First off, thanks to all those who stopped me from going to the dark side (bose) and gave pointers on other better and more VFM options. I demoed Dali Zensor based 5.1 setup again and am ready to buy....but here comes another problem. My TV cabinet is such that if I keep the Zensor vokal in front of my TV, it will block the screen (my current center speaker is only few inches in height and it doesn't but Dali definitely will). Wall mounting the TV is not really an option so the choice is either to keep center speaker off-center by 3 feet to the left or not have it at all (I think its called phantom center mode or something). Are any of these going to be acceptable solutions? Which one is lesser of these 2 evils?
off-center center vs no center (phantom)?
- Thread starter ypan07
- Start date
liverpool_for_life
Well-Known Member
I'd suggest phantom center with the understanding that it will compromise dialog intelligibility for people sitting off center.
Love4sound
Well-Known Member
Y don’t you post the pic so we can suggest all the possible ways. You can get a tall tv cabinet and place the centre Chanel below the tv and point it upwards towards ear level using a rubber door stopper(cheap) or use an acoustic material(costly). I have zensor set up z3, vokal and z1 and in these 3 I love the vokal. Amazing centre channel and I strongly advise to place it in centre
If your Left Right channel speakers are more than 6 feet apart, and if more than two people are watching, You can get away without the center channel. The receiver should send the center channel audio to both left/Right speakers. If placement is taken care of for the L/R channels, you should have a bang on center image not requiring a center channel.
You can go ahead and get the set without the center for now and try it for yourself.
You can go ahead and get the set without the center for now and try it for yourself.
hifitoaster
Well-Known Member
If you are the only one who is the audio purist at home phantom center is enough .. its better not to have a center and fiddle with acoustics to make it sound like the left and right. unlike other speakers which may be on stands or floorstanders, center will be resting on a rack which may affect the tonality even though its the same type as the left and right. At my home the left and right are floorstanders and the center which on holding in hands has matched tonality with left and right sounds very boxy on the av rack. I covered the surface with acoustic foam at the end to make it sound right, but now it looks ugly.
elangoas
Well-Known Member
If you have some space (vertically) just besides the TV, you may use a single bookshelf speaker like the Zensor Pico as a center channel than trying to fit a horizontal center, off the right placement..
Thanks guys for all the replies. I am attaching picture of my current setup. As can be seen, my current slim center speaker nicely fits under the TV but Zensor Vokal will not. The wall above the TV houses a large painting and going even within a couple of feet of it will trigger a civil war at home so wall mounting is out...so I was thinking about either placing the center speaker to the left where the Sony receiver is right now, or not have a center speaker at all.....Any other idea? Short of going back to being single again 
Love4sound
Well-Known Member
Y not try the Polk signature series. S35 is a slim centre channel. Other option is to get a different tv cabinet that will have space below the tv to install ur centre channel. And final option go with 4.1Thanks guys for all the replies. I am attaching picture of my current setup. As can be seen, my current slim center speaker nicely fits under the TV but Zensor Vokal will not. The wall above the TV houses a large painting and going even within a couple of feet of it will trigger a civil war at home so wall mounting is out...so I was thinking about either placing the center speaker to the left where the Sony receiver is right now, or not have a center speaker at all.....Any other idea? Short of going back to being single again
View attachment 34090
Thanks, will look at the Polk option. This is a rented place so not much I can do about the tv cabinet.
Love4sound
Well-Known Member
Ok before i got the dalis i checked the polk signature series. It may be not good as the zensor series but they justify their price. It will be excellent for movies and solves ur issue.
Attention home theater shoppers: Think twice before buying a center channel speaker!
Why home theater center channel speakers aren't such a great idea.
www.cnet.com
Raise TV using a 4" stand. You can find a piece of matching wood/plywood/patricle-board plank easily.Thanks guys for all the replies. I am attaching picture of my current setup. As can be seen, my current slim center speaker nicely fits under the TV but Zensor Vokal will not. The wall above the TV houses a large painting and going even within a couple of feet of it will trigger a civil war at home so wall mounting is out...so I was thinking about either placing the center speaker to the left where the Sony receiver is right now, or not have a center speaker at all.....Any other idea? Short of going back to being single again
Or you can go with dark color plank and contrast it with existing color.
Just put 4 stumps underneath and raise it. Stumps are available in 3/4/6/8 inch sizes.
See this pic for reference. https://www.hifivision.com/threads/showcase-your-audio-video-setup-here.1167/post-807931
Check the sub platform in the right corner.
Cheers,
Raghu
ajuvignesh
Well-Known Member
You can make a small stand or something which can be placed behind the TV and holds the speaker above the TV. The speaker has to be tilted towards ear level. I used this kinda setup before.Thanks guys for all the replies. I am attaching picture of my current setup. As can be seen, my current slim center speaker nicely fits under the TV but Zensor Vokal will not. The wall above the TV houses a large painting and going even within a couple of feet of it will trigger a civil war at home so wall mounting is out...so I was thinking about either placing the center speaker to the left where the Sony receiver is right now, or not have a center speaker at all.....Any other idea? Short of going back to being single again
View attachment 34090
Else, you can make a nice floor standing speaker stand just for your center channel speaker and place it right in front of the cabinet.
Other idea would be to raise the TV using a wooden stand to make room for your center channel. Might look a bit off but solves the problem.
If only one person will watch the TV at a time and if the room acoustics are fine, the phantom center will just be fine. With proper acoustics and with good speakers, the phantom center image can get as sharp as a focused torch light.
Oops. Noticed it just after posting my reply.
Dali is a great setup.
Are all your seating positions within the boundaries of the front speakers? That if a line is drawn from front speaker to the wall behind the viewers. If yes, definitely can go with No Center speaker. The front speakers will take on the signal. Dali's moreover have very good imaging so all the more reason why you can totally skip the center speaker.
MaSh
Are all your seating positions within the boundaries of the front speakers? That if a line is drawn from front speaker to the wall behind the viewers. If yes, definitely can go with No Center speaker. The front speakers will take on the signal. Dali's moreover have very good imaging so all the more reason why you can totally skip the center speaker.
MaSh
Yes, all the seating positions are within the front speaker boundaries. I will go again for the demo over the weekends and try out both with and without center speaker and see what difference it makes.
If you compare you will find a difference. Demo without Center and see if you can live with that.
I have been running without a center speaker in my setup for almost 3 years now. The only time I feel the need is when watching a late night non action movie at very low volumes, almost whispering volume.
MaSh
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