Cannot do 5.1 then does 3.1 make a difference or just stick to 2.1?

@geek101 I understand the allure of the larger center channel but lets examine this more closely. Legacy makes a smaller center channel speaker that may very well fit where its larger brother would not. Have you explored that option? There is really very little reason to have the center channel attempt to do more than 80 hz on the low end, thats what the mains and the subs are intended to handle. The smaller Legacy center speaker, I forget the model name, is quite capable, on paper at least, of handling center channel duties. If in fact it will fit in your current cabinet then that would totally solve your problem. There is very little if any content below 80 hz in any center channel source material I have played thru my system. You won't be giving up a thing to go with the smaller speaker except the bragging rights that go with the bigger one :)

Some receivers/processors give the option of a "phantom" center. I did that a while back with decent results.

I have increasing issues with dialog and find that upping the output a notch from the center channel helps.

This thread was started in 2018.  Since then in a variety of threads I've written about this.

The biggest benefit of a center is off-center listening.  If you sit in a narrow window in front of the TV then the center is a lot less beneficial than if you have an open living room and may sit in a variety of locations.