Video Asylum

Posted by John C. - Aussie on November 24, 1999 at 14:37:53:

In Reply to: Re: Do we always need a Center Channel? posted by michael w on November 23, 1999 at 03:11:07:

on whether or not you want Dolby Digital or are happy, as we are, with pro logic.

I spent a lot of time messing about with a centre channel (via a Fosgate 2) and found the choice of centre speaker CRITICAL. By this I do not mean it was essential to have it but that if it does not match up to your main speakers the sound can be wierd. I use large electrostatics as mains and first tried cheap centre speakers. They lasted less than one night. I then purchased a used pair of Dahlquist units but they still did not match. I finally put in a pair of electrostatics & the sound was OK on movies but had to be switched off for serious audio listening. In the end I abandoned the centre channel altogether.

However I have learned something - if you use Dolby Digital, you really do need a centre unit if you want the full effect. So that has reinforced my present stance not to bother with DD. Not many of my LD's are encoded with it anyway & certainly none of the opera & ballet. Plus, no outboard DD processor seems to be available. They are all built in with preamps that convert EVERYTHING to digital & then back again to analog. YUK! As far as I can gather DVD releases are still encoded with pro logic as well as DD but maybe this is not so. Anyone know?

John