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I searched the archives a bit, but wasn't able to find a heated debate over this topic as I had hoped. :) Are there inmates who prefer a phantom center? I know a true center is supposed to handle the majority of the workload in a five-channel system, but are there people who don't care for this effect? Inmates who like to hear dialogue and front effects from their mains?
Follow Ups:
In my case, the center would have to sit on the floor, while the L&R's are 6' tall. My screen is 6' tall, 1' off the floor. The vertical disparity is too great. Next would come the problem of trying to match to my set of 14 year old, dipolar electromagnetic planar speakers in freq response, imaging, dynamics, etc. A phantom center eliminates all of those problems
I prefer phantom. Yes you don't have a perfectly centered sound when you sit to the left or the right. It is still much more coherent that a center speaker. Since I switched to ribbon tweeters I would definitley not run a center. The best option would be to run a line array for the left and right speaker. They throw a wider soundstage ie: if you are sitting right in front of L or R speaker you will still hear the other. More so than standard speakers.
I guess its quite different with different speaker setup. If you have an excellent pair of front speakers with good imaging, phantom speaker is much better but in lots of less sophisicatied systems, discrete center is better....but then in the most sophisicated system with 3 indentical speakers and a good room, discrete is the best.... it all depends. One thing for sure is with a phantom center, there is only one sweet spot!
I don't think it is different at all. A center channel helps even with excellent speakers, its just you are not as likely to purchase a 3rd one, even if the size/placement demands could be satisfied. I'm a big fan of large horn loudspeakers, the kind that is very difficult to apply to center channel applications, but I worked hard to build a compatible center channel, because the difference is definitely worth the effort. Just because its difficult, or pricey, doesn't mean phantom is better. Phantom is a compromise.
I agree. I would add the sweet spot also depends on how far you sit from the speakers and the type of room you are in. Further, depends on the type of movie, more dialogue, the easier you can get away with the Phantom setting IF the fronts image properly, IME.
For movies I think it is a must, and as long as it reproduces voices similarly enough to the fronts it is ok...For music I donīt think you really need one, although I find that for discs with center channel info it is better than phantom, for DPLII I donīt use it at all...
I also found out that in DTS and DD 5.1 discs, the center carries a lot more than voices, many times drums and so on, so there you need it to be "the same" as the fronts, or you loose dynamics...
... the caveat is that it must match the stereo mains as closely as possible. You should have found a lot of posts on this.Personally I was against a centre channel for years, regarding it as just another ploy for dealers to sell more equipment (and there is still some truth in that). However, since taking the plunge via some awful experiments, I'm now convinced that for the best results a centre channel is worthwhile.
In our system it handles a lot of the load and has the most powerful amp driving it. Go for it but go with care and do not try to economise - I did at first and it was a waste of time and dollars.
John
Peace at AA
This only my experience. Was happy with a phantom center until I got a new AVR. The AVR was fine except there was no way to balance the "pantom" center vs. the other speakers. The rsult was movie dialog was often overwhelmed by the rest of the sound track. If my AVR had had a way to adjust the level of the phantom center I would have not bothered to buy a real center.There are other considerations, of course, but my recomendation is that if you go the phantom route be sure the phantom level can be independently adjusted.
I definetly prefer a discrete center channel. It takes the burden away from the L/R speakers for the dialog and other center effects.Sam
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