Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Center Channel

Looking for some input and opinions on the necessity of a center channel. After upgrading my receiver I lost the room for one until I find a better or custom shelf. My initial reaction... not that much of a difference, the M100s sound really good either way. I haven't watched a movie yet and i'm thinking it'll be more noticeable in dynamic scenes?

You'll notice the two mono blocks not powered on. One of the two new mono block's from Emotiva fried after hooking up ;-(

It's also worth noting that upgrading to the Yamaha 5200 processor was a huge upgrade from the RX-A860 I originally started out with, and much better than the RX-A1080. The DAC is so much better than what I was using. Sounds amazing and lots of fun little features to play around with. As someone still learning and reading goobs of stuff on the internet, you really don't know which upgrades are actually going to sound better until you try them in your space, this was a BIG ONE. This has taken the M100's and M80 on walls to another level.

Wahahaha! I knew you'd fry the Emo. Look back at my posts. LOL!

Wahahaha! I knew you didn't need a centre. Look back at my posts. LOL!

Before my buddy stole my M100s, admittedly I needed the 160. But, the 100s were 12 feet apart and I was 14 feet away. In your case, the M100s are so close, and you are sitting relatively far, I have to wonder how you can even get a stereo image.

Maybe emo will one day figure out how to protect their gear. Get an ADA.

You were right, you were right, and yes... you were right about that M2 on wall. What can i say, you've got good Mojo. You need a badge or something on your avatar so people will start listening to you.... and by people I pretty much mean just me. lol

Yeah but it's no fun listening to me. Look at how exciting your life became finding your own path.

Yeah, it's been fun. I'm hard headed and have to see things for myself sometimes. My biggest mistake in all this was getting a Yamaha RX-A860. Low end hardware hooked up to high end speakers doesn't equal amazing sound, or perhaps I just had a bad unit.

Anyways, lol, back to my original post. What do you think about the necessity of a center channel.

You don't need it given the separation of your mains and your listening distance. Wait until you get your next house. Make sure you have a large listening room.

During movies with the size of my room I can notice the difference with and without the center channel. As much as I love the 100s and the sound imaging they don't sound quite as good vs having a dedicated center.

When I had my setup along the long wall I only had about 3 seats (maybe 4) with a virtual center using the A-LFRs. I preferred a center in that case (speakers 11 to 12 feet apart). Given the wide space I needed to do better. I’m now setup on the short wall but have not had a chance to do anything with it. Just been too busy lately with non-audio stuff.

With passive speakers set 12 feet apart and 14 feet MLP, I had to use a center. With active LFR1100s set just slightly wider and same MLP, I don't need a center up to two seats away from the MLP either way.

Rebulx,

In my Theater with my m-80’s 12 feet apart and a vp-180 just a wall of great sound. Wouldn’t want it any other way. First row of seats is 18 feet away.
In the living room with passive 3 way floorstanders 9 feet apart, no center channel , don’t need one, don’t want one. Sitting 13 feet from speakers.
You’ll have to decide for yourself what might be missing and if that is important.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Jeff