Anyone going Phantom Center Channel?

I've tried it and it works OK. Dialogue is not as focused as with a dedicated center channel.

I think with your speakers and if you are seated centered between the speakers then you will probably find the phantom works as well as having a center. It will be virtually impossible to get a center to match to the A-1. I did the same thing with Martin Logan Monoliths, but part of the reason was I did not want to corrupt the soundstage for 2 channel listening with a center channel right in the middle of the soundstage.

i did the Phantom center in my room and loved it. i think the effectivness of the Phantom center depends on how optimized your room is for 2-channels. if you already have excellent center fill and depth then any center channel speaker will likely detract from the 2-channel performance and not contribute much for multichannel music performance. if you primarily watch movies then i would go for a center channel as dialog benefits from it.

how are you doing the center channel electronics? does your multi-channel preamp have that capability?

Yep - me too - if your speakers image well then no problem at all - it will actually sound better than having a center on the floor or above the TV as you won't mess up the image from the mid/treble frequencies from your mains, which will be at totally different height from the center. Yep you heard correctly - phantom will be BETTER for a single viewer properly centered.

Of course if you need to entertain a crowd then a center channel is an absolute necessity for off axis listeners - to anchor the sound to the screen - of course surround speakers also become a problem with a crowd too - dipoles are often best for rears and surrounds in this case.