I just got a center speaker to round out my home theater. I\'ve got two floor sp

Sd24601

Distinguished
Sep 2, 2011
1
0
18,510
I just got a center speaker to round out my home theater. I\'ve got two floor speakers for my left and right front speakers and now that I\'ve hooked up the center speaker I\'m not getting the rich full sound out of them I want. The center speaker is producing most of the sound. How can I transfer some of the responsibility to the floor speakers? The center speaker sounds great I\'m just not getting the full sound I was hoping for. Should I just downgrade to smaller front speakers? I only got the center speaker because sometimes it was hard to hear softer dialogue
 
Depending on what you are watching there may be little or nothing for the L/R speakers to do. Make sure that you have the speaker setting in the surround system set correctly (Front large, center small, rears none and sub none if this is the case). Did you balance the output of the 3 front speakers? If not do so. The center may be too loud in comparison the the L/R. Check your owners manual on how to do this.
 

blackhawk1928

Distinguished
Jul 15, 2008
236
2
18,860
As the posters above set, you can change a lot of settings in your receiver to affect different speakers.

Secondly, in movies, 60-70% of the audio track will go through the center channel. Everything else is your sides, rear, and fronts (assuming you have a 7-channel surround).

Thirdly, your speakers may have varying resistance and sensitivity. Therefore to compensate for that, you need to adjust the levels of each individual speaker on your receiver.
 

rexter

Distinguished
Mar 17, 2006
1,074
0
19,310
Here's why; 5.1 or 7.1 surround discreetly play specific sound on each channel of your speaker the way your source (CD / DVD /BD or whatever your source may be) is coded and intended.

You can change the setting by selecting stereo on your player menu then select (virtual) surround on your receiver, this will distribute the stereo sounds to play on all your speakers. Also called matrix surround or virtual surround.