Using TV speakers as center channel

[tsv]

Has anyone tried to use the TV speakers as center channel (center speaker out from receiver to TV audio IN jacks)?

[Ferres]

Depending on the tv, but it will most likely suck. :P

[Skynut]

I tried using the t.v.'s sound as a center but it was not all that great.
Now my set can not play the soundtrack at all when I watch movies.

[Willow]

Has anyone tried to use the TV speakers as center channel (center speaker out from receiver to TV audio IN jacks)?

I think this is the worst idea ever. I'd rather go phantom !

[aaharvel]

If you want a LO-FI spread between the 800hz to 5 khz range then by all means use the TV speaker as your center channel.

[Schris22]

I would go phantom

Agreed with Willow.

Chris

[Larry Chanin]

Has anyone tried to use the TV speakers as center channel (center speaker out from receiver to TV audio IN jacks)?

Hi,

As Ferres said it will depend on your TV.

If you have a big, expensive TV with decent internal speakers, have your main speakers widely spaced, and you watch it with an audience, then it may be of some benefit to try experimenting. However, if you are a solitary listener, sitting on-axis, watching a small TV with crappy internal speakers, then a phantom center would probably sound better.

In my last home theater I had an old rear projection HDTV, and it had a pair of internal speakers that didn't sound toooo bad. At first I wanted to try to experiment with using them as a center. However, in order to use my external sound system with the HDTV, the TV's menu system automatically turned off the internal speakers. It was one way or the other, but not both. I ended up getting an CS400i center channel, which of course was waaay better than the internal speakers and I never looked back. In this configuration my main speakers were about 13 feet apart, and I had two row of seating that was widely spaced. A phantom center would have been totally unsatisfactory to all members of the audience except the one person seated on-axis in the front.

Larry

[janmike]

I have a basic CSi5 and there is no comparison to any TV speaker that I have heard. Go for the centre.

[puunda]

I don't think a centre is needed for a home setup. As long as you sit in the middle of the 2 speakers (you should be anyway), why would you need a centre? I thought this was the whole point when everything moved from mono to stereo was that with 2 speakers, you can 'create sound' which sounds like it's coming from the centre. I've always thought the centre chan was inveted for the cinema where you don't always sit in the middle. In fact most of the audience don't sit in the middle. Set your receiver to NO centre, and the information should be routed to the 2 mains, and you shouldn't noticed a difference (as long as you're sitting in the middle).

[Larry Chanin]

I don't think a centre is needed for a home setup. As long as you sit in the middle of the 2 speakers (you should be anyway), why would you need a centre? I thought this was the whole point when everything moved from mono to stereo was that with 2 speakers, you can 'create sound' which sounds like it's coming from the centre. I've always thought the centre chan was inveted for the cinema where you don't always sit in the middle. In fact most of the audience don't sit in the middle. Set your receiver to NO centre, and the information should be routed to the 2 mains, and you shouldn't noticed a difference (as long as you're sitting in the middle).

Hi,

I think it really depends on what you mean by a "home setup". Today the term "Home Theater" has become widely used in the states. In some cases this may actually be a dedicated room in the home for the sole purpose of having family and friends over to enjoy watching movies together. (Take a look at my home theater to see what I mean.) Often it's a multi-purpose room which serves other uses in addition to having groups of people over to watch movies.

The important thing to note is that this term doesn't refer to a solitary listening experience with a central, on-axis "sweet spot". As I alluded to earlier, we are also not talking about a small TV's only a few inches wide with main speakers on either side. What we are talking about when we say "Home Theater" is big screens, with audiences. If you have an audience phantom centers are not going to accommodate the listening experience for the majority of the people.

While it's true that center channels were originally created for commercial theaters, that's no longer where most of them reside. ;)

Larry