would it work to use the built in side speakers of a plasma monitor as central chanel output of a home theater system ? for space reasons, it would be difficult for me to place a speaker next to the monitor. any thoughts would be appreciated

Alberto,
Conceptually it should work just fine. It's certanly worth a try. Idealy, the center speaker should have the same tonal characteristics as your side speakers but who knows they may sound close enough not to present a problem. So I suggest you go ahead and at least try it temporarily.

Bad idea Alberto! I would use a phantom centre instead. Could you get a stand for the centre channel speaker and set it below, in front of the monitor? Not only will the TV's speakers not match your left and right speakers, but since there are two of them yor dialog will likely sound echoed at times. That's why one centre speaker is the standard, two can muddy the dialog. Try it if you like, then try the phantom mode of your reciever/pre. I'm willing to bet the phantom will be better. Best wishes, Rachael!

I agree with Rachael. A phantom (no center speaker) setting is better than a poorly matched center, as long as you sit nearly centered. Also, with this setup, the closer the front speakers are, the stronger the center image will seem.

Good luck, and as always, experiment!

Larry

thanks for the feedback. i tried it (in the shop) , and though the sidespeakers are decent quality, I agree that the single center speaker sounds better. In addition, the sound is quite different from the side speakers, so when the voice moves off camera and thus comes from the side speakers, the pitch changes a bit. Also for the cost ($500) I can do better with a center speaker probably.

Alberto, the disadvantage to using the phantom centre mode is: if your tape/LD/DVD is badly mastered, you can't raise or lower the centre chanel level. There's alot of sloppy mastering out there too, especially on tape and LD. On my first surround set-up back in 1990 (4 tower speakers L & R and 2 surrounds), which was pre Pro-Logic, I used to get really agrivated at times because the dialog level was just too low. I got Pro-Logic and a centre speaker a few years later and was much happier with the results. Best wishes, Rachael!