Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Phantom center testing

OK, I got the sub dialed in again using my EQ so I decided to play with the center channel. Am I correct in assuming all you do is set the center to no?

My test material was episode 1 of Band of Brothers. Everything is a little more diffuse with the phantom center. From the prime seating position, sometimes it works great like when there was a jeep driving across the front behind the main scene. The diffuse nature was quite a bit more realistic.

Sometimes it worked better for dialog sometimes a lot worse. With the center channel, I found the dialog more crisp and more pinpoint.

Outside the prime seat, I did not like the phantom center. The more diffuse dialog along with an off center location made the dialog float.

The only downside to the center is that sometimes its a little to pinpoint. I suspect some of that has to do with my sound-stage being a little too compressed into the center.

Now that I have some idea what I am missing, I think its time to play with the positioning of the mains to improve the sound-stage in general.

I use a phantom too. One test scene I like is PotC World's End. At the beginning of the movie, the hangmen puts a barrel on the gallows. I use that to help me get my speakers dialed in.

Yes.


I find that when I’m sitting close this is more of a problem but the further away the better the center blends with the mains and doesn’t stand out as much.


So far I’ve found it best to position my mains for the best stereo imaging and then integrate the center into the mix.

For all uses when sitting in the sweet spot I run my system 4.1 (w/o a center) because with my front speakers only about 2 meters away I think it sounds better w/o a center. I also prefer only using 2 surrounds and no surround backs.

When my mains are at 3+ meters or multiply people listening I like using the center speaker better than a phantom center.