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SVS Prime Center Center channel speaker (Premium Black Ash)

Item # 946PCTRBA

I'm partial to 3-way center channel speakers because that dedicated midrange driver really enhances dialogue clarity.

I'm partial to 3-way center channel speakers because that dedicated midrange driver really enhances dialogue clarity.

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3 questions - 24 answers

Item # 946PCTRBA

In stock
$399.99 each

Other options

About the SVS Prime Center

Steve Kindig

The starring role in an SVS Prime home theater

I've always been partial to 3-way center channel speakers, because that dedicated midrange driver covers the frequency range where dialogue lives. The SVS Prime Center is one of the lowest-priced 3-way centers I know of. But don't worry, it offers the rock-solid build quality and lifelike sound that SVS is known for.

The starring role in an SVS Prime home theater

I've always been partial to 3-way center channel speakers, because that dedicated midrange driver covers the frequency range where dialogue lives. The SVS Prime Center is one of the lowest-priced 3-way centers I know of. But don't worry, it offers the rock-solid build quality and lifelike sound that SVS is known for.

SVS designs every driver in house

While many companies build their speakers using off-the-shelf components, SVS designs all their drivers in house. This is a huge advantage because it gives them complete control over how the drivers, crossover, and cabinet interact.

The Prime Center uses dual 5-1/4" woofers to produce center channel effects with unconstrained punch and impact. The polypropylene cone material is extremely lightweight and rigid, allowing the woofers to sound smooth and natural through the midrange, while also delivering surprisingly solid bass.

The 3-1/2" midrange driver is housed in its own sub-enclosure within the cabinet, to minimize internal interaction with the woofers. SVS's 1" aluminum dome tweeter sits right above the midrange driver, which helps the output from the two drivers blend more smoothly.

Smart, solid construction

The Prime Center's cabinet is made of sturdy MDF, with an extra-thick front baffle and internal bracing to control unwanted vibrations. Those tapered edges on the front baffle are called chamfers. They reduce edge diffraction for clearer, more precise soundstaging. (Those are the only corners SVS ever cuts!)

Build a complete Prime system

Bookshelf speakers: SVS Prime Bookshelf
Floor-standing speaker: SVS Prime Tower
Surround speakers: SVS Prime Elevation
Powered subwoofer: SVS SB-1000 or SVS SB-2000

Got wire?

Most speakers don't include any. Read our article about choosing and installing speaker wire.
Shop our selection of speaker wire.

READ LESS

Product highlights:

  • 3-way design
    • 1" aluminum dome tweeter
    • 3-1/2" polypropylene midrange driver
    • dual 5-1/4" polypropylene woofers
  • frequency response: 48-25,000 Hz (±3dB)
  • recommended amplifier power: 20-200 watts
  • sensitivity: 86 dB
  • nominal impedance: 8 ohms
  • bass-reflex cabinet with dual rear-firing ports
  • removable cloth grille
  • 5-way binding posts accept bare wire, pins, spade lugs, and banana connectors
  • 18-11/16"W x 7-11/16"H x 9-1/8"D
  • weight: 20.2 lbs.
  • warranty: 5 years
  • MFR # Prime Center - BA

What's in the box:

  • Center channel loudspeaker
  • Grille (pre-installed)
  • 4 Self-adhesive rubber bumpers
  • Owner's Manual
  • SVS brochure
  • Online Product Registration Card

Customer reviews for SVS Prime Center

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5.0 out of 5 stars
51 reviews

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More details on the SVS Prime Center

Stacey B.

Features & specs

Enclosure Ported
Color Black
Tweeter Type Hard-Dome
Tweeter Size (inches) 1
Midrange size (inches) 3-1/2
Woofer size (inches) 5-1/4
Connector Type 5-Way post
Power Range 20-200
Sensitivity 86 dB
Impedance (Ohms) 8
Frequency Response 48-25k Hz
Height (inches) 7-11/16
Width (inches) 18-11/16
Depth (inches) 9-1/8
Weight 20.2 lbs
Wall-mountable No
Bracket Included No
Parts Warranty 5 Years
Labor Warranty 5 Years

Product Research

Features

3-Way Center Channel Speaker: The SVS Prime Center is a true 3-way center channel loudspeaker designed with high quality components and sophisticated engineering to provide sonic excellence. From its premium grade drivers and sophisticated SoundMatch three-way crossover to the extra-thick baffle, internal bracing, and FEA optimized tweeter diffuser, the Prime Center channel speaker is well-equipped play the most important role in a home theater sound system.

1" Aluminum Dome Tweeter: The Prime Center speaker's 1" aluminum dome tweeter is light, efficient, and rigid, and plays crystal clear at high volumes for an exceptional transient response. The tweeter utilizes an FEA-optimized diffuser for even greater clarity with a sense of utter transparency, while also offering an "airy" presentation and incredibly unveiled highs so female vocals and dialogue always sound natural, crisp and smooth.

Polypropylene Midrange & Woofers: The Prime Center speaker houses one 3.5" polypropylene midrange driver and two 5.25" polypropylene woofers. The polypropylene cone material is extremely light and rigid and maintains a flat frequency response with excellent handling across the foundational midrange and bass frequencies. The driver's cast ABS-fiberglass composite basket ensures precision component alignment and excellent thermal transfer. Each driver also employs a vented voice coil former to minimize air compression artifacts.

  • 3.5" Midrange Driver: Thoughtfully designed for acoustic excellence, the 3.5" midrange drive is mounted in its own dedicated and completely sealed compartment to ensure smooth, precise and clear midrange that's free from coloration.
  • Dual 5.25" Woofers: The two 5.25" woofers utilize a rugged  motor and long-stroke suspension for high output. The woofers also utilize aluminum shorting rings to reduce gap inductance and lower distortion.

SoundMatch Crossover Design: The innovative SoundMatch Crossover is a 3-way design with premium-grade capacitors, air-core inductors, and heavy-trace printed circuit boards. This high performance crossover network delivers outstanding phase coherency and time domain behavior. The crossover's tapered array offers expansive, yet focused and precise soundstage, resulting in accurate frequency response at all listening positions in the room. The precise tuning of the SoundMatch Crossover also ensures pinpoint accuracy of highs, mids, and lows, while maintaining pristine signal purity.

  • Midrange-to-Tweeter Crossover: 2.4 kHz (12 dB/octave slopes)
  • Woofer-to-Midrange Crossover: 350 Hz (12 dB/octave slopes)

Performance Driven Cabinet Design: The Prime Center utilizes a FEA-optimized MDF cabinet with internal bracing to eliminate resonances. The speaker cabinet's chamfered front baffle, flush-mounted drivers, tapered edges, and acoustically transparent FEA optimized grille minimize edge diffraction and improve on-axis high frequency response for clear, precise sound staging. A separate sealed midrange enclosure improves sound quality and enhances imaging, while dual 1" wide-flared rear-firing ports provide greater efficiency and smoother bass response. All of these advancements are packed into an attractive cabinet, that's available in a piano gloss black or premium black ash finish.

5-Way Binding Posts: The SVS Prime Center loudspeaker is outfitted with 5-way binding post terminals for connection of bare wire, pin-connectors, spade-lugs, and banana connectors (single or dual). Use 18AWG speaker wire for wire runs up to 10', 16AWG speaker wire for wire runs up to 25', 14AWG speaker wire for wire runs up to 50', and 12AWG speaker wire for wire runs up to 75'.

Placement & Mounting Options: The center channel should be placed directly on-axis, relative to the primary seating position. As with the main front speakers, placing the tweeter at/near head level when seated is optimal. But depending on the placement of the video display or projection screen, this is not always possible. If the center channel must be located below head level, then an upward tilt of the speaker is recommended to improve mid/high frequency response and dialog intelligibility.

  • Stick-on rubber feet are include that attach to the bottom of the speaker to protect it when placed on a shelf or stand. The rubber feet add approximately 0.125" to the overall height of the speaker.
  • The Prime Center is not wall mountable.

Note: Dedicated room treatments like absorbers, diffusers and bass traps (all sold separately) can greatly improve the sound quality of any listening environment, and are encouraged to extract the absolute best performance from any loudspeaker system.

Prime Series: The Prime series of loudspeakers from SVS consist of two floorstanding speakers (Prime Tower / Prime Pinnacle, a bookshelf speaker (Prime Bookshelf), a center channel speaker (Prime Center), a surround speaker (Prime Elevation), and a satellite speaker (Prime Satellite) - all sold separately. The SVS Prime series delivers pinpoint accuracy, powerful dynamics, exceptional clarity, and an immersive audio experience.

Optional Powered Sub: A SVS powered sub (sold separately) makes a great addition to the Prime series of loudspeakers.

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Customer Q&A

3 questions already asked

Q
Is it wall mountable?
christopher  Jan 03, 2022
6 answers
A
It is best suited to be mounted on a shelf.
ismael  Jan 04, 2022
A
It doesn't come with any mounting brackets. It quite big to mount as well.
james  Jan 04, 2022
A
Not directly. It is very heavy (20 lbs.) and is ported in the rear, meaning it has to have a little space from the wall. I mounted a shelf on the wall that was well braced and attached to studs
robert  Jan 03, 2022
A
I actually traded it back in for a kef q650. But because of the weight and resonance from low frequencies off the back of the cabinet, i would not suggest unless you had a sturdy shelf that would allow at least 6 inches to the back wall.
hal  Jan 03, 2022
A
Mine didn't come wall mountable out of the box but I wasn't looking for that. You might inquire on the SVS site to see if mounting accessories are available. Hope this helps!
william  Jan 03, 2022
A
There are no provisions from SVS for wall mounting the center channel. You would have to make custome mounts if that is what you wanted.
robert  Jan 03, 2022
Q
Can this speaker hook up straight to the receiver?
derrick  Aug 02, 2021
11 answers
A
Yes you just need a speaker wire
arthur  Aug 03, 2021
A
Yes, it would plug into the center speaker port.
jerry  Aug 02, 2021
A
Absolutely, as long as you have a center channel speaker port on your receiver, which I do on my Denon.
nancy p.  Aug 02, 2021
A
Yes it is hardwired to the receiver
james  Aug 02, 2021
A
YES. Mine is connected to the center channel of a Denon 5.1 receiver. Great music & dialogue output.
mike  Aug 02, 2021
A
Yes
kenneth  Aug 02, 2021
A
Yes
william  Aug 02, 2021
A
Yes, I have it hooked directly to my Yamaha receiver
jd  Aug 02, 2021
A
Yes. It has normal connections. Your receiver should have terminals marked for center speaker and it goes there.
robert  Aug 02, 2021
A
Yes, quite easily with a single speaker wire.
paul  Aug 02, 2021
A
Yes. My receiver is being used in the 5.1 set up. My SVS is connected to the center channel output of my receiver. SOUNDS GREAT with music & dialog.
mike  Aug 02, 2021
Q
So I have the SVS 5.1 Satellite setup. Will this speaker really make a difference if I replace a satellite speaker with this center speaker?
gordon  Feb 08, 2021
7 answers
A
Absolutely, a major improverment. Better dialogue & music reproduction.
mike  Aug 02, 2021
A
It will make a HUGE difference
kenneth  Aug 02, 2021
A
For me this made a huge difference. My previous setup was a satellite system that used a regular speaker as the center channel. Installing this made an overall quality improvement as well as making it much easier to understand verbal parts without turning up the volume (or turning subtitles on). It was a worthwhile addition..
robert  Feb 09, 2021
A
Yes, it will make a big difference as the center channel in a home theater setting is more crucial than people think. I bought this speaker to replace a Monitor Audio Center Channel and I'm pleased with the night and day difference, particularly with dialogue in movies. The tweeter also provides very crisp clean sound. Finally, the price is right! I highly recommend it.
ismael  Feb 08, 2021
A
Absolutely
gilfred  Feb 08, 2021
A
In my opinion yes. The range of this speaker is incredible you will need to adjust the volume of your center channel through your system for best results.
james  Feb 08, 2021
A
I would think it would make a noticeable difference ... yes. The SVS Prime Center speaker first off has more speakers in the enclosure .... tweeter, mid-range and two woofers. Thus I can't see how it would not definitely supply more quality sound to your setup. I replaced a quality center channel speaker I had in my system with this after I purchased the SVS Prime Towers. Glad I did!!! It definitely made a positive sound improvement to what was already a fine sounding system. And may I add trust the guys at Crutchfield on this ... they won't steer you wrong just make a dollar. A top notch company with good people!
keith  Feb 08, 2021

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