Center channel - yea or nay?

[bombarde32]

Center channels are very helpful in teh case of odd listening position form the TV/display. Thats when a center channel comes into its own. But if the geometry is setup properly with the mains flanking the screen equidistant and if the listening position is also centered witth respect to the screen, then a center channel is most definately NOT required. I was fortuneat that in my old home, the geometry was perfect. I had to remove the center channel while trying to sell my last home and I did not miss anything. Thats becuase my mains imaged so well and anchored the sound to the screen. But like I said, I had the geometry set-up perfectly.

Yep. Most of us are not so fortunate. When movies are going at my house it's usually me, wife and 2 kids. Add in the in-laws that are coming to town and we have a large audience spread all over the room not anywhere near the sweet spot. The center helps make up for the wild angles people are sitting at.

And for those that say the center has a negative impact on sound, or that it "just can't handle" 60% of the soundtrack ... phooey. As always a lot depends on what speaker you have up there. I've got a Paradigm 690 which is a 6 driver beast. It's capable of handing (virtually) anything the towers could have done and it creates a huge hole when it's absent (I tried it). If you put a bose cube under your TV then of course it won't sound right. (ok, I might have gone too far with that Bose comment).

I've found in my room you can compensate for that by bringing the towers in closer but then I get a noticeable gap between the front and rears in my 5.1 setup.

Bottom line - Speaker placement, whether you need a center ... these types of questions we can give you guidance on but so much depends on your room none of us can answer with certainty. If possible, find an A/V buff locally that can come over and give you sound advice. maybe even drop some equipment off to play with.

 

[Patrick_Wolf]

True, but from what I've seen most setups don't even have their L/R speakers aligned with the middle of the screen anyway. The screen is usually placed higher. So if you went the phantom center route localisation wouldn't really be any better than with a competent, properly angled center; which has the added bonus of increasing the soundstage substantially.

I take this back, because I'm wrong. After playing around forever with using a B2030P as a center I decided to go without. I sit very close and it just draws too much unnatural attention to itself. I sat farther back and then the center sounded much more centered, but switching to phantom still anchored the dialog to the center better.

Oddly enough I didn't have this problem with the Promedia 5.1's center; sitting just as close.

Using a dedicated center really does depend on the setup, just as bombarde said.

 

[popotoys]

IMO, I think most people cheap out on their center channels and that is where the issue lies.

 

[fredk]

IMO, I think most people cheap out on their center channels and that is where the issue lies.

That could be.

I finally played around with phantom vs real center and found that even in the sweet spot there are noticeable differences. In some instances, the phantom was better and in others, it was the real center that was better. Overall I preferred having a real center.

I bet how well your mains are set up has an effect as well. I am finding that in my narrow reflective room, the sound-stage is getting compressed into the center of the room and that probably affects sounds that pan across the front. Those pans seem to work better with the phantom center.

 

[oppman99]

I've been playing with using a center vs. phantom lately as well. Nothing scientific here, just my personal impressions. I recently moved my Paradigm Studio 100's to HT duty replacing a pair of Infinity Primus 250's. I don't have a Studio center yet. Watching a number of specific scenes with and without my Infinity center led me to the conclusion that even the "inferior" Infinity center is better in my setup than the 100's alone. Better panning of effects and the dialog is more clear. I really didn't expect to hear a difference without the center when sitting in the sweet spot, but it was very obvious. Could I live without a center? Probably. Will I? Definately not.

 

[Mika75]

.....now do the same experiment, with ur tv screen turned off

 

[mperfct]

I'm not going to read through everyone's responses here, but unless there is a clear and compelling reason not to get a center channel for a home theater, I would recommend it. If you are having issues when running three fronts, you need to look at placement and acoustics.

 

[Jeff R.]

I agree. Why would you want to always wonder whether it is going to make a difference. Just buy/build a center that is properly timbre matched to your mains and move on. It gives you the flexibility to handle different room setups, shapes etc. that you may have to account for if you move or decide to change the arrangement of your room. If you wait till later to do it, the identical timbre matching may not be available to you anymore. Why leave it to chance and always wonder? Just have a center in you rsystem and do not look back. Think of it as a piece of mind.

 

[krzywica]

I have reviewed this thread and come to one logical conclusion....

If you don't have any friends then there will never be a need for a center as you will not be sitting out of the sweet spot or off axis. Ergo - people with no center channel have no friends.

 

[Adam]

Ergo - people with no center channel have no friends.

Begs the question - chicken or the egg?

 

[oppman99]

.....now do the same experiment, with ur tv screen turned off

All comparisons were done with the TV muted if that's what you are driving at.

 

[Mika75]

oppman99 turn the "screen" off, this way u concentrate on how natural the sound is (like stereo recording's were before DVD was invented, remember those )