Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Buying M50's - now center question

Hi all,

After much reading, contemplating, and agonizing over which mains I will upgrade to, I have settled on M50's. Now, my question is regarding which center solution is the way to go.

I'm currently considering the following:

VP100
Single M3 (vertical)
Dual M3 (horizontal, above and below)
Single M50 (space is an issue)

Too many options!

So, here's a little background:
my system currently consists of Paradigm Titan mains, CC-370 center, and RS Minimus 7 surrounds. The Titans are moving to the rear to retire my Minimus 7's, until the Titans are upgraded to QS4's. I'm going to keep the CC-370 initially, but have a feeling that this will be the next speaker to move out of the system.

I've had the Titans since '94 or so, and I still enjoy them, but I'm definitely ready to step up to the M50's. Currently, my CC-370 resides in the shelf of my TV stand, which sounded great at my last residence where the TV was positioned at the front of a 5' alcove and all the speakers had plenty of room to breathe behind them. In my present house, the TV stand is up against the front wall and the CC-370 sounds congested a bit.

Will the VP100, being a sealed design, need less room to breathe behind the speaker? The VP100 seems like the easiest way for me to go based upon my system's physical limitations.

I guess I've gotten concerned because of posts classifying the M50's as being "matched" to the M3's and not the M2,M22,VP100, etc. Any truth here, or are users pleased with the M50-VP100 match?

My next option is to build a new TV stand, so I can install an M3 vertical under the TV. Won't be too hard, so if the M3 will match the M50's better, I'll probably head that way.

Or am I just agonizing over this too much?

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks,

I have M50s and a VP150 and do not find there is any issue with timber matching. There should be no difference with the VP100. Note that Axiom sells its home theater packages Epic Master and Epic 50 mixing the M3 and M50 with the VP100 and 150. I believe those raising the timber matching issue are doing so based on poorly founded theory rather than experience.

I agree with md55. I have the M50s, VP100, and QS4s, and don't have any problem with timbre matching. While I'm sure an M3 center would be lovely, and F107plus5 will be around to tell you so shortly, you have to pay attention to the fact that the M3s are not as well shielded as the VP100. Now I haven't tried the M3s next to a television myself, but I did try M22s, and my CRT did display those lovely color variations from the magnets. Just a word of caution.

Of course, if you have an LCD TV or some variety of projection TV, you're just fine.

Hi Jason, and welcome!!(Hi Ken, too!)

Yup I currently use a single M3 perched upon my TV and am very happy with it!

Like so many things in life; I just kinda stumbled into using it this way cuz I just happened to have a pair of M3s lying around when I had to replace my M3s as mains when we moved into a larger home.

So I slapped the new M50s in front and stuck a left-over M3 on top of the TV and it worked great!!

.....I've since then purchased a new M3 for center and stuck the two older M3s in back for surrounds.

Would I have used an M3 for center if I had started with M50s in the first place?

I dunno.

In this size room I would likely have gone with a VP150, but as luck would have it, I have a real sucky room which likes to have me cross everything at 60hz rather than 80, so having an M3 as center works like a charm since it really really likes playing a psudo full-range role!

I've never heard any of the VP series of centers, so I don't know how well they match M50; but I have heard enough folks rave about using the VPs with M50s and M3s to know that I would be confident and comfortable going that route especially if I were crossing at the standard 80hz. I do know, however, that panning from M50s to M3s and back again is absolutely flawless. So either way to go would be a good way to go!

Kens' concern about gettin' an M3 too close to a standard CRT TV is a good one: I tried putting an M3 on top of a 31" direct view a couple years back, and the colors went all womphy. Turns out they have to be a good 6" away to not mess with the colors.(Axiom recomendation)

I'm probably not the best source of info here! I have Axiom speakers; but I don't use them quite the same as everybody else(Ok, speakers "there" ears "here" sound goes from "there" to "here" like most other folks)but I use M50s as mains with M3 as center and M3s as surrounds, with all speakers set to "large" and all crossovers set to 60hz.

Nobody Else Does THAT!!

I'm even waiting and hoping for Axiom to produce a center with 6.5" drivers and QS surround with the same!!

Anyway......This is what works well For Me!! Happy Hunting!!
Rich.

Thanks for everyone's input so far! It's beginning to sound as though my "fears" regarding the VP100 properly matching the M50's are unfounded.

Regarding the M3 as center, I am using a CRT, and an M3 would need to be closer than the 6" distance so that probably rules out that route.

VP100 sounds like the way for me to go. My room is 14'D x 15'W, but the one end of the 15' wall is angled (think bay window, but it's the whole wall w/ 3 separate windows), and the other "wall" is my staircase upstairs (and it's fairly open, with just vertical columns from floor to stairs). So, it's not a square room.

Any comments regarding the VP100 being sealed vs. a rear-ported design? Am I right or wrong in thinking that the sealed VP100 should not require the breathing space behind the center like a rear-ported design?

Jason,
lot's of discussion about speaker shielding/proximity to your tv set, etc. If you have the ability to, you may wish to try the speaker close to your TV for an extended period of time (say 2 weeks). I found when I initially set my VP150 on top of my television there was some magnet-effect on the TV and colours were a little "wonky". However, after about a week or two, the effects went away and the television picture was back to normal. That was a couple of years ago now, and there does not appear to be any long-lasting effect or damage to the set. Of course, YMMV. Good luck.