Ultimate center speaker in a small HT set up?

Gonna throw the cat among the pigeons now...

That's exactly what happens to the sound when you start mixing speakers in a HT system. Doesn't it make better sense for the birds to fly together as in a formation?

Now, I am aware that the front three speakers should timbre match, but is it really so important?

Not just the front speakers, this is important for all speakers. A sound may move throughout the room in anyway imaginable, or be fixed at any place in the room, therefore any two or more speakers may be used to create the sound. Looking at the picture in Matching Front and Surround Speakers, it is obvious that the jet would sound exactly the same, front or rear in the room, with all identical speakers. Now, what if that jet moves left to right across the front. Again, the front 3 speakers should be identical. Using different speakers will NOT give you a seamless blend from one speaker to another.

Run the test tone around the room, and listen for the difference in the character of the sound. The greater the difference in the sound means the greater the speakers are mismatched. Timbre matched speakers should sound very close, however, all identical speakers will sound exactly the same. The ultimate sweet sound for a HT system is to use all identical speakers.

If you want to improve the performance of your HT system, there is some good information in this article, especially the last comment.

Greetings Tls 49,

I just wanted to thank you for your comprehensive reply and very good advice.
Thank you for making the time.

Cheers,
Morgan.

And thanks to all the other contributors as well!

Morgan, you're welcome. Having spent over 20 years in the A/V industry, I have definitely listened to many systems. HT systems with all identical speakers range from quality bookshelf speakers to a system with all Wilson Watt/Puppys. While timbre matching is much better than a mix of speakers, IMHO, all identical speakers increases the overall performance even higher. There is much less localization to the speakers, and the sound seems to just wrap around the room. I have often thought that between every 2 adjacent speakers in a HT system, an image is created just like the 2 speakers of a stereo only system. So, in the stereo only system, how good will the image be with different speakers? Timbre matched will likely be better than totally different speakers, but neither will be perfect like a pair of identical speakers. Now think about those images from every 2 adjacent speakers in a HT system blending together around the room. Just seems to make common sense to me that all speakers should be identical.

Good Luck!
Tony