choosing a center channel

good question. It sounds "cold" to me.
Voices produced through the center are not as resonant sounding as the L&R.
Mind you, it was very inexpensive and I am not really complaining.
I think that I was hoping for a warmer sound from the center to better match the sides. Further, I was hoping that someone more mainstream than Audio Physic might mass produce a passable replacement at a better cost.

Hmmm. I assume you've ruled out some of the obvious things, like speaker wire reversal, a blown driver, or an incorrect setting or malfunction with your AV receiver or surround processor. Have you tried manually increasing the center channel level? My auto-setup always sets the center channel too low for my ears, causing the dialog to get lost in the rest of the soundtrack.

I was trying to find a product I saw a few years ago, that is basically a flat, planar speaker disguised as a painting. You hang it on the wall under or above the flat screen TV. I couldn't find that product, but I did find this, which looks pretty cool. I don't know how much it costs or how it sounds.

http://www.jamo.com/na-en/products/a-804-description

Please let us know what you end up with.

have you considered either a midrange psb (e.g imagine line) or kef xq (great deals on their products at accessories4less)--both make excellent centers-- very transparent without being sterile or over-analytical. for ht use, i wouldn't overspend just for appearance's sake--either of these more "mainstream" products should serve you very well.

thanks all. I have not really double checked the electronics or connections. I had assumed that the issue was a $200 speaker that sounded like a $200 speaker.
But I do plan to pull other bookshelf speakers that are of a more converntional driver layout to see what they sound like.
The PSBs are worth a listen too. I will see what is out there that I can audition at home.

Still not sure what I am going to do.
Over the weekend, I was able to find the local psb guy who has a couple different choices that I could demo overnight.
I also thought that I would look through the internet direct offerings that offer in home trial but didn't see anything. Av123 has one but it is a little too tall. Axiom has one with a footprint that I like but it was reviewed as being overly bright and that is what I am trying to get away from.
I am also going to call my local audio physic rep and see what he has.