Anyone try center backs this way???????........

If you are using cheap receiver and cheap speakers this may (and does in some rooms) work very well. It gives a more diffuse soundfield in the rear if you are sitting in close proximity to the surround speakers.

For good mid-fi or high-end components this is likely less than ideal. The reflected sound from walls is altered by the wall surface. If you are depending on this reflected sound for the entire volume of information from the speaker (rather than only some of the information as in bi/mono-pole or electrostat)you are never going to hear the details that these more resolving speakers are capable of. However "monitors" are not always going to give you wide dispersion which is what you want in a surround.

Flip-side is that if the room sucks try anything you can to create the illusion of good sound regardless of equipment quality.

Yes, I guess it would be something in the order of... Spice.

Chadnliz,

When you say center backs, did you mean two rear channel speakers spread apart on the back wall? I hope they don't have the two speakers placed together at the center of the rear wall as rear speakers should be spaced about 150 degrees from the listening position (sides are at 90 deg). Reasons are avoiding possible back to front reversals, and spearding the rear surround information across the back. Rears are not intended to be a point source.

I have heard of arrangements like you mentioned when there was less than adequate space behind the listening area to properly place the rear speakers; e.g., listening position is a couch placed almost against the back wall. Unless the room layout has an unusual situation like that, I think you would be better off placing the rear speakers in a normal front facing direction (but spread apart).

Bruce

I've done this in a 5.1 setup, and it is nice with non-directional sounds (rain, traffic etc.), but it sounds pretty weird with voices, so I changed it back.