I was wondering what people thought about adding a center speaker to a 2.1 setup? I’m wondering if it would increase the stage presence distinguishing sounds coming from left, right and center stage.
My advice would be to just let your Mains do their thing. If they're any good and set up right you should be getting a good central "image" and full soundstage If not happy with result..........look at better Mains!!!! Adding a centre to a stereo set up is not going to end well IMHO. Adding a sub would be a better way to go if you must scratch an.... "itch".....
Huge soundstage and perfect stereo imaging by adding a 3-ways floor speakers 2.0. In my case, Microlab M-910 2.1 + Microlab SOLO 9C 2.0, connected together with a SPDIF splitter (the PC sound card has one SPDIF output, and all speakers have SPDIF input).
Don't do it. The only time a center speaker is of any use is when the mains are too far apart for the listening position. -Bill
I beg to differ... All your arguments are based on that you are sitting in the sweet spot. The big, big advantage with adding a center speaker is that you can get a better balanced sound from different seats. To actually hear the centered voice/sound from the center is crucial both when watching movies and listening to music, and it is always nice if more than one person can experience this.
I agree for movies it helps. But for music it can give a stereo image a sound closer to mono. I said “closer to mono” not mono. Yes it can ruin the stereo separation depending on the mix of the musical content.
It is true that three-channel can give very much better imaging, but the you need either records that are recorded that way or a processor optimised for three-channel audio. http://www.audiosignal.co.uk/Resources/Three_channels_A4.pdf
Yeah, my friend had his old receiver permanently on Dolby Pro Logic II or whatever. With the new one, I turned it off. Then one afternoon cycled through all those modes-DTS Neo, a couple others. They all sounded kind of fake to me, so I turned it back to straight 2.0 (for stereo content. True 5.1 is reproduced 5.1).
Ive only recently heard a setup with a center channel, but it was too jarring for me. I wasnt there to listen to the setup really, and I wasnt smack in the middle, but it seemed so fake, like the sound really was coming from the speakers, no illusion.
The center speaker works well for movies because the movies are encoded with the specific information from that center channel and you need a receiver capable of decoding it. When you use a stereo signal whatever you use to feed the center speaker you will be producing a fake electronically generated sound that was never actually recorded and as result it will sound fake. To get the imaging you are aspiring to you must have very good speakers and the equipment have to be decent too. A couple of days ago I've heard the best imaging you could possibly imagine -not at home of course- and yes I kept looking for the hidden speaker in the center because it was just unbelievable there were loud drums coming from the center. Needless to say price was out of most people's range. You can get some decent imaging too without breaking the bank but you need to set up things properly and even then the better quality of your set up the better the imaging is going to be. If you go ahead you might like the center speaker but I don't think is the way to obtain what you want.
