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Do Center Speakers benefit Mp3?
- Thread starter cxz001
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normally the audio device will process the mono signal in the audio and send it to the center speaker.
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no as most music is recorded in stereo, not surround sound, or that used to be the case.
It depends on your receiver settings. If you have it set to Dolby Prologic or some other processing mode, then yes you will get audio from the center speaker. What comes through it depends on the processing done, but it's often times not just a mono audio version of the sound. I personally don't like any surround sound modes for music other than 6-ch stereo.
Otherwise, just set your receiver to stereo and only play through your 2 mains + sub (if applicable).
Otherwise, just set your receiver to stereo and only play through your 2 mains + sub (if applicable).
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Center channel speakers are mainly for listeners sitting off to the side so theyll get a center image of the soundstage as opposed to being shifted off to whichever side theyre sitting and thus whichever speaker theyre nearest.
If you sit in the middle all the time, you dont need a center channel.
So all that leads up to me saying, no, it wont really matter.
If you sit in the middle all the time, you dont need a center channel.
So all that leads up to me saying, no, it wont really matter.
It all depends on your set up and settings. MP3s are stereo, which means 2 channels, left and right. There is no center channel in mp3s or CDs or most music (though you can buy some music in surround format, and clearly you'd need a center and rear speakers, in addition to front L and R to benefit from that sort of music). However, either your soundcard drivers, a codec program like ffdshow, or your receiver, will be able to upmix the music and process it in a way so sound is coming out of all your speakers. There are often many different settings, like dts Neo:6 and Dolib Pro Logic II, found in most modern receivers. I think most audiophiles don't use any of this, and just get a very good set of stereo speakers. If you are planning on buying a center speaker just for music, I would say that is a bad idea. But if you have one and want to know if it can be used with a stereo audio source (like mp3s), with processing and upmixing you can get sound out of the center speaker for sure. It is up to personal preference which setting you like, if any.