In my experience I prefer the more direct sound of a dedicated center channel over the phantom center when both are done well. For me this applies to music as well as movies. But I'm not setup with the amp channels or processor, or speakers space to do a center channel right now so I get by with my phantom center, which sounds very clear and vividly located in the center so long as I'm sitting in the center. It ultimately lacks in tonality due to inherent comb filtering issues with creating a phantom center. But I feel in the past I've paid too much attention to it. If I don't do direct A/B comparisons my brain/ears adjusts very well to the tonality. Room reflections pretty much mask it.
I rarely use center channel with processor
I set up my processor, nad m17 v2i, so that I can alternate between six channel or five channel(without center). I’m finding that my mains which are B&W 802D3, don’t really need the center channel for most streaming. I am biamping with tubes and solid state so that may be helping the quality
The vocals come through just fine on the main speakers. Overall things sound better. It’s easy to toggle back-and-forth for purposes of excluding the center.
Does anyone else not use a center speaker because it is better to use only the mains? I will admit I occasionally use the center channel sometimes when I need the vocal sound to come through better but it rarely happens.
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- 27 posts total
- 27 posts total

