I currently have Klipsch KSF-8.5 fronts and am in need of a center channel to go with these. What would you guys recommend? I would like to spend less than $200. Thanks in advance.
Before you set your price, and pick your center, you NEED to know what your system is for. If you ONLY listen to music, and your center is just there for the 1 in a 1'000'000 time you pop on a DVD or the TV, than just get a basic center, something small and cheap that sounds good to you, probably at most a klipsch RC-10. Now, if you are like me, and do a large amount of tv, movies and games, and music is not the majority, or not more than 50%, than you need to do a investment here. Your center channel is the life of your system for tv and movies. The majority of audio is filtered through that speaker, the reason for this is that when your watching a movie, tv, whatever, the majority of the focus is in the middle of the screen, people talking, whatever. Because it is front and center, that is where the sound is. I ended up blowing a big chunk on my center because I realized that when I'm watching regular TV, I will almost never notice anything except that. Now, that in mind you gave your budget and I hate to be the guy to tell you you can't get good gear for that. So check out the Klipsch RC-10. It is a solid center channel, great quality, and a great sound. If you want my real advice, wait until you can afford it (sell a cat if you have to) and buy the (slightly) more expensive RC-52. It is a bigger center, so you will have more range, and more noticeable audio coming from it. And heck, if you are just listening to music and are pushing it in surround sound, than that center channel will carry the vocals, and often the lead guitar so why not get it as clear as possible?