What do you give up with a Phantom Center Channel

[Alto101]

I am getting back into this addicting hobby! I have an Onkyo TX-RZ50, front L& R are Sonus Faber Lumina V Amator's and I am running some old crappy side surrounds for a few months until I add in the matching Lumina II Amator's. No center channel.

My listening position is well centered and I have leveled my speakers. I had run Dirac but cleared that out and will rerun after my rug arrives. I did setup the levels again after clearing out the Dirac measurements. I have an excellent phantom center going on and dialogue is usually very clear and intelligible. There are a few bad mixes that aren't great but they don't sound good on the family room TV with Samsung soundbar either. The stereo center is excellent and I had fine tuned this using Mono playback - that was an excellent tip I came across.

To add in a proper center speaker (either the Lumina horizontal center) or another Amator II bookshelf (definitely no room for a Amator V), I would need to replace my AV equipment rack as the shelves are not tall enough for the receiver so the receiver has to go on top where I would place my center.

I know a center can provide benefits when you aren't positioned in the sweet spot but assuming I am, what am I giving up by having the front L&R take over the dialogue? I am assuming that since they are processing more sound, the non dialogue sound may suffer a bit but that is just a guess.

I am not opposed to buying a new AV rack and proper center if there will be a tangible benefit besides a wider area to listen with a clear center.

If I do end up buying the bookshelf to use as a center, how does one buy 3 bookshelf speakers when they are sold in pairs?

Thanks!

 

[highfigh]

In my case, I give up nothing. My system is only stereo and while i was listening to a video with Gene, his voice was placed dead center. My rack is to the side of the TV and right speaker, no good way to use a center channel, even if I did have an AVR.

 

[TLS Guy]

I am getting back into this addicting hobby! I have an Onkyo TX-RZ50, front L& R are Sonus Faber Lumina V Amator's and I am running some old crappy side surrounds for a few months until I add in the matching Lumina II Amator's. No center channel.

My listening position is well centered and I have leveled my speakers. I had run Dirac but cleared that out and will rerun after my rug arrives. I did setup the levels again after clearing out the Dirac measurements. I have an excellent phantom center going on and dialogue is usually very clear and intelligible. There are a few bad mixes that aren't great but they don't sound good on the family room TV with Samsung soundbar either. The stereo center is excellent and I had fine tuned this using Mono playback - that was an excellent tip I came across.

To add in a proper center speaker (either the Lumina horizontal center) or another Amator II bookshelf (definitely no room for a Amator V), I would need to replace my AV equipment rack as the shelves are not tall enough for the receiver so the receiver has to go on top where I would place my center.

I know a center can provide benefits when you aren't positioned in the sweet spot but assuming I am, what am I giving up by having the front L&R take over the dialogue? I am assuming that since they are processing more sound, the non dialogue sound may suffer a bit but that is just a guess.

I am not opposed to buying a new AV rack and proper center if there will be a tangible benefit besides a wider area to listen with a clear center.

If I do end up buying the bookshelf to use as a center, how does one buy 3 bookshelf speakers when they are sold in pairs?

Thanks!

I doubt you are giving up anything, and may be gaining a lot.

Good center speakers are really difficult to design and most are really wide of the mark. I have one system that has no center and it is fine. Our 3.1 system my wife can not tell if it is running 2.1 or 3.1. The AV room is large and the mains wide apart to give a wide and full sound stage and that does benefit from a center. However that center is like no other. I know one thing don't waste money on a horizontal MTM center speaker. No center is far better then a center that is a poorer performer than the right and left across the mid band, and with a lousy polar pattern that all horizontal MTMs have.

 

[Antares]

Well, from personal experience having a phantom center instead of a real center opens the sound field a lot the only issue may stem from the way downmixing is applied by the AVR and dialogue getting garbled up in the mix.
As for the last part of your question, for the life of me I have no idea, best you could do is buy the 2 pairs and leave the odd speaker inside the box.