Sorry if it was asked before...

Can the BeoSystem3 be used without Centerspeaker, so the the center channel is reproduced through the front speakers (think it is called phantom mode)?

Thanks, Marcus

Marcus, I don't think this will work as always a center speaker must be selected. With the current SW there is no "none" option for the center speaker

kawo 

Thanks for the information, kawo.

Marcus

Yes and no.

Centre and Sub are having dedicated Powerlink sockets in the  BS3, all the others can be programmed.

My BS3 is in a box (TV room is under renovation) so no testing is possible.

Anyway if you have only one set of speakers you can force all sound to the front speakers with the Beo 4. Just select Speakers + 2. If you have also surround speakers you should select Speakers + 4 to activate the sub and the front + surround speakers.

I'm pretty sure 'speaker 4' will just switch to 'dual stereo' mode, with the same sound coming from the front and rear speakers - not what you want!

Alex:

I'm pretty sure 'speaker 4' will just switch to 'dual stereo' mode, with the same sound coming from the front and rear speakers - not what you want!

Alex is right, I want to have full surround (5.1) without center (is it 4.1 then? ;-))

Well kinda, although you only get the .1 if you use a seperate subwoofer (which isn't needed unless your main speakers struggle with bass).

What you're looking for is '5.1' with the centre channel mixed in. You could describe it as 4.1, but this would imply the original source material has a separately encoded 4.1 soundtrack

When using front speakers without a center channel, you MUST hook them to the 'Center' output (using a splitter, or daisy-chaining them together; this is why there is not a 'none' option for the Center output.  I'm certain that the Beosystem 3 can figure out just what to do with the sound.

 

Russ

is it then possible to select rear speakers? With my bv7 you can only select rear speakers when front ones are selected.

To verify the issue I had to run a test. So I am having a temporary setup (do not ask for pictures...).

With only 4 speakers I could not select anything else than Centre + Fronts after powering up the system, the only speaker options acceptable by the BS 3 were 1 to 3. BS3 dedicated one pair of BL4000's as center regardless of the selected connection. Surround or back for the second set of BL4000's was not accepted, just front. After adding a third set set I could do whatever needed. I continued the test by disconnecting the centers. In this case I could play with all speaker options.

Alex was right, the option 4 was a dummy duplicated stero - what a disappointment.

Lessons learned from the test:

1. Center speaker (or a pair is needed).

2. I see no use for a BS3-setup with just center(s) and fronts. Option 4 (with BL 8000's as fronts and 4000's as rears) sounded dull (Moulin Rouge DTS) compared to a Option 5 with a pair of 4000's as the center, 8000's as fronts and 4000's as surrounds.

To complete this post, my normal setup with the BS3 is BL7-1, BL2,  BL8000's and two sets of BL4000's.

Thanks Mico for your support. Now it is pretty clear that BS3 does not work without center.