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HowdyA while back I mentioned deep in a few subthreads that I was considering getting my preamp modified to split my center input into the left and right outputs to provide a phantom center. Jonathan Tinn had recommended this to me a number of times, but I was too busy getting my listening room in the new house setup, etc. to listen as well as I should have at the time :)
The expected advantages:
1) Less equipment, wires, etc.2) Since I also have video in my system my center speaker's tweeter wasn't at the same height as the left and right speaker's tweeters. I had a few discs where this was an obvious problem: e.g. on "Time Out" hearing the echos of the snare drums, etc. coming from a different height than the original strikes bugged me :)
3) Less sensitive setup: you don't need to have the center precisely centered and it's distance matching the left and right speakers.
When I sent my preamp to get modded I took out the center speaker and amp and discovered an unexpected advantage:
A more solid soundstage even for two (or four) channels. Apparently getting rid of more stuff between my front speakers (even behind them) makes more of a difference than I expected.Now that I have received my preamp back with a simple change (a couple of trace cuts and a couple of resistors soldered in for each center input) I can report that the above expected advantages all were realized. I really like the sound better and I wished I'd listened to Jonathan earlier.
I'm not recommending this for everyone. There are some potential downsides:
1) If you already have 5 matched amps and speakers placed on the ITU circle in a big enough room you are probably well off.2) If your left and right amps and/or speakers are being driven within, say, 4 or 5 dB of their limits or you don't have resolution to spare you could be loosing resolution or dynamic range.
3) If you regularly have multiple people listening and the center speaker is anchoring your sound stage for the people not in the sweet spot your soundstage might move a little for the people not in the sweet spot (really it just warps differently :)
4) If you don't implement the phantom center in the analog domain in, say, your preamp you'll probably loose more than you gain.
None of these were issues for me since my speakers and amps are overkill for my space and my soundstage was always solid even if you were off center when you listened.
-Ted
Edits: 07/30/07 07/31/07Follow Ups:
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