I've tried many configurations over the last year...while all sounded pretty good..."with center" is far better as long as the center is a good match with the mains.
It's sometimes hard to get a good match because of placement issues so many people go with out...can't say I blame them.
My mains are Apogee Duetta Signatures which caused the problem for me also, moving to a projector allowed me to get rid of the mis-matched and horizontal center speaker and add a much larger (Apogee Centaur Minor) in the vertical position for a seemless match.
dialogue is crisp, clear and pin-point as needed....way above anything phantom could do. Having very clear dialogue allows for lower listening levels...a great plus as the dynamic range in movies is often waaaay over the top as we turn up the volume so that we can hear the often to quiet vocal mix.
Do I wish it wasn't so...yep
Dave
It's sometimes hard to get a good match because of placement issues so many people go with out...can't say I blame them.
My mains are Apogee Duetta Signatures which caused the problem for me also, moving to a projector allowed me to get rid of the mis-matched and horizontal center speaker and add a much larger (Apogee Centaur Minor) in the vertical position for a seemless match.
dialogue is crisp, clear and pin-point as needed....way above anything phantom could do. Having very clear dialogue allows for lower listening levels...a great plus as the dynamic range in movies is often waaaay over the top as we turn up the volume so that we can hear the often to quiet vocal mix.
Do I wish it wasn't so...yep
Dave