What does having more woofers in a center channel do?

[Profoundsoup]

Isn't the center channel only tasked to handle dialogue? What is the difference between a center that has 2 woofers vs a larger center that has 4 woofers if it only handles dialogue?

[wONKEyeYEs]

"Woofer"?

In my opinion if it's smaller than 10" it's a mid-range with aspirations.

[Ruffleduffle]

19 minutes ago, Profoundsoup said:

Isn't the center channel only tasked to handle dialogue? What is the difference between a center that has 2 woofers vs a larger center that has 4 woofers if it only handles dialogue?

In the ausio world there isnt really definitive "better" and "worse" allthough some audionazis would disagree. 

It is all about your taste. Test it, see what you like more and what fits your budget.

[Stagea]

1 hour ago, Profoundsoup said:

Isn't the center channel only tasked to handle dialogue? What is the difference between a center that has 2 woofers vs a larger center that has 4 woofers if it only handles dialogue?

The center channel is actually specified to be a full range channel for most current systems. They are just bass-managed in most cases.

 

Granted that you do route the low frequencies to the subwoofer, the greater displacement and efficiency of the larger array will let it play louder with less distortion with everything else being the same. 

 

One downside of large arrays is comb filtering, however.

[spwath]

1 hour ago, wONKEyeYEs said:

"Woofer"?

In my opinion if it's smaller than 10" it's a mid-range with aspirations.

A woofer is the name for any standard cone driver. can range from 2" or less to 21" or more.

[Majestic]

2 hours ago, Profoundsoup said:

Isn't the center channel only tasked to handle dialogue? What is the difference between a center that has 2 woofers vs a larger center that has 4 woofers if it only handles dialogue?

Depends on the application. I guess what they're going for is less frequencies over a woofer means less bleeding of lo-mids into high-mids for example. But it's significantly more difficult to tune properly. 

[johnt]

2 hours ago, spwath said:

A woofer is the name for any standard cone driver. can range from 2" or less to 21" or more.

It all depends on the crossovers. I don't think there's a size limit... I think that's what you're trying to say (2" or less to 21" or more.. hahaha)

[wONKEyeYEs]

2 hours ago, spwath said:

A woofer is the name for any standard cone driver. can range from 2" or less to 21" or more.

woof·er
a large, high-fidelity speaker for reproducing low-frequency sounds

[spwath]

54 minutes ago, JohnT said:

It all depends on the crossovers. I don't think there's a size limit... I think that's what you're trying to say (2" or less to 21" or more.. hahaha)

Exactly, I was just saying the standard range. Not really sure of a woofer smaller than 2" or bigger than 21". I guess I've seen a few crazy things bigger than that, but not mass produced.