two subs in a 6.1 set up, I've since dumped both and my centre rear, and let my floorstanders handle the low end and actually prefer the more 'together' sound.
That said after spending ten years as a richer sounds manager and having escaped I'm rather less picky these days than I used to be.

[leftybassman392]

A properly set-up sub will give you very subtle bass enhancement (most if not all are self-powered with their own level controls), which will fill out the sound nicely (as well as taking a bit of the strain off the bokshelf units - assuming you have a 5.1 amp). A centre will enhance the vocals, and dialogue from movies as well. Having said all that, I have a very nice set of Rega floorstanders with very deep bass and an excellent stereo image.

Just depends what's more important to you really...