In-Wall Speaker Reviews

It's an interesting thought to use FineLine's FC-3 as a center channel with LCR-21s for the rest of the channels - but I don't think it would be a good idea for a couple of reasons. First, you may run into comb filtering issues as a result of having three speakers in close proximity to one another playing the identical sonic information. Second, from what I can tell, the FC-3 is pretty much like having three LCR-11 in terms of drivers and output capability, and it's likely that the center channel would seem a little weak when sounds pan across the front channels. Third, depending on how you wire the FC-3's three separate sets of speaker terminals to the center channel output of your AVR, the resulting impedance of the speaker might be extraordinarily low (or high).

Of course, this is all theoretical. Since FineLine has a 30-day return policy, you could certainly try the FC-3 as a center channel and see how it works out. If you do, let us know. We'd definitely like to hear about it.

Thanks for reading Darryl Wilkinson's review of the LCR-21 and submitting the idea of using the FC-3 as a center channel. Unfortunately, it would be impractical to run the FC-3's three channels together as a single "super-center" channel.

Using a sideways LCR-21 as a center channel in a room that's 12 feet wide or less, you may well have less trouble with center-channel depth and imaging than Darryl Wilkinson encountered during his review. While there is indeed some high-frequency pattern narrowing with the LCR-21 in landscape mode (i.e., turned sideways), this narrowing is not very severe due to the relatively short ribbon high-frequency element and the close-packing of the midwoofer drivers on either side of the ribbon. Having sidewalls not too far from the speaker helps to fill in any "dark spots" that may develop.

As Darryl Wilkinson mentioned, you can always buy and try, as FineLine has a 30-day free trial policy for all models.

Phil Jones
FineLine Speakers