Who turns center off when listening to music


Regarding 3.1 systems. When listening to music; Who deactivates the center channel via the processor?

And with surround systems who goes back to 2.1 when listening to music.  Do any of the processors have presets you can you for this?

128x128jbuhl

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.

Yeah I have a much more robust main 2 channel. Just started assembling a modest AV setup just to watch concert vids primarily. Found a good deal on nice center channel and added that. Then upgraded the left right speakers to some Dynaudio. Put an old Sonos zip 90 modified by W4S , a good DAC that a friend gave me and fiddled with settings in the Denon AV and dang I’m surprised how good it sounds.

if I was in a different income bracket and  the  room didn’t suck I could see collapsing it all into one.

Wait, what? NO!

I have a combined 2 channel / HT setup. The AV processor is OFF when listening to music. No need for a center channel.

Conversely, for casual TV watching, I often don’t use the two front speakers, just the center.