Hey guys. Just wanted to introduce myself. I have always been a little bit of a speaker nut thanks to my dad. I just got my first apartment and heres my humble setup.

Harman Kardon AVR-235
Fronts-POLK RT800
Surrounds- Sony Bookshelves ( hopefully polk fxi soon)
Subwoofer- Boston Acoustics HPS-10Se
No center Yet
Sharp Lc46d64u
Bdp-s350 Blu Ray player


This seems like a place with a huge wealth of knowledge so I came armed with questions. How important is a center channel to my system? I have a fairly small room and dialouge is pretty clear during movies. IS this a worthwhile upgrade? If so which center would match my RT800s?

Secondly I won a Audiosource amp300 stereo amplifier off ebay that I plan on hooking up to the preamp outputs on my receiver and using it to power my fronts. I mainly did this because I wanted more for stereo listening. Is this a decent amp? I couldnt find too much info on it. I may just end up selling it again if its not going to be better than what I have.


Thanks,
Zach

anyone?

IMHO I think its very important to have a center for Home Theater experience. I watched movies with and without center and I personally enjoy having a center. I believe the matching center for your speaker is Polk CS400. I am just not sure where you are going to find one.

The center is most important for listeners sitting outside of the "sweet spot". What you are using right now is the "phantom" center mode in your receiver. It mixes the center channel information into the left/right channels. This works just like "stereo". If you are sitting in the middle between the L/R speakers, you'll hear the stereo imaging. If you move off the centerline, the imaging will shift to the closer speaker. If you're OK with that, then you don't need a CC speaker. (Also, you should know that some receivers will engage some Dynamic Range Control when using the "phantom" mode. Mixing the CC info into the L/R's can overdrive the L/R channels. Limiting Dynamic Range can protect against the channels being overdriven. Some processors have enough headroom the handle the mix, others don't. Just be aware of the possibility.)

I'm not familiar with the Audiosource amp, so I can't comment on it. However, HK receivers are known to be conservatively rated. They will always output their full rated power, whereas some manufacturers will severely overstate the power spec's. If your speakers have decent sensitivity, (90 dB/1 watt/1 meter or higher), then you may not need the extra power. However, if your speakers are low sensitivity, the 50 wpc of the HK receiver may be taxed, in which case the extra power will be helpful.

Craig