2.1 vs 3.1

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persisting1

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Is it worth getting a center channel if I'm not going to go 5.1? Considering a center for movies and gaming and going 2.1 for music.

Might go 5.1 down the road, but not anytime soon.
 
Sure, sort of. It really depends on how much you're pushing your mains, and what the overall quality of them is. For most entry-level equipment, a dedicated center channel can work wonders for anchoring dialog to the center and improving clarity.

Now on the other hand, if you have a higher end setup (just for grins, say your mains cost >$600 each) you may or may not get enough mileage out of a real center to justify the extra expense. Using a phantom center may sound better for the person in the sweet spot, but you'll shortchange your viewers off-axis. Further, if you're really pushing them for volume levels or extension, you may notice dialog being less than stellar during passages of heavy activity.

So, if you have really cheap mains and will get something that isn't a cheap center, or if you have good mains and have off-axis listeners, or if you simply feel like you're missing a little something when it comes to dialog, get the center. If it sounds good to you now, it's probably fine.

By the time you have a full 3-channel setup across the front, you really may as well go 5.1. The surrounds are really not that hard-core, just about anything that makes noise will enhance the experience (especially given how lazy a lot of mix designers are these days--you may not even get much audio at all out of them). Good surrounds make it better, but you're really getting into diminishing returns at that point.

I would not hesitate to try out a pair of $50 speakers as surrounds for a $5000 3.1 setup, for movies anyway. I would wager almost everyone would appreciate the improvement and few would comment on any absence of acoustical fidelity. For multichannel music, of course sabotaging your rear soundstage would be mildly retarded. But for home theater, anything goes--I've even used some old Aiwa boom box speakers for rears and felt it was an improvement (for a ghetto system, natch).

Going to 7.1 in the same way is generally going to be a waste of time, however.
 
I prefer 3.1, especially at my computer, for any kind of media or gaming. 2.1 for purely music. For 3.1, though, I say use the same budget-level speakers on all 3 mains.
 
Yes. The benefits of 3.1 are increased voice clarity and overall detail. It is how I would go for HT. Rear channel is a bit of flash compared to the center. I believe the center channel to be the most important. Hell, you can get away with JUST a center channel and a sub for HT lol.
 
Quick note, the beneficial effects depend to some extent on the placement of the speakers and listeners in the room. The benefit will probably be minor if you're sitting at the computer with the speakers less than a meter away from you - but it will have a good effect if you're 2-3 meters away on a couch with good angular separation of the speakers and plenty of room for wave propagation. For shorter distances, it also means that the distance between you and the speaker will often be significantly shorter to the center than to the L/R sats, which can cause more issues than it solves.

Actually, that's more or less what a center is for...it compensates for the increasing linear distance between the left and right channel as you sit further back and maintain a roughly consistent angular distance. This opens up the possibility of optimizing it differently for the expected frequencies (voices etc), which can further help, but it primarily helps smooth out the waves being generated in the room so it appears more seamless to the listeners.
 
If you want clarity, you should go for a 2.0 or 3.0 system. IMHO of course and all that... Anyways, a center channel is good for applications that support it, but most music is just basic stereo and authored for 2 speaker (so a 3 speaker setup is quite useless in that case).
 
For games and HT, the center channel does a lot though. I agree that you need the speakers at least 3ft in front of you though. I got away with having them closer by spreading them further apart but that is not optimal either.

What is your room/setup like?
 
Well, the other thing that really helps is that the source can be specifically encoded to exploit it - which makes it start helping tons and tons. :D
 
It'll be for an average sized bedroom. At work so can't measure it right now.

Also, the Pioneer VSX-1018AH-K will be powering them.
 
As long as you're not trying to mount them dead in front of you then it should be worth the trouble, particularly for the movies. The scenario where it would be a little pointless is if you're sitting at your desk and putting them under your monitor...10 inches away is not going to work very well.
 
I don't think many things have a 3.1 mode...I think that mostly you push 5.1 and don't connect the rear sats. :eek:

Receiver specs:

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/P...s/PioneerReceivers/ci.VSX-1018AH-K.Kuro?tab=B

User Manual:

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/S...me/VSX-1018AH-K_OperatingInstructions0610.pdf

Page 11 shows a menu that appears to indicate you can tell the receiver independently that a center speaker is connected and should be used. It *may* have internal processing smart enough to compensate for 3.1 when you give it 5.1 input (since I've yet to see a DVD with 3.1 audio as an option).

Page 22 usefully notes that the angular separation between the front sats should (and can) be bigger with a center. Also that it should not cross the line formed by the front sats.

Random note, it can do bi-amping.

Page 33 mentions a SBch button on the remote, and that SBch OFF will prevent rear speakers from being used. Between that and disabling the rear speakers in the setup menu, hopefully one of the two will force it to downmix 5.1 into 3.1...I really wish it was more explicitly documented. It looks to be a very good receiver other than that little bit about not letting me find out by hitting search. :D
 
Yeah...the only thing I'm worried about is that sometimes the guy making the source thinks he's oh-so-clever and starts fooling around with the channels in odd ways, assuming they're always present. Ideally, you want something that will mix the front and rear L/R channels together (without adding much noise / distortion!) so there's no information that's outright discarded.
 
You're better off (IMO) with 2 excellent mains and a pair of cheap rears then going 3 speakers (especially sinking a lot of money into the center).

I personally really enjoy surround sound, and if you have great mains, they can easily handle center duties.

Btw, for gaming and action movies, surround is major. Obviously if you are more into dramas, surround is a bit less important.
 
Long story, but I can't use surround sound. I have a balance disorder and it throws me off (yeah I know, weird). If it wasn't for that, then this wouldn't be an issue. Plus I'll eventually go 5.1 (keeping fingers crossed).
 
persisting1 said:
Long story, but I can't use surround sound. I have a balance disorder and it throws me off (yeah I know, weird). If it wasn't for that, then this wouldn't be an issue. Plus I'll eventually go 5.1 (keeping fingers crossed).
Click to expand...

Tried a chiropractor? My neck gets messed up so that I get vertigo sometimes.
 
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