Fred, it's true that you can use the "phantom" center at least temporarily and save instead of buying a center speaker. Note John's point that you already experience what a "phantom" center is when you listen to any sort of monaural sound(e.g. a news broadcast)on a stereo setup or when, for example, a singer is placed in the dead center of the two speakers in stereo recordings.
Also as Ken noted, you can get a good HT receiver for less than that(e.g. a Pioneer 1014 for about $350)and it may be more cost effective. More important than the center question, however are side surround speakers, which add significantly to even 2-channel CDs by extracting the ambience naturally present in them to varying degrees and steering it to the surrounds, where it belongs. This is what will add to the overall cost.
