IMO, you shouldn't have to turn up center channel volume to hear dialog. If you have to, something is wrong.
I agree, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily the speakers or the setup or the room. Sometimes it's simply a bad mix, where someone was trying to get every
other channel in the mix louder and louder.
Just like the compressed music being sold today, there are people in the movie industry that want LFE effects to be loud....and surround effects to be loud.... and music on the Right and Left to be loud.
Anybody that mixes knows you can't have everything louder than everything else. It's the balance of the channels.
But let's face it: When was the last time you heard someone in a forum
not brag about the LFE or the surround information, and instead post "The F/X were all at a lower level, but boy, could I hear the dialog really well!"?
In many movies and TV shows, center channel dialog loses in the mix because it's not sexy.
If turning up the center channel a few dBs improves the dialog intelligibility and helps you enjoy the movie, I say go for it...and don't assume it's your setup that's "wrong".
