no need to physically disconnect it. just set the center channel to off.
agree. disconnecting the center speaker, while leaving the setting of center speaker to on/present will result in center channel audio not being reproduced (majority of the dialog will be lost among other things)
however, if you change the setting of center speaker to off/none, then the receiver automatically redirects the center channel audio to the FL/FR speakers (all sounds are maintained, but perfect center channel imaging can only be heard at the sweet spot - seating on the center line between FL and FR)
same goes for the subwoofer as well (at least when using onkyo receivers.) setting the subwoofer to off/none forces the fronts to operate as full range, as all LFE audio is redirected to the front. whether or not the fronts are capable of good low frequency extension is another matter.
ok....to clear things out hehehehehe there is no movie mixed in a 4.1 set up AFAIK but if a 4.1 set up works for you (which is a downmix ) ....well and good
BTW....I have an old trusty champagne gold Marantz receiver which can downmix and up mix audio signals
nobody said quadrophonic sound is a currently in use as an audio format. what we're trying to explain is that not having a center speaker doesn't automatically mean center channel audio is lost. it's all a matter of having the system properly configured.
only reason you would lose center channel audio reproduction is if you did not configure your gears properly.