little bit off topic so to speak but thought someone might have some experience with it. my system is set up in the living room with TV.
I want to connect to the TV to my stereo system. i would use a optical connection to the DAC. I am not interested in spending much effort on TV/video sound cause i dont care that much. But I thought it would be cool to listen through the stereo now and then and depending on the content
so the question is … how does stereo without a center channel work for video? I have heard that a lot of the voice is in the center. If so does that make vocals hard to hear or are they dwowned out? Can it cause things to be out of “time” like hearing voices before or after they are actually talking?
beside the point but for reference i have a Stellar 300 amp, ladder bach preamp Gheshelli DAC, paradigm speakers.
A phantom center channel is an audio illusion where a listener perceives sound, such as movie dialogue or a lead singer’s voice, as coming directly from the center space between the front left and right speakers, even though no physical center speaker is present. This is achieved through precise stereo imaging. When an Audio/Video Receiver (AVR) is configured with the center channel set to “None” or “Off,” it splits the center audio data evenly and sends it simultaneously to both the left and right speakers. Your brain processes these identical, simultaneous sound waves and interprets them as originating from a single central source. [1, 2, 3, 4]
In your case substitute your system instead of the Audio/Video Receiver (AVR) mentioned.
I find that video audio is something I really enjoy, after decades of “not caring.”
I lucked onto a used NAD M-51 which is a fantastic DAC for the money and I use the optical output of my DVR (connected also to a Wyred4Sound upscaler that ups the audio to 24/96 – a noticeable improvement) and an HDMI connection to my Apple TV, and a coaxial connection to my Blu-ray player. I use an excellent tubed preamp, a great tube amp (2 watts per channel!) a Decware ZBIT transformer unit to use the balanced output of the DAC and a Decware ZROCK2, and a P15 to anchor all the equipment, including the TV, and all this fuels my Decware HR-1 speakers.
I can make my new Sony TV sound really really good. . . but bypassing that and sending the audio to the stereo system is much better sound–even my generally blase about any audio wife agrees, which is BIG. No issues with there being just two speakers.
I did this for years and never use a center channel. Center channels suck. Seriously. Most of them that I have seen measured have phase issues. They often tend to stack drivers horizontally, which guarantees the sound reaches your ears at different times and will muddy everything up. Klipsch is known to have some terrible designs that do sell very well but will kill your music. Skip the center channel, a good setup will still throw voices from the middle giving a phantom center.
The answer is the phantom center works quite well.
I have a TV setup with my main 2 ch system but opted for HDMI, which was among the reasons for getting the Eversolo DMP A8. Optical and I never got along and I don’t care.
I think the advantage of a dedicated center is image stability but if you’re the only one watching or sitting close enough together it doesn’t matter.
Watching a movie through that setup when we had the family room disassembled is the only time my wife has ever commented on what she’s heard out of any setup in the house. She was floored the sound wasn’t coming out of the speakers
I’ve been running TV sound through my two-channel rig for decades. My Blu-ray player is connected to my TV via HDMI, then it’s Toslink to the DAC. Or, in my current setup, Toslink to a coax converter because my BACCH-SP adio doesn’t have a Toslink input.
You might be surprised by how enjoyable YouTube music videos can be…
I run an optical line from my Samsung big screen tv to my Stellar gold dac. The stellar gold also serves as my preamp and feeds a n S300 amplifier to my Reference 3a Grand Veena speakers. The sound is great and I don’t feel the need for a center channel.I might spring for a subwoofer next. Oh and everything is fed from a a P-10 power regenerator.My only other input is from an air-lense running Roon.