Kal-
Given the difficulty of properly setting up even a two channel system to get signals to sum and interact properly, and the fact that adding a center channel magnifies the set up problem in a non-linear fashion, I suspect the trade off still mitigates in favor of ditching the center channel. Besides, the concept of the center is to--as others have noted--anchor the sound for off-axis listeners anyway. Thus, the benefit of a center is for people who aren't going to enjoy the benefit of correctly summed/interacted signals anyway. I've run several iterations of HT systems, with and without center channels, and always preferred the phantom center mode.
But, I'm probably a bad person to ask. I got rid of everything except the L and R mains because I found DTS/DD didn't really enhance my viewing experience sufficiently to overcome the downside of having all that stuff...
Given the difficulty of properly setting up even a two channel system to get signals to sum and interact properly, and the fact that adding a center channel magnifies the set up problem in a non-linear fashion, I suspect the trade off still mitigates in favor of ditching the center channel. Besides, the concept of the center is to--as others have noted--anchor the sound for off-axis listeners anyway. Thus, the benefit of a center is for people who aren't going to enjoy the benefit of correctly summed/interacted signals anyway. I've run several iterations of HT systems, with and without center channels, and always preferred the phantom center mode.
But, I'm probably a bad person to ask. I got rid of everything except the L and R mains because I found DTS/DD didn't really enhance my viewing experience sufficiently to overcome the downside of having all that stuff...