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big screen - two channel system enough for dialog?

If I have a large screen (100"+), will I need a dedicated center channel to hear dialog well??

My priority is music, and movies are mostly drama and comedies where dialog is critical. Surround effects are NOT a priority. Many folks here believe you can get much better value from 2 channel systems, but I am getting older and dialog intelligibility is key.

I am concerned about blu-rays needing to downmix from 5 to 2 channels and with such a big screen and separation of my mains, will two channels just make the dialog more diffuse??
tswei99
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,610 posts
 
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Marakanetz, I could seat at least two additional rows of eight people in my theater, but the people in the second and third rows would not be able to see over the heads of the people in the front row. The second and third rows would not be elevated. Therefore, I keep it to eight people in one row so everyone has a great seat. For kids movies I've had as many as 25 kids over for a movie...most of them sat on the floor and they loved it.

My theater is not a dedicated theater, it is also my living room and my music listening room.
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mtrot
804 posts
 
I've gone through 3 or 4 center speakers, and was never satisfied with any of them, due to their inability to render the human voice as well as my L/R tower speakers. I did not find any improvement in dialog intelligibility when using a center speaker. The biggest drawback with all of the speakers I tried was that they could not reproduce the baritone quality of male voices, no matter what crossover settings I tried. I finally have just decided to use the phantom setting with my L/R mains.
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,610 posts
 
.
I've gone through 3 or 4 center speakers, and was never satisfied with any of them, due to their inability to render the human voice as well as my L/R tower speakers. I did not find any improvement in dialog intelligibility when using a center speaker. The biggest drawback with all of the speakers I tried was that they could not reproduce the baritone quality of male voices, no matter what crossover settings I tried.

Agreed. That's why I use a full-range tower laying horizontally as my center channel. Anything smaller was inadequate and a waste of time.
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marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
Hey Mitch, can you post picks? I'm curious!
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,610 posts
 
.
Marakanetz, the link below should give you an idea of the
room and the layout. When the room is my everyday living
room, the couches are along the walls. When I get ready to
watch movies, I move the couches so that they face the
screen. I sit 30 feet from the screen. You can see the
center channel on the floor at the bottom of the screen, I
place it on a platform that raises it two feet off the floor
at movie time. The room is 22 ft wide, 70 ft long and 22
feet high

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vhome&1178590685
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