Question For Those That Watch Movies/TV Through Your Two Channel System

@bkeske    The reason this question came up was because yesterday we added a Node 2i to his system. Since his AV receiver is just an entry level Denon, I wanted to get the most out of the Node with an integrated amp, but was concerned about watching movies in 2 channel stereo.
   

Well, you could always play music in 2 channel mode, which would ‘turn off’ the center, then back to 5.1 for TV.

But I agree with others, you will never get good musical sound with an AV receiver vs a dedicated 2 channel set-up. Just depends on how critical you want the 2-channel music to be.

I tried this, as my system is dual HT/2-channel. Fist with an dedicated power amp using my AVR as the pre, then finally a separate preamp with HT pass-though, which all my 2 channels sources are connected to. Thus, now, the AVR only has one function - HT 5.1 while watching TV. All my 2 channel is completely separate with its own pre and power amp. And 2 channel sources, of course. You could do the same with a 2 channel integrated with HT pass-through, and only have the center directly connected to the AVR. The mains connected to the integrated. Seems a bit strange, but you already have the Denon. Problem is, highly doubt it has pre-outs.

My thought was to do away with his small center channel speaker and replace the AV receiver with an Integrated Amp.

This is exactly what I do... you just need to make sure the audio is down-mixed to stereo as someone else suggested. The process mixes centre channel into the left and right speaker signals equally and with no attenuation. You do lose the low frequency effects channel though so if that's important to him he'll have to stick with multi channel. 

I put the HDMI through a switch that also provides an optical two channel PCM output so I can use a decent DAC for the analogue conversion. I wouldn't advise using the analogue outputs on any if the switches I've come across though.

@ericsch The primary benefit of a center channel is to lock the dialogue (or other centered sounds) into coming from the location of the display for people who are not sitting equidistant from the left and right speakers (assuming the main speakers are located symmetrically and equidistant from the center of the display).

If everyone sits "in the middle" then a center channel isn't needed, since dialogue will sound like it is coming from the center when reproduced by your left and right speakers. However this is unlikely in a home unless everyone is far away from the display. The possible distraction of dialogue not matching where a viewer sees the speaker, for someone sitting off-center, might be more of a quality loss than whatever improvement you get from using higher-quality 2-channel equipment.

Adding 2-channel equipment with HT bypass as suggested by @bkeske would be the easiest way to get any sonic improvements for music listening while still maintaining the status quo for movies and TV watching. But it means more equipment and a slightly more complicated setup.

Hi Erich,
A center channel is better than using stereo speakers, but only modestly so and works best with automatic room correction.

For reasons related to head transfer, a center channel actually does sound different than a phantom center, even if you are sitting in the middle, but the effect is not gargantuan. 

Best,
Erik