Johnwa- On a few occasions, the added center speaker would have been nice to punch up the speech that got a little buried in the FX mix. However, as long as your speakers are symmetrically positioned about the screen and they aren't too far apart, I don't use a center channel either. Then again, why would you wish to deprive the industry of additional sales of speakers and amplification and cables and .... Trust your own ears. Enjoy!
Try 4.0 or 4.1 instead of 5.1... it's worth a shot
I just had something I wanted to run by everyone.I was tweaking some on my system and I noticed I got a much better soundstage from setting my center channel processor to "off". I'm not even using a subwoofer...not by choice though.I am now convinced with several trials that not only do I not need a center channel, it actually screws things up due to EQ problems.I have tried this on several set-ups and it was true every time.As silly as it seems I urge everyone to try it.I am using Thiel cs1.5's with h/k avr510 htr.pioneer dv-47a dvd-a/sacd/dvd player and toshiba 65hdx82 rptv.