I agree that all speakers should be matched, but that causes a problem for a center speaker if like me you like you speakers large and tall. That's why I haven't bothered with the center speaker (yet). I have more than one sound system all with home built speakers, the first was constructed in the late seventies, the other constructed more recently (still not even completely finished) use a labyrinth or transmission line design, I tried to make them tall and narrow to use less floor space. I've toyed with the idea of constructing a fifth speaker but possibly making it shorter and deeper to keep the labyrinth the same length, using the same drivers. For the most part if your front speakers are placed properly, not too far apart a center speaker is unnecessary. The only real advantage that I can see is if you want the vocals louder or softer on a certain mix. It would be good for movies (as originally intended), often I have to crank the volume to hear the dialogue but am then blown away by the loud sound effects. To complicate my situation is that I'm bi-amping both systems, to Bi-amp the center as well might be overkill.
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