Center Speaker: what does it do?

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roninblade

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 22, 2004
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I have the Logitech X-530, i only have the left right and center speakers up. but what does the center speaker do? I can take it off because it connects to the right speaker. What should i do? All its doing now is taking up space
 
The center speaker is used in movies for speech and dialog. It is also used for sounds directly in front of you, because if it were to output to both the left and right speakers, it would not sound as good.
 
I was wondering this too. Surely if there are 3 speakers at the front, then 2 at the back, doesn't that make the audio sound un-even? Won't it be front heavy?
 
Multichannel DD and DTS algorithms output mainly dialogue and whatever is going on directly infront of the viewer, bridging the Front R and L speakers. In HT, the center carries the most weight vs all other speakers. Something along the lines of 60-70% of a movie's soundtrack is handled by the center speaker.
 
mystify_YOU said:
Won't it be front heavy?
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It should be front-heavy, because that's what ties the visuals to the audio. An actor speaks, a car wrecks, a gun fires, and they all generally appear on screen, front-and-center. For film, it's better to use surround in a subtle fashion, allowing the surrounds to draw viewers in without necessarily pulling their focus from the frame, giving them clues as to events not appearing on screen or to give viewers a better sense of the environment (via reverb). Placing too much in the surrounds can become disorienting, pulling viewers away from the "reality" attempting to be created by the filmmaker.
 
For the most part mutli channel speaker syetems are supposed to be balanced. All levels the same. I am not sure front heavy is such a good term to explain it.
 
You've already got the speaker, right? Why not take 30 seconds to plug it in correctly, set it between your left and right front speakers, and listen to it. You'll like it. Trust me.
 
Audioguy said:
For the most part mutli channel speaker syetems are supposed to be balanced. All levels the same.
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The system should be fairly well balanced, but the content typically is not.

There are times when surrounds can really get a workout, but this is pretty rare.
 
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