Yer Doing yer Home Theater Wrong

[dtel]

15 hours ago, Paducah Home Theater said:

get a third identical Tekton

Best idea 

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If the center is most of the focus instead of the front 3 might as well just get a good soundbar.

 

3 identical is ideal, why have a weak spot. 

[wuzzzer]

On 8/13/2023 at 9:45 PM, Paducah Home Theater said:

 

Consider the following situations:

1. all three fronts are playing the same material

2. only the center channel is playing

3. only the mains are playing

4. the center is playing one thing but the mains are playing something else

All of these will sound exactly the same with a phantom center, plus if you're sitting off-axis, nothing is anchored to the screen at all, voices will always come out of whatever speaker is closest to you.  It's not a good thing.  Center channels are important.  
 

So you’d be a proponent of a setup with Khorn mains and a KV-2 center as someone on here had?

[Tom05]

Home theater sound is   highly center focused , certainly not equally distributed throughout seven  or five channels .Im sure we can agree that the front three channels are the primary channels , but of these three front channels, most if not all dialogue and a major portion of the on screen action,  will   be played through the  center channel . The center channel is focused to the story presented on screen and is most vital,  whether produced in phantom or as a discrete channel. The other channels provide us with surround sound. 🤓

[dtel]

20 hours ago, Tom05 said:

Home theater sound is   highly center focused ,

True, that's is because the screen is in the center.

 

20 hours ago, Tom05 said:

Im sure we can agree that the front three channels are the primary channels , but of these three front channels, most if not all dialogue and a major portion of the on screen action,  

Same answer as above.

 

20 hours ago, Tom05 said:

The center channel is focused to the story presented on screen and is most vital,  whether produced in phantom or as a discrete channel. The other channels provide us with surround sound. 🤓

Yes

When mixed the center info is in the center for obvious reasons and the other channels are set to give a realistic sound as if you were standing looking into the scene. With someone talking to the left of the screen and they walk across to the right of the screen the voice should go through the correct speakers to sound as if you were there, not all recording do this but when done correctly it should sound like that. 

I remember when it was not discrete channels and called "pro logic", more of just a blend into all speakers and sometimes not good at all, it was nothing like today, a good mix today is really amazing the effect it has.

[Tom05]

On 8/14/2023 at 2:10 PM, dtel said:

 

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3 identical is ideal, why have a weak spot. 

I don’t like weak spots either ,I’ve tried hard over  the years to eliminate as many of those as possible . Unfortunately ,  lots of people will be forced to make various compromise, take the guy with a pair of Heritage Jubilee’s , what if he  decides to expand to multi channel , he will be faced with difficult choices, Will he  add another Jubilee at center ? opt for a phantom center ?or maybe use a Lascala for center ? There’s only one ideal answer here , but probably  difficult to implement . I think we all know what is theoretically best practice , but real world circumstances most often prevent the complete alignment of the stars . Many people find work around solutions to solve their problems and some are willing to share their stories , interesting stuff and makes for good conversation .

[dtel]

59 minutes ago, Tom05 said:

Unfortunately ,  lots of people will be forced to make various compromise,

True, I am one of those people.

My 2 ch speakers are much better than my HT speakers, BUT I do not have room even in the 24' wide room to have something good enough to keep up with those as a center so I compromise and use 6 Forte 2s and 3s for HT. If the sub was smaller I would have room but there is no way I will do without this sub. The sub is in the center and a Forte stands in front of it for HT.  The room problem in the center is because the sub is 6' wide and 4' high but I have not heard better so it stays, besides it was a gift from a friend which means alot to me.

 

1 hour ago, Tom05 said:

take the guy with a pair of Heritage Jubilee’s , what if he  decides to expand to multi channel , he will be faced with difficult choices, Will he  add another Jubilee at center ?

Some have, you need the room and for me the hard part the money to do that. 

 

1 hour ago, Tom05 said:

opt for a phantom center ?

Not a bad idea actually. 

 

I talked with someone a while back who only did HT, he never did 2 ch so he never knew. I was telling him with 2 ch the idea is to toe in the speakers to have the image come from exactly the center. The same way is ideal for a phantom center, the sound sounds like it is from the screen. When I play concert disc I sometimes set it to 2 ch, I can walk up to the Tv and it still sounds like the sound is coming from the center, it was quite a surprised how wide the 2 ch speakers were imagining, but they are not normal.  

 

I learned alot here over the years asking questions and after trying some of the suggestions. Even at times when it went against what I thought was best. One of those things was set all HT speakers to small and let the sub handle the bottom, if the sub is capable.

'Well they were correct, after trying it a few different times I heard the difference, I was using all Forte 11 at the time and I thought they were more capable then just being set to small. But they were right, instead of 6 of the speakers in the room trying to cover down to a certain frequency just the sub did below the set freq, it cleaned up the sound a good bit.

 

You never know and I am always learning from people here, like many years ago I didn't think matching 3 front speakers were as important as what it is until I listened to them and tried it......another one of those learning times. 

 

Some things sound crazy but actually work, if all else fails a good friend has done this work for 30+years and I trust what he says.

[dtel]

1 hour ago, Tom05 said:

interesting stuff and makes for good conversation .

Almost forgot this part, your right it is nice to talk about this stuff, it is how I learned over the years, even if there is MUCH more I have no idea about than I think I know. 

[Paducah Home Theater]

On 8/15/2023 at 10:10 AM, wuzzzer said:

So you’d be a proponent of a setup with Khorn mains and a KV-2 center as someone on here had?

 

Deleting the KV-2 and having dialogue coming out of the extreme corners of the room isn't exactly a huge improvement.  Both are weird.  

[Zen Traveler]

On 8/25/2023 at 4:22 PM, Paducah Home Theater said:

On 8/15/2023 at 10:10 AM, wuzzzer said:

So you’d be a proponent of a setup with Khorn mains and a KV-2 center as someone on here had?

 

Deleting the KV-2 and having dialogue coming out of the extreme corners of the room isn't exactly a huge improvement.  Both are weird.  

Fwiw, this was also my first thought...It seems the point the OP/thread starter was trying to make was that he didn't realize how important the center channel was, tried a *unique* solution and is happy with it.  It seems the consensus is get the best front soundstage you can, and most can do it without using 2 center channels. I just don't think folks that can accommodate a large center can't also position 2 large F/L speakers as well.