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Home theater without center channel? Opinions?

Due to holiday decorations and the wife's need to decorate the front of the room I decided to remove my B&W HTM-1 Center Channel for the time being.

I changed the settings in my Anthem D2 to "None" for center channel.

To my surprise it's really not that bad without the center channel in place.

I would love to hear feedback either way on whether I should eventually re-introduce the center channel back into the mix or just leave well enough alone.

Thanks in advance!
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Showing 2 responses by shadorne

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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
To my surprise it's really not that bad without the center channel in place.

Unless you have a center that matches your mains exactly and is placed at the same height then then phantom center is probably slightly better for a small sweetspot area. Center is really only needed for off axis listeners.
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
I really wish you wouldnt spread the matching center myth.

Well that is what they do in all the mix and mastering studios. They might use a smaller speaker from the same manufacturer for rears but they always use the same across the front.

If your criticism is that this is overly stringent and purist then I agree - for most people it certainly is.
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