Newbie Dumbo Question

I have an HR-875 receiver and am trying to determine if I want to hook it up with the surround sound vs. my Carver 742 with Sonic Holography. What should I do about the center channel? A Subwoofer (e.g. Bose Accusticmass 5 series) or a Bose center speaker (since I read I should try to stick with the same brand of main speakers and I have a pair of Bose 201 and can use some Accustic Research wireless as the rear speakers since I hate wires!)
Oh wise ones out there -- enlighten this newbie as what I should do and which receiver I should keep.
Thanks
(Waited 21 years to finally get my Carver gear -- Just had to wait until I was Divorced I guess...

if your 875 is anything like the 895 then you can select 'phantom' on the front panel and the front l/r channels are blended to create the illusion of a center channel speaker. if you want better than that then choose a center channel speaker that matched your fronts in timbre.

don't waste your money on wirelss speakers - they suck. clicks, buzz, pops and crapola built-in amplifiers. stick with wired speakers.

i believe this is a dolby prologic rig, so don't expect much with currently availible source material. most of the good sounding surround is now DD or DTS encoded - which i don't think the 875 supports.

a subwoofer allways makes the bass better. you'll need all the help you can get the bose speakers...

Aw mannnnnnnn,

Are you trying to put 'wireless' and 'sound quality' in the same sentence.

You may "hate" running wires to the back but what is really important, man?!

There isn't a consumer wireless system in existence that has the bandwidth to deliver the goods to even modest loudspeakers like the Bose cubes.

NO - NO GAIN

You only have one problem really.

YOU HATE WIRES SO MUCH YOU ARE GOING TO SACRIFICE YOUR MUSIC?

There ain't a wireless system in existence that has enough bandwidth to transmit my music.

You own a nice, modestly priced set of Bose. You sure as hell didn't spend a jillion dollars on your wireless.


You are worried about what to do about your center channel. Wait until you hear the rears!

The whole object of surround is to so completely envelope the temporal lobe and other centers of the listener's brain that the illusion is almost complete.

Your consciousness is swept away into that world!

But guess what: if there is much disparity in how you perceive the sound coming from point and source, the illusion is broken.

Put simply, if any of the channels in your 5.1 have a substantially different
timbre, amplitude, time delay, etc. your mind will be instantly distracted.
During a movie, this really sucks the realism out of it. It is worse for me as a musician and critical listener when the music is compromised.


There are flat cables you can run under the carpet; my place is wired to the hilt and it looks really clean. If you spend the effort and a little $, check out the "wire management" stuff on the market - you wont be sorry.

You only have one problem really.

YOU HATE WIRES SO MUCH YOU ARE GOING TO SACRIFICE YOUR MUSIC?

There ain't a wireless system in existence that has enough bandwidth to transmit my music.

You own a nice, modestly priced set of Bose. You sure as hell didn't spend a jillion dollars on your wireless.


You are worried about what to do about your center channel. Wait until you hear the rears!

The whole object of surround is to so completely envelope the temporal lobe and other centers of the listener's brain that the illusion is almost complete.

Your consciousness is swept away into that world!

But guess what: if there is much disparity in how you perceive the sound coming from point and source, the illusion is broken.

Put simply, if any of the channels in your 5.1 have a substantially different
timbre, amplitude, time delay, etc. your mind will be instantly distracted.
During a movie, this really sucks the realism out of it. It is worse for me as a musician and critical listener when the music is compromised.


There are flat cables you can run under the carpet; my place is wired to the hilt and it looks really clean. If you spend the effort and a little $, check out the "wire management" stuff on the market - you wont be sorry.

Very good explanation baddfingerz.