Center Channels sound crappy

I had the same situation and then I found a center channel stand the problem in my case was the center channel sat directly on top of the TV which caused a sypathetic resonance with the wood in the TV ,we spend so much money on speaker stands and spikes on our main speakers and then drop our center channel speakers sideways right on the old tube. Find some sort of acceptable means to get your speaker some isolation ie. cones ,vibrapods { don't let them touch the wood on the speaker or the tv } or a speaker stand and see if it improves I know in my case it made a world of difference

au contrair mon ami- the right center chanel can sound amazing! My previous HT setup included 5 identical full-range Totem Mani-2 speakers driven by a Theta Dreadnaught. The center channel being exactly the same and using the same type and amount of amplification was the key...

I think pro logic came out in the late 80's / early 90's (thereabouts). I was just wondering what the use for a center speaker one might have had in 1974?

Rives audio , an acoustical engineering firm , blasted Absolute Sound for a letter I sent the magazine the prior month regarding center channel placement issues. The misunderstanding was in the wording , not the concept. Widescreen Review printed a ground breaking article in its sept 95 issue { Star Trek generations } by the esteemed Peter Moncrieff [ editor and publisher of the International Audio Review : IRA ] , regarding the proper speaker setup of the home theatre . Concerning the center speaker , he suggests that "Our research shows that center speaker placement is the single biggest mistake people make in setting up home theatre or surround sound systems " . Most experts will tell you that the front 3 should be equidistant from the listener. Peter says that his research shows that the center be placed 4 feet back from that equidistant arc .... OR .... { not AND } use a 4 millisecond delay to achieve the same result. He goes on to say " ...the front stage space also suddenly became cogently real , all sounds in this space suddenly acuired a palpable solidity and three dimensional reality"..... The next issue is making sure the center is a good match for the mains. The exact same model is the best choice but most pick a dedicated center that the same company suggests to timbre match to your mains . Complicating things more is the display device that usually occupies a space near the center and that itself introduces its own pandoras box of evils like distorted imaging issues. Rives can offer some excellent solutions with a few new great products just hitting the market now as a matter of fact. Its terribly difficult to perfectly dial in just a stereo pair and in the past decade we have added a center , subs , and surrounds to the mix . Getting all of this right is a true challenge to put it mildly. Good luck and be patient. You will vastly increase your listening skills with the trial and error period you are in .

When you lay a speaker on it's side as most center channel speakers are designed for, you have created a problem for good music reproduction. If your L/R front speakers are bookshelf types, lay them on their sides and listen to them in two channel, sound quality will drop like a rock if they are of the type with bass drivers at both ends and tweeter in the middle which almost all center channels of close to full range output are. I also agree With Brainwaters post on placement of center behind the fronts, mine are two feet behind with vertical placement.