Is it my center speaker or receiver settings?

tripper2001

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Hello, I'm new here.

Years ago I worked for future shop and picked up a bunch of home theater equipment but never really spent the time to make the most of it. In all the years I've had the equipment I could never get the center speaker to sound right so I've always watched movies and TV in stereo. Recently I've purchased a 65"KS8000 and I really want to get the audio experience to match this beautiful TV.

Here is what I have:
2 polk RTI 10's
1 10" Energy home theater subwoofer
1 Energy connoisseur series RC-LCR-B1 center speaker.
Denon AVRS900W

I have a feeling its the center speaker that is the problem. I remember the staff discount reduced the speaker from like $500 to under $100 and that was over 10 years ago so I wonder if its just the quality of the speaker.

The problem is that when I put the receiver to dolby digital, all the sound that comes from the center speaker sounds like its really far away and sounds hollow or something. Maybe I just prefer the sound of stereo? Do I have the receiver set up wrong? The two towers sound fantastic.

Appreciate any input that you can provide.
 
Really you want the front 3 speakers to be the same make and model and this could be some of the problem you have. Also where have you put the centre speaker? Is it in or on an AV cabinet? If so then this could also be contributing to your issue and even buying a new centre may not solve.
I have not heard the centre you have but speaker technology has not moved on much over the last 10 years so an old speaker will still stack up well against new similar priced centres.
Ideally you would look for a Polk centre to match your current fronts.
Do you sit fairly central to the TV and how far apart are you front L/R speakers?
If you sit fairly central and the speakers are close to the side of the TV then you may be better not having a centre at all compared to a poorly matched/positioned centre. You will not be losing anything in terms of the sound and in fact from you original post it appears that it is an improvement. The centre speaker is an important speaker to get right but it is not an important speaker to have at any cost. Sometimes less is more.
 
People often overlook the importance of the role of the centre speaker. It doesn't have to be a monster but it should be decent, and ideally match your fronts.

Although in theory it only needs to perform down to say 80hz, I have had best results with a full range centre at 50hz but it can depend on whether you have a sub and its position

From personal experience, when setting the levels so that the centre matches the l/r and rears (either manually or using auto setup) the actual result when watching movies seems wrong to me (thin and distant as you suggest) I always find I need an extra 3db or so for the centre to make it sound right.

Obviously I can only speak from personal experience having owned 5 or 6 receivers over the years.

I'm not sure if ditching the centre altogether is a good idea. Unless you're in the perfect listening position then dialogue will appear to come from the closest source
 

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