4.1 question - is there loss?

[snock]

So a friend and I were talking about his 4.1 setup and it caused me to do a quick google to find out any drawbacks to using a 4.1 setup versus 5.1.

I had always been under the impression that no data was lost only "anchoring" was lost which was fine in this case. Surprisingly there is A) little info out there and B) conflicting stories.

Can any of you help me? For this discussion we are talking about strictly sweet spot listening and the receiver-processor has been told there is no center speaker. Now the main question is - is any data lost when the receiver sends the would-be center data to the L & R?

Thanks

[dvenardos]

Well, that would be receiver dependent, but there shouldn't be any loss running a phantom center. The only time you lose information is when you don't have a subwoofer because the LFE channel never gets re-routed to large mains.

[snock]

Good. And by receiver dependent you are saying that as long as I am certain the would-be center info is coming from the L+R then the receiver is 'capable' and I am getting 100% of the data, right? Thanks, DV.

[dweekie]

The presentation differs a bit, but it's really hard to notice with good speakers in my opinion. There are some that prefer 4.1. That seems odd unless you consider the fact that the center channel is generally the most important, yet weakest speaker of the bunch due to aesthetics and size limitations. Since the center channel sets the tone for overall sound quality, it seems very logical to use a phantom center instead of a compromised center channel if the difference in quality of speakers is significant.

Personally, I really don't care either way as long as it isn't a 4.1 speaker setup with the receiver set to 5.1. Then it almost feels like I'm sitting through a silent movie; it's crazy how much more data is in the center channel compared to any other speaker.

[snock]

The presentation differs a bit, but it's really hard to notice with good speakers in my opinion. There are some that prefer 4.1. That seems odd unless you consider the fact that the center channel is generally the most important, yet weakest speaker of the bunch due to aesthetics and size limitations. Since the center channel sets the tone for overall sound quality, it seems very logical to use a phantom center instead of a compromised center channel if the difference in quality of speakers is significant.

Personally, I really don't care either way as long as it isn't a 4.1 speaker setup with the receiver set to 5.1. Then it almost feels like I'm sitting through a silent movie; it's crazy how much more data is in the center channel compared to any other speaker.

OK. Thanks very much (and good to talk to you again :) )