Do I need better center ch speaker-dialog unclear?

+1 for Drew's comments regarding SPL equalization. You may have to bump up the output level on the center channel as I'm assuming you adjust the volume like most of us based on all the loud sound effects coming out your larger mains. Even if you did balance it, bump it up a couple db's to see if that helps. It'll cost you nothing. Considering your mains aren't matched to your center there definetly could be a difference in "loudness" between the two. If this is a decent center channel then I would doubt the problem is the speaker, maybe it's just too quite in relation to all the SFX the studios seem to love these days.

Thanks, I did bump up the center channel to +1 today.

As to the room, there is no coffee table, but rather an ottoman we prop our feet on. It would probably absorb sound, rather than reflect it.

I can't really put that center speaker in front of the TV, as that is the traffic path in the room.

I sit on a sofa about 9 feet from the front speakers, and the sofa is about 5 feet from the back wall. It really is a terrible room for audio, but it is all I have.

I am just going to have to optimize my equipment and cabling.

The dynamic range and ambient sounds on movie soundtracks can be a challenge for voice on most consumer speakers. These soundtracks were originally mixed and mastered for high end high $$$ professional movie theatre sound systems(which have much bigger dynamic range). Unless they have been re-mastered (compressed) for consumers or you have professional gear then you will often run into trouble with audibility of speech.

Basically, mid range compression and mid/bass distortion in most consumer speakers will disguise low level vocals...

Unlike music, where voice can be easily compressed to make tracks uniformly loud and audible, the intonation and voice levels of actors in movies varies greatly, after all this is natural and a huge part of expressing emotion/acting....a movie sound track that is highly compressed will lose much of its impact.

This is most likely your problem - it is an all too common one.

At this point, I am beginning to agree with Shadorne, and I think I am going to give up on having a center channel speaker until I can afford a really good one. I got a deal on a Swans C3 center speaker, so I have been checking it out. I also have a new receiver, a Yamaha RX-V1800, which should have better decoding than the Sony DA4ES. The Swans is not bad, but it is smaller than the Paradigm cc570v.3.

Currently, with the Yamaha, it just sounds best to set the Yamaha to no center speaker and let my Legacy Signature IIs front L/R handle the job. The sound is just overall much better like that.

Actually, the Legacys do sound significantly more clear on dialog after I recently switched speaker cables to Morrow SP2, which is silver coated copper.

So this means I have tried: PSB Image Series C9, Paradigm cc570v.3, and Swans C3. All are supposed to be decent speakers but both me and my wife still cannot make out dialog in movies. Yes we have typical over 50 year old hearing loss, but not terribly so.

As a last ditch attempt, I did order a run of the Morrow for the center speaker to see if this will clear up dialog a bit. If that doesn't do the trick at all, I am just going to sell the Paradigm and the Swans and try and save up for the big Legacy center channel speaker. I can still use the Morrow cable later if I get another center speaker.

For dialog a speaker with restricted and contoured frequency response is most inteligible. Lousy for music though, where the center speaker should be as good or better than the Left and Right speakers.
Maybe you need to DOWNgrade the center speaker.