Tannoy Mercury VCi centre speaker for AV set up. £39.95 for Richer Sounds VIP members or £49.95 for those who are not, but it is free to join, so why not save a tenner on a decent brand centre speaker and get it for less than £40?
Blurb:
TANNOY MERCURY VCi Sugar Maple Centre Speaker
Price just £39.95 for new and existing VIP members. Our VIP club is completely FREE to join for all customers and comprises a fantastic set of free privileges! Not in conjunction with any other offer. Simply mention this offer in-store or by phone.
The perfect match for Tannoy Mercury Vi speakers or ideal as your first centre speaker upgrade, the Tannoy Mercury VCi centre speaker is a flexible performer.
BRAND NEW TREBLE UNIT WITH IMPROVED HIGH FREQUENCY RESPONSE
The Tannoy Mercury VCi features a brand new metal dome tweeter that replaces the old soft dome one. This gives the VCi a more detailed treble response and the ability to produce frequencies right the way up to 53,000Hz! Although this is well above what we can hear it does mean that the high frequencies we can hear are less affected by harmonic distortion. The result is a 'sweet' and 'airy' treble that's usually the preserve of more expensive speakers.
TRIED AND TESTED WOOFERS
As there was little to fault with the existing mid/ bass woofers, Tannoy have left them well alone. Light and rigid, making the mid-range sound detailed and vocals natural, they combine well with the vibrant new treble unit.
RIGID, BRACED CABINET WITH QUALITY CROSSOVER
The solid cabinet features thick MDF construction and internal cross-bracing for very high levels of rigidity - especially from a budget centre speaker. This ensures that the cabinet doesn't unduly affect the sound quality and is part of the reason the VCi sounds so natural. Further touches that you might not expect to find from a budget centre speaker include a quality Linkwitz-Riley crossover design and fully shielded 4mm binding posts.
WITH ITS WALNUT FINISH, THE VCi LOOKS GOOD, TOO
Finished in dark walnut, the Mercury VCi is the perfect aesthetic match for the other Mercury Vi speakers. It also features the same silver trim and bass cones, giving the speaker added style should you choose to take the grille off.
Class-leading sound meets great style with the Tannoy Mercury VCi.
All comments (22)
rd3d2
3 Mar 161#1
Looks good for a budget speaker. Heat
Negotiator101
3 Mar 16#2
Can you team this with another set of speakers? using this as the centre instead? I currently have SoundWare XS Special Edition Home Speaker System would this offer an upgrade to the centre speaker quality?
dwattsy21 to Negotiator101
3 Mar 16#3
I'd also like to know this. I've got an old set of 5 old Eltax speakers that cost me about £100 ten or twelve years ago, always wondered if it's worth upgrading the centre (most important, dialogue etc.)
lollypoplee
3 Mar 16#4
Taken from the description above "The perfect match for Tannoy Mercury Vi speakers or ideal as your first centre speaker upgrade, the Tannoy Mercury VCi centre speaker is a flexible performer"
So according to that, id say yes :wink:
Valiantcat to lollypoplee
3 Mar 16#6
I agree, you could match up two pairs of speakers for a 5 channel system.
welsh ham
3 Mar 161#5
In reply to negotiator 101 and dwattsy21 this would be an upgrade well worth your while regarding the speakers it's worth checking what ohms your amp can handle before purchasing I own this speaker and if memory serves me tight it is rated at 6 ohm providing your amp can handle this I would say go for it. This speaker provides a nicely balanced dialogue and sound. If it helps anyone I am running a pair of mission floor standers as my fronts with a pair of jbl bookshelf rears and a wharfdale sub and this as my centre and the sound is excellent. Highly recommended
lollypoplee to welsh ham
3 Mar 16#7
According to Richer sounds spec its 8 ohms mate :smile:
lollypoplee
3 Mar 16#8
Strangely tho, Richer sounds site says its 90 watts RMS but the Tannoy site says 70 watts RMS ???
Valiantcat to lollypoplee
3 Mar 16#10
The difference is recommended amp power vs speaker power handling.
Good price for a Tannoy centre, the audiophiles would say stick with the same manufacturer for all your home theatre speakers, preferably the same series as well for a more cohesive sound.
masterplanner
4 Mar 16#12
I have a tannoy sfx 5.1 speaker system. Would this be an upgrade on that centre?
Valiantcat to masterplanner
4 Mar 16#15
Possibly not, the specs state the SFX 5.1 centre has a sensitivity of 85db whilst the VCi has 90db, so the VCi is better (better efficiency), but the frequency range is 140Hz - 78kHz for the SFX v 67Hz - 53kHz for the VCi so worse for the VCi. The bottom line for me with hi fi kit is "do you like the sound?". Don't worry about reviews or specs too much.
I am afraid not, you will need an amplifier to drive this speaker. You could plug your phone into that with a suitable lead.
dazza00
4 Mar 16#16
this would be a brilliant upgrade to the sfx centre speaker be would recommend setting your amp settings to large for the centre speaker you will notice better depth to dialogue and sound effects on the Centre channel
sergiup to dazza00
4 Mar 16#19
Err, no. Can this speaker handle the full range down to 20Hz or so? No? Then it's not a full range speaker, and should not be set as large.
pibpob
4 Mar 16#17
"Although this is well above what we can hear it does mean that the high frequencies we can hear are less affected by harmonic distortion."
:confused:
Erm, harmonics are by definition above the frequencies they affect (by at least a factor of two), so.. you can't hear them.
vanessaanne
4 Mar 161#18
Great deal need to get myself one of these xxx
pingsteruk
4 Mar 162#20
Full range should not be confused with large. There are not many speakers performing well in the full range of human hearing (approx 20hz to 20khz, depending on age :-) ). The small setting on AV amps is designed for compact satellite speakers that struggle often below 200hz. Rather than miss out on that audio information, it moves that part of the signal elsewhere, e.g. the fronts or the sub. It will also restrict the signal passed to the small speaker to the >200hz signals, ensuring all the work it does is in aid of sounds it has a chance of producing.
So marking this centre as large will send more of the signal to it, resulting in greater depth of voice (think "Gordon's Alive?") directly from that speaker. While it is true that any very low frequencies would be lost this way, in practice anything below 80hz would likely be mastered into the sub-woofer channel (i.e. the .1 part of 5.1)... THX spec says 80hz is the default cross-over frequency for LFE, although some amps will allow this to be changed to better suit your speakers.
In short, it is worth trying this centre set as large and see how it sounds. Depending on the rest of your setup, it could sound better.
masterplanner
5 Mar 16#21
Appreciate the reply, thanks for taking the time to help me out
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Opening post
Blurb:
TANNOY MERCURY VCi Sugar Maple Centre Speaker
Price just £39.95 for new and existing VIP members. Our VIP club is completely FREE to join for all customers and comprises a fantastic set of free privileges! Not in conjunction with any other offer. Simply mention this offer in-store or by phone.
The perfect match for Tannoy Mercury Vi speakers or ideal as your first centre speaker upgrade, the Tannoy Mercury VCi centre speaker is a flexible performer.
BRAND NEW TREBLE UNIT WITH IMPROVED HIGH FREQUENCY RESPONSE
The Tannoy Mercury VCi features a brand new metal dome tweeter that replaces the old soft dome one. This gives the VCi a more detailed treble response and the ability to produce frequencies right the way up to 53,000Hz! Although this is well above what we can hear it does mean that the high frequencies we can hear are less affected by harmonic distortion. The result is a 'sweet' and 'airy' treble that's usually the preserve of more expensive speakers.
TRIED AND TESTED WOOFERS
As there was little to fault with the existing mid/ bass woofers, Tannoy have left them well alone. Light and rigid, making the mid-range sound detailed and vocals natural, they combine well with the vibrant new treble unit.
RIGID, BRACED CABINET WITH QUALITY CROSSOVER
The solid cabinet features thick MDF construction and internal cross-bracing for very high levels of rigidity - especially from a budget centre speaker. This ensures that the cabinet doesn't unduly affect the sound quality and is part of the reason the VCi sounds so natural. Further touches that you might not expect to find from a budget centre speaker include a quality Linkwitz-Riley crossover design and fully shielded 4mm binding posts.
WITH ITS WALNUT FINISH, THE VCi LOOKS GOOD, TOO
Finished in dark walnut, the Mercury VCi is the perfect aesthetic match for the other Mercury Vi speakers. It also features the same silver trim and bass cones, giving the speaker added style should you choose to take the grille off.
Class-leading sound meets great style with the Tannoy Mercury VCi.
All comments (22)
So according to that, id say yes :wink:
FYI the specs are at:
SFX Centre http://tannoy.com/residential/#!products_422
VCi Centre http://tannoy.com/residential/#!products_468
:confused:
Erm, harmonics are by definition above the frequencies they affect (by at least a factor of two), so.. you can't hear them.
So marking this centre as large will send more of the signal to it, resulting in greater depth of voice (think "Gordon's Alive?") directly from that speaker. While it is true that any very low frequencies would be lost this way, in practice anything below 80hz would likely be mastered into the sub-woofer channel (i.e. the .1 part of 5.1)... THX spec says 80hz is the default cross-over frequency for LFE, although some amps will allow this to be changed to better suit your speakers.
In short, it is worth trying this centre set as large and see how it sounds. Depending on the rest of your setup, it could sound better.