If you have a closed room that is perfectly treated and all speakers are correctly time aligned, and subwoofers are equidistant to mains, and phase and time aligned at the crossover, it may be something to worry about… During intent listening of pink noise while rocking your head back and forth!
At the end of the day, I trust an Axiom product to do its job without fear of design neglect. All horizontal centers, even the best ones, are compromises. If worry is beyond abatement, choose a matched speaker with an AT screen.
I think for CV and Mojo to experience center channel content adequately they need an LFR as a center channel, and a db boost to it vs LR channels, as is the case when a mono signal sums to create a phantom center vocalist. For matched LCRs the center channel should be louder than an auto setup routine would decide.
A point source center speaker vs LFR L/R would no doubt sound unnatural. Integration of the front soundstage would break during pans in content. I would assume the effect would be like a star collaping into a black hole and then exploding again. (Hyperbole of course!)
For 1 or 2 listeners, it makes no financial sense to make this investment. Cheaper way is to use a large QRD diffuser on the front wall behingpd the center channel. Again, an AT screen is needed for this to perform correctly.
My take is non issue in practical applications. Millions are happy with soundbars. “Combfilters R Us”
