I currently have all Energy Speakers in my 7.1 HT setup driven by a Denon 3803. Connoisseur C-9s in front, C-C3 Center, Encores as the surrounds and Take 2s in the back, and a small (100W) Energy Take 8.2 sub. (The C-9s are so strong it's only really needed for movies). Overall, this works pretty well, except that to me, the C-C3 Center Channel seems just a little bit muddy or vague sometimes, especially dialog when listening off axis. I have read that the traditional W-T-W (or, in the C-C3's case, W-M-T-M-W) is actually a very poor layout for achieving good dispersion of the center channel dialog, and I was intrigued by the vp150's T-W-W-W-T design and all the positive reviews for other Axiom speakers. So now I am really curious if this might be a better center channel for my setup. My biggest concern is that it won't be timbre-matched to the Energies, which have a nice high end with excellent Aluminum tweeters, but in general tend to be a bit stronger in the midrange and bass. Just by looking at the size of the drivers and the detailed specs of each speaker, I'm sure the Axiom will have a very different character, but I hope I'm not going too far in the opposite direction. I get the impression from various reviews that the vp150 may border on being just a little bright. Has anyone here ever listened to both the vp150 and the Energy C-C3? Also, I know that Axiom is generally much less expensive than other speakers of the same or better quality and performance, but the C-C3 is a $600 speaker. Is Axiom really that "underpriced?"
