I've never been totally happy with any center channel speaker that I've used because of that nasty localization effect you mentioned. I always thought that it (center channel) was a necessary evil so I never tried the phantom center until a few days ago.
I found that I like it much better. Very seamless pans across the front and no center speaker localization and always true to scale across the front soundstage as long as you are in the sweet spot. Even sitting slightly off center, it doesn't sound bad.
I've always had to place my center speaker just below the TV and although it was almost at ear level it still brought the center image down in scale as though the center material was only as tall as the center speaker.
I've never tried two center channel speakers but on the surface it seems to make sense. I would think that you would get better soundstage scale with two as long as they were positioned properly.
Aside from off axis seating positions, can anyone tell me the draw backs of the phantom center?
