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Coaxial L/R => center channel obsolete?
- Thread starter kenshone
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DVDdoug
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The stereo phantom center just isn't as good as the real thing. Sound location is more-about the sound that hits your ear first. With left & right reproducing the same sounds, arriving at the same time, your ears & brain are faked-into thinking the sound is coming from somewhere near the center but it's not that precise. I feel like* I can pinpoint the tweeter with left & right sounds but the phantom center is more vague. (I really haven't done that kind of careful listening with the real center.)
I'm sure it's the same with most setups and most listeners. Otherwise there would be no center.
With headphones, my experience is similar. I can hear hard-panned signals "injected" directly into my ears from the headphones with other sounds seeming to come vaguely around my forehead. Some people get a good "soundstage illusion" but I don't, no matter what headphones or what I'm listening to. (I tried some headphone surround effects and that didn't work for me and & my brain either... I never heard sound coming from behind.
* It's easy to fool yourself with non-blind casual listening. And sometimes it's hard to find the source of an annoying noise so I know we tend to over-rate our directional-hearing ability.
I'm sure it's the same with most setups and most listeners. Otherwise there would be no center.
With headphones, my experience is similar. I can hear hard-panned signals "injected" directly into my ears from the headphones with other sounds seeming to come vaguely around my forehead. Some people get a good "soundstage illusion" but I don't, no matter what headphones or what I'm listening to. (I tried some headphone surround effects and that didn't work for me and & my brain either... I never heard sound coming from behind.
* It's easy to fool yourself with non-blind casual listening. And sometimes it's hard to find the source of an annoying noise so I know we tend to over-rate our directional-hearing ability.
Definitely not obsolete. Dedicated centre (a proper 3 way or coaxial design) provides better anchoring of dialogue, and frees up power handling in the front L/R. Most important speaker in a system if you are a home theatre guy.
I think you may be confused, better vertical directivity doesn't really have anything to do with this. Phantom center has tonality problems caused by acoustic cancellation and it also does not work very well too far off center, depending on various factors.
Coaxials don't fix any of those problems. A good center, properly positioned, will always sound better.
The only reason to ditch the center is practicality, if you can't fit a good sized one or it has to be very low vs the L/R, then it can sometimes be an OK compromise. But make no mistake, it is always compromised. As stereo itself is compromised.
Coaxials don't fix any of those problems. A good center, properly positioned, will always sound better.
The only reason to ditch the center is practicality, if you can't fit a good sized one or it has to be very low vs the L/R, then it can sometimes be an OK compromise. But make no mistake, it is always compromised. As stereo itself is compromised.
