Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater M80 as Center Channel?

Has anyone tried using a M80 as a center channel mounted horizontally? I was advised by Axiom that there would not be a negative impact on the resonance of the speaker but I am wondering on how the dispersion of the high level fequencies would be (center the speaker under the screen or center the tweeters under the screen)?

I am asking becasue I would really like to use 5 identical full range speakers for SACD/DVDA (75% of listening time) but I do not have the space availabe under the projector screen come movie time to have the M80 in a vertical orientation. I suppose I could have a seperate VP150 for movies mounted above the screen and remove the M80 but it would be a shame to waste it...

Any advice or suggestions? Thanks.

The big issue with laying it horizontally, is that the mids & tweeters will be to the extreme left ot right. The dispersion would be off.

Since the 80's have the right driver compliment, I wonder how difficult it would be to move one mid & one tweeter to the opposite end? The internal cabinetry and bracing would have to be shifted, but it could work.

How about it Ian? You would arguably have the BIGGEST centre in the industry. But would it sell?......

Some have done this in a vertical position with fabulous results. In fact there are a few people that have done 5.1 with all m80's.

Laying them down would screw up the mids/highs. The left/right axis design would then change to being up/down which would be going against design.

Kevin, welcome. Yes, the ideal is to have identical speakers across the front, and this also includes an identical vertical orientation. You haven't described why you wouldn't have room under the screen, since this is usually an ideal situation for a vertical center the same as, or at least as close as possible to, the mains. If it would be possible also consider using an M60 or even an M22 there.

Have you guys seen this B&W Center channel in person?! It is huge! I was shocked when I saw it.

B&W

real80sman, that's exactly what I was afraid of... I would love to see a VP180 with the same drivers as the M80 but in a symmetrical horizontal configuration. I'm just looking for a bit more of a full range (even 50Hz would be nice) center a la Paradigm CC-690 (which I am also seriousley considering and B&W 600/700 series).

JohnK, I have about 30" of clearance under my projector screen when it is down, so sadly none of the towers will fit vertically.

I have thought about this also. We would need some sort of wicked wall-mount bracket or a really big stand for it. How would you envision mounting it or were you thinking of just putting it sideways on the floor?

Ian, what if you made it a short floor-stander, specifically for placement under projection screens? Seems like you could steal some height by putting the woofers (and the mids?) side-by-side. There's got to be a "sweet spot" for optimal maximum height of a center channel speaker. Maybe you could angle the front baffle "up" a couple degrees to compensate for the notion that the tweeter would be lower.

By making the model a floorstander, you get all the cabinet volume you need.

I think what we need is a M80 in short-and-fat.

Of course, it would probably be easier, cheaper and better if you did it with an M60.

Of just let people deal with their own stand problems. Engineer it so that it uses two of the FMS CC and give people a break on the pricing when buying the package.

Tom, I understand your thinking on that, but I think it would probably end up having so low a WAF as to be impossible to sell.

I also have a hard time imagining a wall bracket that would support that. However, a large stand would probably work just fine.

I'm very partial to the look of this center speaker.