Rhino Quadios - Batch 7 - Speculation

[DrKlahn]

yes, I have seen that on very late tube gear... both my Pilot 654 and H.H. Scott 340B have a "derived" center channel output.

As for "phantom center" I have started to think that many HT systems work better with the center channel mixed to the L&R speakers rather than using a physical center, as it makes imaging all wonky with "talking head" type TV programming. The exception would be if you are using an acoustically transparent projection screen and can position the center's tweeter exactly in the center of the screen. I've also wired two speakers in series for a "center" and positioned them tight to the screen with the tweeters about halfway up the screen and then two more speakers farther apart for L&R, if you level match correctly that works too but you need a wide room to pull that off.

I've heard multiple instances of both. I disagree. Folding info back into the L/R can crowd the sound and sitting in locations other than the sweet spot causes the phantom image to collapse. A mix can image between the center and the corresponding L/R if the engineer wants to place sound there. I think it's sometimes a case of the center not being up to the task, which could favor a phantom setup.

I have non AT screen and by necessity my center is a bit lower. No issues with the sound coming across as uneven. The front soundstage is very cohesive.

At the end of the day though, it's what works for you in your space.