Just a postscript: I built my home theater over two decades ago. Throughout this time, the CC has always been different than my main speakers (the CC has always been a box speaker; the mains at times have included planars and omnidirectional speakers). During that time, nobody has ever noticed or said anything about the timbre, yet my CC cost less than 1/10 of my main speakers.
My center channel is hidden behind a screened wood panel. You cannot tell that there is a speaker behind the panel. And for two decades folks cannot even tell if the CC is on or off!
In movies, when you hear sound panning from one side to the other, it is very difficult to tell a difference in "timbre" when you consider that those panning sounds usually include other LOUD moving sounds coming from the other speakers and subwoofers! Dialogs come from the CC and the mains are really only filling in (that is by design, since in movies you are NOT supposed to hear the SAME sounds from the main speakers and the CC).
I believe that the mind plays a big role. When one can actually "see" a small CC sitting between two towering main speakers, one immediately notices (real or imagined) differences . The visual can play tricks on what you 'hear'.
Last edited by nicoff; 01-16-2020 at 07:51 PM.
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