Is a center channel speaker really necessary?
 

So I got rid of my 10 year old piece of crap Pioneer speakers. They were decent for when I was 18, but now I need better speakers. So I bought some new shit today. I really wanted to drop about 2 grand on new speakers, but I could use that money on much more important crap. Anyway, Circuit City has a speaker sale going on so I bought some Polk speakers. I didn't get their high end shit, even though that's what I really wanted. I got a pair of R30's for $100, a set of R15's for $85, and a PSW202 for $89. So after tax I spent just under $300. I was planning on spending at least double that so I almost bought the CS1 center channel for $135, but decided not to. I figured I see how everything sounded before I bought that. So I get home and hook everything up, and I'm very pleased with how it all sounds. These speakers totally blow away my old shit. The mids and highs are crystal clear, and don't distort even when I turn it up. Even the sub sounds very good. I wasn't sure what to expect from a sub that was so cheap. As I listen to some music and watch a bit of a DVD I think that if I added a center channel that I wouldn't have enough bass. So for now I'm not going to get that center channel. I'll just save that money because my walls shake enough now.

So my question is what is the point of that center channel anyway? Hell, if you don't have high end shit with a lot of bass why get that speaker? Does it really enhance your listening experience that much?

The center channel is pretty important. That's where the voices come from when the camera's pointed at the actor. Drop that and you don't get accurate sound on the vocals.


Most people say your priorities for speakers are front left/right, center, and THEN rears.

It's not real important that the center channel be an awesome speaker, though - it's mainly important for it just to be there. Take one of your old speakers and make it your center channel.

if you haven't used a center channel before, you don't understand the importance it plays in a good system.

i'd never go back to non-center again. ditto shakran that you should use an old, crappy speaker at the least.

center channel = funktastic

get it :)

OK, but the problem is my old speakers are fucking HUGE. I can't use one of those as a center channel. Maybe I'll ask some guys I work with if they have a smaller spare speaker just to see if it makes a difference. Then maybe I'll go out and buy that Polk CS1 to complete the system.

that sounds like a good plan. if that doesn't work, just go to a local audio/video store and ask to listen to one of their home theater setups both with and without a center channel... they should be happy to comply if they think you'll buy one from them. :)

i went for a long time without a center channel and thought i wasn't missing much, but it definitely helps to have one... and just yesterday i found out what it would be like to have a GOOD one. wow, fucking incredible... i was at a high-end A/V shop and they had a home theater setup with martin logan speakers. when you sat down on the couch, it sounded like the people on the screen were standing right in front of you talking. of course, that center channel was probably well over $1000 alone... so i really should stop thinking about how nice it would look/sound in my living room. :D

I saw a chart once that claimed just over 50% of a movie's sound is directed through the center channel speaker - and I believe it. Dialogue and special effects are often displayed on screen. This is even more true in Dolby Digital than Prologic since the signal and encoding is of a discrete channel. Sixate, your movies will be even better with a center channel. However, it won't have anything to do with your bass. If you have the sub hooked up to the LFE output it is already playing all the bass it will (it sounded like you were concerned about "diluting" the bass).

One caveat though. In terms of using a random speaker for a center channel, please make sure it is magnetically shielded. Otherwise the magnetic fields coming from the speaker WILL damage a tube television. They will cause discolorations and a distorted picture. Ideally your center channel will be made to match your left and right speakers - that way when a sound pans across the room you won't be listening to a full dark sound on the left, then a tinny thin sound in the middle and back to the full sound on the right.

Have fun - surround sound definitely kicks ass!

My bad, double post. Please see below.

The center channel is the single most important speaker in a home theater setup, period. It handles over 70% of the program information. Its not that voices won't sound right without one, but that the voices pretty much won't sound at all. The only time vocals will not come from the center is when someone off screen is talking and it will be handled by either (or both) of the front channels. It has always been my experience that the first thing a customer will upgrade is the center channel, and then the sub.

I will elaborate on this point here. What he speaks of is called voice or timbre matching. This basically means that you want all your speakers to have the same basic sound or "voice." This is done by matching the crossover points in your speakers. For example, provided the Polk speakers sixate has are all in the same series, they are will be timbre matched.

Essentially, the center channel handles dialogue, and soundtrack, and most of the sound. The right and left channel are for effect and for effects happening off the screen. The rear speakers are for special effects. Definitely invest in a high-quality center-channel!!!
Dolby Digital 5.1 (.1 is the subwoofer for handling all low-frequency)

i would agree with everyone... a center channel speaker really makes a huge diffrence. To me its the channel that really brings you into the dialog of a movie.

I agree about the importance of the center. However, I disagree with the theory that any center is better than no center. If you choose no center, and properly set up your receiver/pre-pro, then the center channel will be split between your mains. Using a poor center speaker could give you any number of problems, i.e. timbre issues due to tweeter construction differences, different crossovers, different frequency response ranges, etc. I had this exact thing happen when I upgraded from Rega speakers to Totem. My old Rega center was so different in sound characteristics that I shut it off until I could afford a Totem center to match my other stuff.

something not noted is how you mentioned bass and center channel. The center channel actually will not have as much low compared to your other speakers, to compensate for that that's why you have a sub woofer.

The lower the sound wave, the harder it is to pin point the location of the sound. That's why it's okay to have a sub posistion mostly anywhere, while your center is.... center.


I like to tell people that you have your fronts and rears which carry the midrange, and then you have your center and sub which is the extreme highs and lows respectively.

Right-o! And the best way to figure this out: head back to CircuitTitty, head into a movie demo room, then lean over and disconnect that center speaker. DD and DTS send a lot of information there. Don't go without one unless you want to use some odd matrixed version of DD or Pro Logic (which will be weird anyway...)