Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Center(s) placement.

My center is below the tv. About the level between the mids and lows woofers on the 80s. Above the tv it would be 24 inches above the 80s.

When I am seated, ear level is about right between the 80s tweeters.

Should I use a 2nd center above the tv to even out the balance?

Can you not aim the center at the listening position? Leave it low and angle it upward to improve the imaging, or mount it high and angle it downward.

I have tried both. Dialog seems to come from the speaker instead of the screen.

Curious. How close are you to your speakers (left, right and center)?

I could see being a little close would cause this effect and perhaps it would be beneficial to balance the sound with a paralleled center channel.

10, 10.5, 10 - L/C/R.

Having another center on top of the screen (or on the bottom rather) will create a vertical "phantom center" which will make the sound sound like it is coming from the screen.

That seems to be a decent distance so I can only think that you must listen to your system at relatively loud levels or you have a very keen sense of hearing.

I agree that a second center will eliminate the localization that you are experiencing. You'll just have to recalibrate once you have the new speaker in place.

You have got less than seven days to buy that extra center before the price goes up.

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Dialog seems to come from the speaker instead of the screen.

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I've never heard a center speaker that didn't sound like this. It drove me crazy. I now believe that the perfect center speaker is no center speaker. I started using the "phantom" center about a year ago and have never looked back (even sold my $1000.00 Maggie CC3 center and bought a Dish PVR 942 with the money. Great PVR BTW.)

Dialog now seems to be perfectly placed (according to the material) on the screen and the front sound stage is wonderfully blended.

My room is small enough that even if you are seated off axis the dialog is still well placed. I use Maggies for my fronts and they seem to be well suited for a phantom center but even with my Axiom M22ti or KEFs as mains it works well also. To me, center speakers are like the emperor's new clothes.

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To me, center speakers are like the emperor's new clothes.

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Hey, man, I like my new wrinkle-resistant shirt.

Once you realize that there's nothing a center speaker can do better that both front channel speakers -- with the exception of centering sounds to a specific point regardless of a listener's position in the room -- then a center can be omitted altogether, given your room and typical audience.

I found that you can get the sound to "come from the screen" rather than from the speaker, at least with a smaller TV, but the trick seemed to be balancing the height of the center and mains so that they sort of "averaged out" to the middle of the screen. In other words, if the center is above the TV then the midranges of the mains need to be about the same distance below the TV.

If everything is centered or above, the sound is going to seem to come from the center channel instead.