"Phantom Center"---- I cannot hear dialog too well. (1 Viewer)

[Keir H]

I recently sold my center and now may be in need of another one to match my Linn's. THe old center was a Def Tech which suprisingly did not do a bad job matching with my new mains. Still, I had to replace it because of my quest for the best front soundstage with a "matching" center. I have notice most HT'ers use a center and some 2ch first guys use no center. I have tried the phantom option on my EAD but cannot hear spoken passages too well unless I raise the vol at near REF:levels (Loud). :frowning: In the sweet spot things seem to be ok but soon as you move just a bit left or right of the screen, I lose the descreteness that 5.1 gives me. I thought that it should sound better w/o compromises? It's what I've read. True?

 

[John F. Palacio]

You mean you have no center right now?

A center is a "must" for HT.

1-Is the ONLY way the dialog will appear in the center (screen) no matter where you sit.

2- Keeps panning sounds from jumping from side to side without "passing' through the center, again, no matter where you sit.

The only way this would work with just L & R is at the sweet spot.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Indeed. You will need a centre match for the Linn. What you may have to do, assuming Linn does not make a centre, is find out the type of tweeters and drivers and match as closely as you can.

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

I have grown to love the 4.1 setup.

It puts the vocals right where the screen is and the transition from left to right is absolutly seemless. Vocals are clear if I set the pre/pro to 4.1 or 2.1 mode... what receiver do you use?

True that the sweet spot is small, but after a while it is pretty easy to ignore once involved in the movie.

 

[Doug BW]

My experience is pretty much the same as Chris's.

I keep thinking I ought to get a center speaker, but I have problems seeing the need for one. The phantom center image perfectly matches the timbre and height of the L/R speakers. Intelligibility of dialog does not suffer when sitting 3 or 4 feet off center.

Of course, when sitting off-center, the sonic image moves to the side of the TV screen. But when watching a movie, our brains are also using our eyes to image. This seems to compensate somewhat for the fact that the sound may not be coming from quite the right direction. (I would guess that sight is by far our dominant sense when we locate objects in space, but what do I know? I'm sure bats would disagree.)

I'm not sure why moving off to the side is causing you to have so much trouble understanding the dialog. Perhaps you're right next to a surround speaker or some other source of noise? Your L and R speakers are connected in phase?

 

[Keir H]

Yes, they are in phase. I mean, I can hear dialog but just not as well in DD,dts modes as I can in ProLogic. I use an EAD Encore which has a provision for no center. Maybe my speakers are too far apart...~7.5 ft. No toe-in. Thanks everyone!