adding center speaker to existing stereo system

I submit having a preamp that has HT bypass is the best way to combine 2-channel with a surround system. When I'm listening to music my surround components are off. When I'm watching a movie I use my preamp's HT bypass. My 2-channel amp continues to drive my fronts.  I turn on my Marantz AV processor, ATI 3-channel amp and OPPO 203. My 3-channel amp drives my center and rear speakers. 

HI @tls49  You make a good argument, but it's not complete.

Turns out, a center channel can really be helpful. Have you ever noticed a change in tone when an instrument pans from left to center? It turns out that right in the center your head plays a part in cancelling some of the sound. Early recordings were actually 3 channel, and man, do they sound good. :) 

So, for movies and dialogue especially, a center channel will sound somewhat better than a L and R phantom. 

Best,


E

Erik, you certainly have the right to your opinion, however, I only agree with it for one particular scenario.

I worked in the A/V industry for ~25 years, mainly dealing with mid to upscale products. The latter 15 years was spent with increasing time designing custom home theater and supervising the install. No doubt I have listened to more and a wider variety of home theater than the majority of the people here. From that experience, to agree with your comment, the center speaker would need to be identical to the L & R, not just timbre matched, but identical. Also, it would need to be driven by an amp channel identical to the L & R. The closest center speaker to his L & R is the Olympica Center, however since the OP is talking an A/V receiver for the processing and power, that just doesn't make good sense. Then use a speaker more suited for the A/V receiver, and that will do more harm than good compared to phantom center. Now if he wants to get the Olympica Center, another REF600M monoblock, and a nice processor, that would likely work ok, otherwise, I'll stay with my original recommendation.

Some of the best sounding theaters I did, regardless of price, used all identical speakers with high quality identical amp channels.

tls49 is right. it is pointless to add a speaker different in brand etc from side spkrs if you are going for high end sound. i did it, trust me.

hi @tls49

My experience is that I used to work in making audio equipment for motion picture auditoriums, until Dolby Digital came out, and make my own loudspeakers, on top of being a hobbyist for decades.

I think that while having identical L, R and C speakers is an ideal, it is not the ONLY way to improve sound quality. Well matched speakers, especially with room correction can be a real benefit to dialogue. I know this from personal experience using very different speakers I have made, along with DSP. Would I compare this setup to Spielberg’s? Of course not. That was not the point I wanted to make to the OP.

My first post was not about whether to use identical speakers and amps, but was about how HRTF (head related transfer functions) affect our listening, and why a center channel can enhance the experience more than obvious compared to a phantom center. I really did not argue about how close a match speakers should be. That was all you.

I think the idea that you should ONLY add a matched center is unnecessarily puritanical, and my own listening tests have shown to me that adding a different center, when done right, is a big improvement over a phantom center. Have you done this experiment? I can tell you in my case the sound was absolutely seamless.

Best,

Erik