Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Moving from 5.1 to 4.1

I know that Mojo has gotten rid of his center channel speaker with the move to LFR active. I don't have the active speakers but I do have LFR and I will say that my movie experience has improved with the removal of that center channel.

I am wondering how many have tried to see if they like it more without center (going phantom) over having an actual dedicated speaker.

I know that the LFR speakers have such a wide stage and enveloping sound from them that I really like. In a movie theater, I think that the front speakers are really wide. It gets hard because of the size of the theater room to really point to where the left center and right channels sit. They seem to act as a big area. You know that the left and right are to each side of you, but dialog and what most call the ambient front sounds that are sent to the center channel in your home theater setup seem to come from all around the front. This is where I find that my HT setup was lacking in that the center channel was VERY directional. it came as sort of a sore thumb in the L&R speakers were so wide in sound. With my QS8 surround speakers to the side, the side and rear sounds were nicely dispersed to feel non directional too.. but then you get that center channel that was so in your face front and center. Only front and center as if the sound was coming towards you from down a long hallway. It just sounded wrong com compared to every other speaker set. Remove the center and let the L&R do their thing in phantom mode and the directionality goes away and it sounds much more like an actual movie theater.

Now I will admit that I don't have the perfect room. I do have an Atmos capable pre-amp but haven't really wanted to try setting it up as such.