Optimized Center Channel

@toro3 , the ATVX is amazing in many ways.  It is an ATV on steroids at a premium price.  I thought myself nuts for getting it, and was unhappy early on.  It took a while to come into its own (4 weeks) and I've come to accept it as a welcome enhancement rather than transformative.  Night and day better?  No; more like afternoon to evening, but better.  Worth the price of admission?  That answer is subjective and in the eyes and ears of the beholder.  There are many users that say yes.  My response is, "Yes, I suppose so."

I've had Marantz products for over 10 years, and am fairly familiar with Audyssey.  Yes, Dynamic EQ is enabled, Cinema EQ is not.  I played considerably with offset, have it set at zero now, as I found that sounded best.  For a pittance I downloaded Secrets of Audyssey, which I find to be a good resource.

@drkenl , only with this iteration of the Marantz has Dirac become available. I had it on an Arcam AVR that I owned for a short while and found it cumbersome.  It has improved since, so I await their Black Friday sale to save 25% on the purchase, as the cost of the software has increased considerably.  It also requires an omnidirectional microphone, and that price has increased 50% thanks to tariffs. Ugh.  As to the digital signal, I have fiber converters from ethernet on my router to my Network Acoustics Tempus switch, with an NA Eno2 filter between it and the ATVX.  I invested in that switch to get more bang for my network buck, and I felt the system sound improved in both home theatre and audio when it was added.  Could my network setup be better?  No doubt, but here I am.

When I looked at upgrading this last time, I considered the McIntosh M170 and M180, which include desirable Lyngdorf aspects, but even buying used, the price stopped me in my tracks.  The new Marantz is no slouch and will have to do for now.

@gkelly , I was similarly shocked when I put my front speakers on Isoacoustics feet; I could not believe the improvement.  A separate stand just won't cut it in my space, and my AV rack is from years gone by.  Convincing my wife that we need a new one to better place the equipment she already despises is a hard sell on a good day.  Now if she were to go away for a few days and I got a suitable replacement in the same color, maybe she wouldn't notice...

@soix , it's not as if my system is Bad.  I'm simply trying to go from very good to very, VERY good. It has been stated elsewhere and, as @elliottbnewcombjr pointed out, it may simply be a matter of less than ideal recordings resulting in muddy dialog.  My hope was that someone using an audiophile amplifier for their center channel can weight in as to whether that makes a difference.  It certainly did for my L/R channels.

Yeah, the center speaker works properly, as the dialog coming from it is pretty clean.  Crystal clear so I understand every word?  No, but that could be a matter of chasing unicorns.  I'll play with the phantom center to compare the effect, which seems a matter of removing the center speaker from the setup.

Unless you can come up with a diamond that is large enough, you’re pretty much stuck with WAF syndrome. We all hope someday you win the lottery so you can avail yourself of this curse(Not the wife, just that you will be able to build a separate room for your hobbies). 

I’ve typed this a lot.  I have experience both in theaters and homes and built my own center channel. Here’s the absolute truth:

Center channel speakers will not help you hear dialogue better.  They help you hear the center channel track as if it’s coming from the center of your screen.   If you always sit dead center the center channel speaker does nothing at all for you.   It’s when you sit off center, stand up, sit below that the center speaker becomes important.  

You have a really nice rig, which I believe has custom EQ features.  My suggestion is to sit very close to the speakers.  If the dialogue magically becomes good the issue is your room.  That’s not something fixable by a more expensive center channel.  https://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-center-meaured.html

Also, interesting article here saying it’s really not us, it’s them.  

One reason I know the center doesn’t matter in the center is I have an anthem MRX.  They are all buggy.  They’ve acknowledged they are buggy and lack the previous generation’s feature which is to enable Dolby Surround regardless of the actual incoming source.  Lots of things on Netflix are digitally marked as 2.0 so the MRX will 100% refuse to apply Dolby Surround processing to it but will still tell you it’s on.  End of that story.  I’m glad there are tarrifs on your gear now.  Stupid Canadians... As a result I have the stupid thing double blind testing me all the time.  Effer.  If I’m sitting in the center I 100% can’t tell the difference.  If I’m lying down to the side I 100% can. 

Their previous generation of processors allowed this feature. 

One thing you can have because you have a nice Marantz instead of an Anthem is to use the PEQ features which I think you have to modify the sound track and boost mid bass to mid.  Around 500 to 4 kHz or higher.