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Finally after a long time of contemplation I finally pulled the trigger on a Sonos Amp. Got a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 8.2 semi-vintage bookshelves (released 21 years ago and discontinued). Paired the Sub.

Now I've owned high-end HT sets a decade ago but I've never owned a close-range stereo setup. I must say I am heavily impressed. I sit 2m from speakers and they are also 2m apart. The sound stage is insane. The imaging is incredible. Instead of localizing sound coming from a bar the sound is infront of you on an imaginary stage.

The phantom center works flawlessly. Movie mixes are downmixed perfectly and it's as if there is a center channel. I'm not sure how that would work with wide seating arrangement though. Another nice thing is the added options in the app with the Amp. L-R balance and Sub crossover. Finally I can decide how high the Sub will play.

The only minus in this setup for me is no TruePlay. The speakers sound incredible and I don't see any room correction necessity. But the Sub in a room like mine requires TruePlay desperately. It sounds much better after calibration. But Arc vs good books is a lost battle for the Arc. For music, for movies, for TV. Knockout Amp setup.

In many cases, yours is a classic, a physical center channel is redundant.

I have always believed and used a simple stereo set up to improve the sound for TV, even where adding more speakers is possible in a dedicated to TV room. Even the Sub isn't needed if the two main speakers are capable of good bass performance.

And for music alone, this always trumps a soundbar kind of compromised HT solution. 

The only problem with this solution and the phantom centre effect which otherwise works very well is not being able to increase the levels of dialogue without also increasing the sound levels in effects heavy movies to uncomfortable levels. 

My workaround for that is subtitles.

Finally after a long time of contemplation I finally pulled the trigger on a Sonos Amp. Got a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 8.2 semi-vintage bookshelves (released 21 years ago and discontinued). Paired the Sub.

Now I've owned high-end HT sets a decade ago but I've never owned a close-range stereo setup. I must say I am heavily impressed. I sit 2m from speakers and they are also 2m apart. The sound stage is insane. The imaging is incredible. Instead of localizing sound coming from  routerlogin a bar the sound is infront of you on an imaginary stage.

The phantom center works flawlessly. Movie mixes are downmixed perfectly and it's as if there is a center channel. I'm not sure how that would work with wide seating arrangement though. Another nice thing is the added options in the app with the Amp. L-R balance and Sub crossover. Finally I can decide how high the Sub will play.

The only minus in this setup for me is no TruePlay. The speakers sound incredible and I don't see any room correction necessity. But the Sub in a room like mine requires TruePlay desperately. It sounds much better after calibration. But Arc vs good books is a lost battle for the Arc. For music, for movies, for TV. Knockout Amp setup.

issue got solved

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