Generally a Sound Bar is an alternative to a HTib or separates as it has its own Amp and would connect directly to your TV audio outs. Therefore need to make a decision if if you want a sound bar or a 5.1 or 7.1 surround system.
However, you question appears to be if your sound bar could be used as a center channel in a surround system. This may not be the answer that you would want to hear but the would not be a good match. In a surround system it is critical that your front stage of Left, Right and Center channels be timbre matched. That means they should be the same speaker or the center speaker should be made by the same company with matching or similar drivers. This is important because those three speakers must smoothly work together to provide most of audio output of the system. With most of the voice dialog coming from the center.
I doubt that a sound bar would function well as a center speaker with the other speakers you would choose in your surround system.
i didnt know if you could use the soudbar through the tv audio to put above the tv then run the 7.1 speakers thru the receiver just didnt kow if i will get the audio signal in both places.
Found this thread through google and thought it might be a good place to ask my question. I am moving and I currently have a decent Yamaha receiver and a 5.1 speaker setup. At my new place, I really don't want to deal with running speaker wires as it is a slightly awkward setup. I was thinking of going the soundbar route but I am unsure of how I would set it up with a 5.1 receiver. I have several components(tivo, xbox, ps3, etc. all HDMI) that pass through the receiver and one hdmi monitor out to the tv. My tv at the new place is going to be mounted on a wall with cables hidden and I just wanted one hdmi to run to the tv. Can I make this setup work with a soundbar?
You could easily hook the soundbar up to the receivers digital audio output and run the video straight to the display. There are various types of soundbars available. Some with only one set of analog audio inputs, some with optical and hdmi inputs and outputs, some are powered (for connection straight to the display), some have stand-alone subwoofers and some of those are wireless. If you plan on keeping the Yamaha receiver in the mix then get a powered sound bar with an optical input and connect it to the Yamaha's optical output. Fewer wires that way. With a passive soundbar you would need to connect the speaker outputs of the receiver to the speaker inputs of the soundbar. This one from Sony is a good example of a powered soundbar/subwoofer with multiple hdmi inputs. But the low price makes me wonder how good it could be. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_158HTCT150/Sony-HT-CT150.html?tp=47366&avf=N