Hey Bob
Neat question. We take it for greanted that you need a center channel speaker for a true HT. Who tells us this over and over again, the companies that stand to make the most money from selling these odd shapped things, speaker and hardware companies. We become numb, like you have to have a coffee table in a living room, why cuz you just do.
I remember back in 1999 I attended a show here in SW Ontario put on by one of the high end audio video stores. They had a key note speaker, Ian G. Masters. Now I remember reading articals from Ian since the early 80's in Sound and Vision Magazine. Like Alan Loft, his articals were always informative and intersting.
Anyways, Ian said back then that a center channel speaker was not only not required, you actually shouldn't have one. To be honest, I didn't really understand the reason why, something about the couch being too long.
You should have seen the faces of the sales rep's form the sponsering store when their key note told a large crowd they didn't need a center channel speaker. That was priceless.
For those interested to learn more about Ian Masters follow this link:
http://www.torontoaes.org/surroundview96/masters.htmlMaybe Alan might have a better idea of what Ian might have been talking about back then.
For the record, I own a VP150 and use it everytime I watch a movie.
