Video Asylum

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With a pre-pro...

Posted by cfraser on July 17, 2009 at 21:01:28:
you don't even need to bother with the center yet. As long as you tell the pre-pro you don't have any except L/R front speakers, it will mix the center channel audio (plus all the rest) appropriately.

I suggest an AVR with pre outputs for your pre-pro if on a minimal budget. If doing a center channel, this is the last place to skimp; it must be done well or much better to just skip it and use your good stereo gear to reproduce the center audio instead, I'm sure it will image adequately well.

Just swap the pre-pro/AVR front outputs with your stereo pre outputs into your amp depending on whether listening to video or pure audio discs. Alternatively you could hook the pre-pro/AVR front outputs into one of your stereo preamp inputs, with the stereo pre at a preset volume level (1-3 o'clock) for video disc use...I've done this before and it worked fine.

If I had your gear, I would spend money on a sub for DVD/BD use before I'd go into the center channel. With quality stereo gear, running a "phantom" center channel is plenty decent. Heck, I'd probably even do the surrounds before the center. That's what I'm saying now, but that's not the way I went back in the day... The center speaker (and amp) must be done well, or else it is worse than no center, because most movie sound is in the center channel. Most center speaker designs seem to assume your front speakers are crap, so they help distribute the crap sound more evenly and directionally. So I say use your good gear to best advantage until you're motivated to sink more $$ into the center. Anyway, once you have a mch audio processor, you can crank up the center channel (for dialogue) if you have to, even if you don't have a real center channel.