mceljo
I see you can do that IF the particular AVR offers it.
I just checked a few Denon AVR’s on Crutchfield, manuals do not mention 4.1, perhaps the ’no center’ choice is there but unmentioned.
"Try setting it up for 5.1 and then go to SETUP MENU > SPEAKERS > MANUAL SETUP >SPEAKER CONFIG, and set Center to None (instead of Small or Large). I have the same model, and just tested this out with the first scene of the Godfather, which is all dialogue. With 5.1, the dialogue is all in the center, with faint echoes in the L/R channels. With the Center disabled, the dialogue was evenly split between the L and R. Can’t guarantee that it’s true 4.1 with all the center channel data folding into the L/R channels, but it certainly sounded that way to me. Good luck!"
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HOW would this help OP understand dialog better? Seems to exist to omit buying/fitting a center channel, why else would you do it?
IF he is cupping his ears, then he is blocking the rear surrounds and reflections from them.
Perhaps they need to have their volume reduced in the menu, speaker adjustments
OR, go to 3.1 mode, omitting the rear sounds he is blocking with his hands