Hey Cat,
That's a drag on the Pioneer if adjusting the center-channel level is that complicated. It should be made easy by all AV receiver manufacturers because it's one of the potential virtues of Dolby 5.1 or 7.1--the ability to independently control the center-channel volume. Turning up the overall master volume of all the speakers usually won't help with badly recorded or low-level dialog. You want to raise the dialog above the level of the effects and surrounding ambience.
Like Wid, I often run the center +5 dB hot. There is also an age factor at work here. Post age 50 and especially past 60, most males have difficulty separating speech from noisy surroundings. It's why we of the post-60 group hate noisy restaurants of all kinds. The same mechanism goes on with separating and hearing the dialog in movies above the ambient and surround information and the music score.
Cheers,
Alan
