Who turns center off when listening to music

no center, no surround.  

indeed, I don't even use a center nor surround for movies or TV anymore.  two-channel works just fine w video... good enough speakers create a phantom center.

Unless your 2-channel setup is absolute shite, leave the center off.  What AVP, amp, and speakers are you using and how much flexibility do you have in placing your front L/R speakers?

I don't need to turn off any speakers. But then all my speakers have the same drivers and all amplifiers are identical, and they are all carefully balanced.

Often the center speaker is often an afterthought and the weakest, when it needs to be equal to the best.

You guys that leave the center channel off are only thinking of the person in the sweet spot, for everyone else its better if you leave it on. 

https://www.avid.com/resource-center/3-takeaways-on-immersive-music-mixing-with-grammy-winner-darrell-thorp

My systems are 100% independent of each other. 2 channel and ht do not mix in my home. Many people have mixed them with ht bypass are are very happy but I have made my choice of having two totals separate systems and am very happy.