Phantom center chan

[HIFI]

I am putting together a patio sound system. Main use is two channel listening and occaisional football games and movies in surround sound.

 

Is there any way I can avoid adding a center channel ? I see Yamaha has a "virtual" surround 4.1 on a couple low power receivers.

 

I could care less about surround sound but it is something the rest of my family wants.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[gmgraves]

I am putting together a patio sound system. Main use is two channel listening and occaisional football games and movies in surround sound.

 

Is there any way I can avoid adding a center channel ? I see Yamaha has a "virtual" surround 4.1 on a couple low power receivers.

 

I could care less about surround sound but it is something the rest of my family wants.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

 

Most surround-sound systems make a provision for a "phantom" center channel. This is where the dialog (which is about all that the center channel is used for) is re-routed equally into both the right and the left front channels. This gives the illusion that it's coming from the center. It certainly works fine for its purpose, but you do lose the ability to adjust the dialog volume independently of the music and sound effects that often accompany the dialog on the right and left channels. This is often very loud and the ability to separately adjust the dialog volume from the music and sound effects can be a godsend, so think about that as you make your decision.

[Fitzcaraldo215]

Most AVRs and prepros will let you configure and listen with a phantom center channel 4.0/4.1 setup. I personally think that is inferior to having a center channel speaker, especially for TV and movies, since the dialog is mostly all from the center channel. Dialog articulation is potentially better with a discrete center. But, it is also true for Mch music, which is mostly 5.0/5.1.

 

A phantom center is a step down, IMO. That is true for mono as well. But, you can probably live with it if you need to, even if it is not optimum.