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I just installed a center channel speker in my home theater. After watching a number of movies my reaction is "So what?" I actually prefer the phantom center channel mode. It doesn't seem to compress and decrease the volume of background music and other sounds like the true center channel does. I am sending the center speaker back because I don't think it's worth the investment. Anybody else feel like this? Thanks.
Follow Ups:
Thanks for all the comments and advice. I will experiment using some of your ideas and see what happens.
melmar - I felt the same way when I had b&w 602's up front paired with the b&w cc center. I felt my tv speakers did a better job of "clean" dialogue. I did not want to trade in my 602's but when I finally went with Swans Diva all around (4.1 mains and the Swans center - with tweeter & midrange in the middle flanked with 2 bass/mids on the left and right) everything just opened up (in the center channel). I think it also has to do with the design (MTM's usually do not work too well bec of lobing, etc - unless the crossover point is brought down for the tweeter to cover the upper/middle mids - just like the paradigm reference cc)I am guessing your center is of MTM design. ( I also got better results when I made the b&w cc "small" on the receiver settings - but the Swans still blow it out of the water in terms of dialogue clarity)
I like it for movies. They are mixed that way to begin with and with the right center it sounds great. You should have all 3 fronts the same but in many cases you just can't. I don't have all 3 the same but I built a center that is very close to my mains so it works fine."It doesn't seem to compress and decrease the volume of background music and other sounds like the true center channel does"
Something sounds like its not set-up correctly if it is compressing and decreseing the volume. I had a similar occurance and changed my center and set it up more carefully. If any thing it should make the front cleaner and give you more headroom with the added amp. Could be power. I run my center with about 3db more power available then my mains because of the percentage of the mix it is required to reproduce.
It looks like your center doesn´t match the fronts, or is not properly setup... IMHO
Antonio Melo Ribeiro
I will agree with you about the center channel hype in one major regard and that is the fact that most people are trying to use the wrong speaker for the center channel.The center channel speakers being sold usually do not match up with the left and right channel speakers very well. Sure, they make sound, but the very designs they use with twice the amount of drivers in one speaker are going to throw off how they would match the others up front. That and many of them have a horizontal geometry rather than a vertical geometry used by the mains.
I suppose since it's claimed that the center channel does much more work as all the dialogue and bits of left and right stuff is sent there jusitifies plenty of manufacturers in making these impressive looking speakers; however, I believe the necessity of the extra drivers is wholly unnecessary and done for purely aesthetic rather than sonic reasons.
You would probably do better in matching the center channel to your mains and, as elsewhere mentioned, balancing the center channel properly so that it isn't blasting out the rest of the speakers. The goal of home theatre audio is getting all of the speakers to work together and not to have any one dominate the rest.
Of course if you prefer phantom mode, by all means, use it. Wasting money on extra speakers that aren't doing their job means fewer DVDs or other gear to try out!
I understand what you are saying and, in many situations, can see the centre channel would not be needed. However I have found that a lot of signal goes through it and a quite powerful amp is needed. But it might be that your main channels can adequately cover the input.As with all of this audio & video madness, it is what pleases YOU most that matters.
John
Peace at AA
Unless your center channel is bi-wire, consider running two sets of the same wires you run to your mains. I did this and noticed a subtle but definitely noticeable increase in clarity and dynamics, especially in the bass region.
Hi melmar,I have flipped back and forth on this for a year or two, but after listening to a friend's system recently, I realized that I was just running the center WAY too high. I cranked it down and raised the L/R and rears up and it sounds a lot better. To get to good levels, I have to turn my receiver up a lot, but recently read that this is not uncommon. Hope this helps. YMMV etc.
Rich
There are proponents of using the phantom channel approach but not a sizable crowd. I believe Richard Hardesty mentions this in one his journals. I have always found with entry level speakers the center was very helpful. For 9 or 10 months last year I was using a set of Merlin TSM speakers on phanton. The articulation of center informations was very clear. On the other hand the set up was too focused giving me what sounded like 3 separate sources across the front instead of a unified "wall of sound". I have gone back to Sonus Faber Concerto Home speakers with a matching center. The sound for movies is more coherent and pleasing. I prefer two channel for any music.
nt
To solve the volume problem, I run three seperate amps, each with their own volume control. One drives the L and R mains, one takes the sub output from the DVD and drives a passive sub, and one other amp (multi-input, multi channel ) drives the center and rears. I usually set the L and R,and sub, sit in the sweet spot, and use a remote to bring up the center and rear.
DVD's and DVD audio sounds splendid. As a matter of fact, I have the center channel output from the DVD on a Y plug, and into the L and R of the " center " amp. These pair of speakers are mounted above the TV.Speakers used are Definitive Tech 10 B's L and R
JBL 2080's ( titanium tweeters ) for the L and R center
JBL L 100's for the rears
RS 12" Passive subPower;
McIntosh C 28 and MC 165 powers the Def Tech's
Akai ( vintage ) powers the sub
Cheap KLH 6 channel amp powers the center and rears.I wanted to put this all together on a budget. After I bought the Toshiba DVD/ DVD Audio player for $ 230.00, I used up stuff I had laying around, that I had gotten in years past. I'm glad I never throw old audio gear away.
Actually, I don't have the room, but I would love to run the center channel on a vintage pair of matched mono Heathkit speakers ( SB1 and SB 2 ) that are 45 years old, work very well, but are just huge!
Depends what speaker you use. I have found this Polk CSI40BLACK center channel for $399.00 that sounds very good for movies. Dialog is clear and most of the movie comes out of this channel. The main channels work/act like surround speakers any way and the booming comes from the subwoofer. Movies don't have good sound after all. Even my concerts or music videos have crappy sound.
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