Home Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

Re: is center channel necessary?

209.240.200.152


Hi Jon. I've had my system both ways. Its a music first
system but I do a fare share of home theater and concert
laserdiscs and dvd's. In my experience, sure if you're
in the sweet spot no real problem, but as you get off
axis with some speakers listeners outside the sweet spot
will experience a collaspe of the front soundstage into
the nearest speaker. My Vandersteen 1C's have a wider than
average horizontal sweet spot and thus I was able to do
pretty good without a center for a while,but ended up
getting one anyway for an excellent soundstage&imaging at
either end of the sofa. My listening room is on the small
side which further facilitates the need for a center. The
further back you are from the front soundstage the less
there is a perceived collaspe into either left or right
speaker from an off-axis position in my experience. If you're the only one watching movies or in a decent size
(read medium to large) room then you might need one as much as the other scenario (smaller room with many viewers,meaning some will be off-axis). Hope this helps.


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