center placement

[brittle]

No matter where I place my center channel speaker, I can tell exactly where the sound is coming from. Above or below the t.v., tilted or level, the voices are coming from that spot. Usually it doesn't bother me but sometimes it drives me nuts. A friend actually put his c.c. behind his t.v. because it bugged him so much. My c.c. is too large (LSiC) to put behind the t.v. Any suggestions or should I just learn to live with it?

[zarrdoss]

yes learn to live with it, maybe turn it down and turn the volume up more on your mains, or just get rid of it completely and go phantom mode.

[danz1906]

Try a Sound Pressure meter to set your speakers Volume.

[tecmo04]

make sure the angle is pointed directly at ear level. made a huge difference for me. you will never know its there after it is set up properly.

[McLoki]

How far do you sit back from the center and how far is the center from the picture? I have an LSiC and have never really noticed where the sound is coming from (above or below the picture) I am sitting about 14' back from a 50" set though....

The point of the center is to lock the dialog into the picture (for those sitting out of the sweet spot of your main speakers). What is your seating area like in relation to your fronts and center? If everyone is in the sweet spot for your mains - phantom center may be worth a try....

Michael

[williamgauci]

Have you read through your receiver sound menu configuration? I'm not familliar wih the Pioneer, but I know some have a feature that will help you lift or lower the perceived height of the dialogue in relation to your TV.

[brittle]

I sit about 8-9 feet from the screen (small living room), with the c.c. on top, it is flush with the front of t.v.. On the bottom, the front of the c.c. is about 8" in front of the t.v. I've tried angling it in both locations which helps but not enough. Turning down the c.c. volume is not the solution as it is set properly to match the side speakers. I will check the Pioneer manual but I don't think it has the height option. Thanks for the input.

[McLoki]

And the issue is that you can tell the sound is coming from above or below the TV?

[brittle]

And the issue is that you can tell the sound is coming from above or below the TV?












yes, sometimes it doesn't bother me but the more I think about it the more noticable it becomes. Maybe I should try thinking less like most of society!

[quadzilla]

How is your center in relation to your mains? I was told that as long as your center and the tweeters from the mains are within a foot horizontally of each other, and as long as the levels are set right, the sound field should merge across the front of the sound stage. It's how I have mine set up and that seems to have been some pretty accurate advice, at least so far as I can tell.

[Hillbilly61]

The tweeter in my center is at least 18" horizontally offset from my fronts. Horizontally, the drivers are a bit closer. I made sure to buy a center that is known to match the fronts. The dialog and front sound is as close to perfect as it comes to anchor the sound stage, but has a wide spatial sound eminating towards the left or right when they are supposed to be.

The other day, my wife inadvertantly complimented me by stating the revised configuration causes her to think a sound from the movie is occuring from something happening elsewhere within the house. Like something falling over or, like last night, she thought a bluejay was squaking from the within the kitchen (we were watching the Last of the Mohekins). Cool!

Another factor is that I made sure that the center and fronts were about equally efficient. My gain is kept to neutral all around.

Hope this helps.