Why do we test home theatre dialog (center channel) speakers as if they are expected to be like mains?
Is it unreasonable to expect HTCC speakers to be optimized for human speech? Yet we persist in expecting them to have the same quality and character as the main front channel speakers. We know the range for intelligibility of the human voice, and it ISN'T 20 Hz to 20 kHz. It's more like 150 Hz to 5kHz. And it should be cardioid, not all beamy with 2 woofers and two tweeters.
.....
Further, why doesn't anybody make a powered center channel speaker for HT? In adding a center channel to a 2.1 system to accommodate HT, why can't we just take the high-level lines to the main channel speakers, feed them as signals into an amp in the center channel, and use bandwidth shaping to accommodate dialog, not all the music and car crash sounds? Is Atmos a law of nature?
As a crowd of one, but possibly more, I would like very much to buy a single box, place it dead center in front of the TV, plug it in, connect a couple of small signal leads to the main channel speakers, tune it up, and voila! have better dialog. And not have to step back to a sound bar, or up to a rack of hardware, MDF boxes, and more remote controls to do it.
Klipsch, Polk, Emotiva, and all the rest: why is there no such product?
-Just one guy's view, who's anti-wire clutter and 7.1.1 contraptions.
[stepping aside and awaiting all the it-can't-be-done testimonies.]
