2. home-theater
  3. 1071506867

Phantom Center sound better than a center speaker?

I was messing around with my HT setup last night. I have B&W 603S2's in the front with a B&W ASW600 sub. I picked up some Axiom speakers for surrounds and have a VP50 as a center surround speaker for my 6.1 setup. I currently do not have a center but will be getting a B&W LCR600.

Some of my rears have not come in yet so I figured I would break in my rear center surround by using it as my center channel front for a while. I knew the sound would be compressed since the VP-50 has small dual 4.5" mid's while the B&W's have dual 6.5" mid/mid-bass. However I was not prepared to have the sound literally shrink away. I watched TV (analog inputs) and DVD's for grins and came to the easy conclusion that the center I have is not up to the task of keeping up with my front towers.

However, here is my question:

Does a phantom center sound better than actually having a dedicated center speaker in HT? The LCR600 comes with dual 6.5" midbass speakers and a matching tweet but will it have the output to fill out the soundstage? My fronts are only 12' apart and the room floorspace is smallish 16x18 but there is alot of airspace due to vaulted ceilings and no wall between the kitchen and the family room.

Any help is appreciated.

Sorry for the long winded post.

Jeff
hiroshima
dave_l
15 posts
 
Hi Jeff.

My experience is that if you sit right in the sweet spot, then the left/right main speakers image properly and the center channel is not needed. But if you're not in the sweet spot, a center channel "anchors" the dialog to the screen rather than appearing to come from the closest (left or right) speaker.

My center channel is identical to my L/R, except for the woofer (Dunlavy Alethas and SM-1 for the center) so I get a real uniform soundstage across the front. If your center is different than your L/R (and in most cases it is) if it's inferior to your L/R, you'll really notice it as there is a much greater amount of information coming the center channel than the L/R. That's one of the reasons some people advocate identical speakers all around.

Regards,
Dave
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
The short answer is "No", but....

This assumes that the center front is the same as the Left and Right speakers. In many cases a solo performer is located in the center channel. It is amazing how well a center sound source images in the space between two speakers, but this is a trick that only works when the listener is critically located. A much more robust soundstage is generated when there is a center channel speaker to reproduce centrally located sound. Also, you can put your Left and Right speakers further apart, again providing a better soundstage.
hiroshima OP
6 posts
 
Thanks for the input... here is some more info.

Since my Left and Right speakers are both tower style I cannot use the same speaker for the center however the center I am looking at shares the same mid-bass drivers and tweeter.

Unfortunately I cannot move my speakers farther apart due to room constraints (wet bar) and WAF :-(

Thanks again for the input folks!
More to discover