Some cars have a small center channel speaker in the middle of the dash. I intend to do away with the factory amp in my car and I'd like to keep this speaker. But it seems to me that combining L+R (simplest thing to do) would mess with the stereo imaging. I'm thinking that the center should contain only what's common to both channels. Anybody have an idea about how OEM's typically implement this?
If you filter the highs from the center channel, it should sound like you expect. The higher frequencies are the only ones that are significantly directional.
You should also think about how much separation you have between channels in a car. If you play a sample of music in only one channel, how much quieter is it in the ear on the opposite side? There is very little difference. A few decibels?
To make is work properly, you need 3 independent channels with their own content. Center is everything in the center of the stage and left/right are from the far sides. If you have multiple speakers playing the same material, you run into phasing issues, which could cause even more problems with SQ, if that's important to you.
You should also think about how much separation you have between channels in a car. If you play a sample of music in only one channel, how much quieter is it in the ear on the opposite side? There is very little difference. A few decibels?
To make is work properly, you need 3 independent channels with their own content. Center is everything in the center of the stage and left/right are from the far sides. If you have multiple speakers playing the same material, you run into phasing issues, which could cause even more problems with SQ, if that's important to you.
There have been many different approaches to it, but most are done in DSP now. At a basic level, it's referred to as upmixing (extracting audio information from a two-channel recording to create additional channels).
The older approaches were things like the Fosgate Gavotte and Audio Control ESP models.
If you're looking for a simple way to do a center, mono with an appropriately narrow bandwidth and precise level can usually do OK (as Perry beat me to saying by like 20 seconds
)
The older approaches were things like the Fosgate Gavotte and Audio Control ESP models.
If you're looking for a simple way to do a center, mono with an appropriately narrow bandwidth and precise level can usually do OK (as Perry beat me to saying by like 20 seconds
)