Do you ...Center Channel?

If you are not seated off axis no center can actually work better than having a center. My reference system has no center. Almost all of the time it is either just myself or one other person watching with me and using a phantom center works very well in this instance.

I have a dedicated sound/ht room, and I don't use a center channel speaker,instead using 4 channels + the LFE channel. I have no problem with doing that. In my upstairs family room, I've tried it both ways, and now do not use a center channel. I find it too annoying, on mono movies, to only have sound coming out from on top of the tv. It sounds better to me, to have sound coming out of both main speakers. Do whatever feels good for you!
The only reason I know of, to have the center channel, is for people sitting off-center, to have the sound anchored over the tv. No one has ever complained about my setup, even tho upstairs the chairs are not centered.

in my family room system I have no center speaker - just run in "phantom" mode. In my dedicated home theater, I use a center speaker, but there are times (ie on some material) I wish I was running in phantom mode.

I use one, I could live without it though (depending on where I'm sitting).

Dave

I could live without it for TV/HT but find it essential for MCH music.

Kal