Re: Center channel or not?
Originally Posted by
SteveM
I'd be very interested in hearing opinions about using a center speaker vs. going with a "phantom center" arrangement...
You can of course use a phantom center. Your AVR will basically send the center channel to both L and R, and it will sound like it's coming from the center of the sound stage. To a person sitting in the main listening position. To people sitting on either side of the main listening position, it will sound like it's coming from their side of center, whereas using an physical center speaker it will sound like it's coming from the center speaker no matter where the listener is sitting. So that's one advantage of a physical center speaker.
A second advantage of a physical center speaker is clarity. By sending the dialog to the center and music/effects to the L/R pair, dialog gets cleaner. This is similar to the effect you get by offloading the low frequencies to the sub -- your main speakers suddenly sound cleaner.
A third advantage is that most AVRs will let you control volume on a physical center channel independently from the other channels. So if you want a touch louder dialog in the mix, you can run the center "hot" just like people often run their sub(s) "hot".
I spent years listening to HT through a full range L/R pair. When I finally got around to adding subs, I was startled by how much cleaner my L/R pair sounded. Then I replaced that L/R pair with L/C/R Sierra-2s and I was startled again. Dialog was much cleaner, and I can run the dialog +1.5 dB hot to make my wife even happier.
Bottom line: if you can swing a physical center channel, you'll likely be happy you did it. But if you can't, phantom center works. Just not as well.
"If it sounds good, it is good." -- Duke Ellington