Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Why do my QS8s sound better than my VP150?

Thank you for the reply Alan.

I actually think I might have a defective VP150 in this case. I am not talking about a subtle timbre change, missing bass output or something requiring a positional change. This is a drastic change in sound quality. I am actually able to make my M80s sound similar to my VP150 by cupping my hands and covering the tweeters....it sounds very much the same. If I put my ears up to the VP150 tweeters during a pink noise test, I could hardly hear them while the M80s and QS8s were very clear sounding. Swapping output channels on the amp did not change this and it was wired correctly.

Shortly after posting the original message to this thread, HT disaster struck. I was experimenting with the volume level of the VP 150 through the menu on the LMC-1. I was standing over my 150 with remote in hand looking down at it. Overall SPL I would say was medium/low - maybe about conversation level in a room. When my volume adjustment hit +10, I heard a pop and saw a flash come out of the LPA. It shut off and I could smell burning electrical. I immediately unplugged my power conditioner from the wall and just sort of stood there staring at my amp in total disbelief.

After this happened I called Axiom and talked to JC. When I described the original problem with the VP150 (pretty much missing highs/anemic tweeter output) he agreed that there must have been something amiss as this wasn't normal for a VP150, that it should sound comparable to the QS8s.

Then being a swing shifter past his bedtime and deeply distraught that my HT basically had just blown up, I went to bed.

And here I am sipping on coffee having just woke up and have the next few days off.

Before going to bed I was sort of ready to ship everything back to Emo and Axiom and just maybe time myself out for a few weeks. 4 months of research led to what looks like a defective VP150, an M80 that was damaged pretty good in shipping, an LPA-1 that just went to electronics heaven...two days of owning the HT and having it blow up on the second day.

Of Note - I am of no means slamming Axiom or Emo. I have read enough forum posts to realize I am what seems to be a VERY rare case. Axiom had shipped a new M80 to replace the damaged one in less than 24 hours. I have no doubt that both Emo and Axiom will give me second to none customer service to resolve all these issues if I choose to do so. It is just that I am a little down and out about this whole situation right now.

...the M80s and QS8s sounded phenomenal before the LPA blew up.

My VP100 (and, to a lesser extent, the QS8s) sounds different from my M60s when running receiver test tones but sounds much closer when running real world signals OR a test CD.

As far as I know, the difference results from the fact that the receiver test tones are injected downstream from the bass management, ie the different rolloff frequencies will make a big difference in sound when running test tones BECAUSE the subwoofer is not intercepting and reproducing the lower notes on the center and surrounds.

I'm not 100% sure this is the case but it sure sounds that way. Does anyone know for sure ?

EDIT -- Just to be clear, you may still have a defective VP150. Things like that do happen from time to time. I did find a difference, however, between using receiver-generated pink noise and using pink noise delivered via DVD.

Bhull,

From your description, there is a possibility that your VP150 is faulty. Among the things that can happen (rarely) in shipping are dislodged push-on speaker connectors inside the enclosure. If it were the latter, the driver(s) would either work or not, and you could easily check by removing each driver from the front baffle and ensuring that the connectors are secure. Once in a while the crossover board may develop a crack from blows during shipping and that might lead to intermittent operation of some of the drivers. It's really rare, but it has happened.

There have been reports of channel failures and shutdowns of Emotiva amps on these boards and elsewhere, and I have one acknowledgment from a professional engineer and reviewer that the Emotiva amps have had "issues" with channel failures in the past.

If you return the VP150 (arrange that with JC), we can do a forensic examination at our lab and determine if there was an inherent problem with the drivers and/or crossover.

I really regret you've experienced this with your first home theater system and I assure you Axiom will set things right at no cost to you.

Regards,

Amazing how a company can (if they choose to) turn a very big negative into ultimately a big positive. It really is unfortunate it had to happen, but if humans are involved at any level there is always a chance, however small, that bad things can occur beyond anyone's real control.

I'm sure you will be ultimately very very happy with your VP150 and your axiom HT experience in the near future.

Hope things go well with the receiver. That is some serious A/V bad luck to have happen all at once.

It is good to hear that you are being taken care of. My hat is off to Axiom and Emotiva for resolving these matters.

Now onto more important things...

I just re-inspected the box of the damaged speaker and found this on the bottom.. Now the M80s were packed updside down, so you open the top of the box, flip it over and pull the box off and you have a right side up speaker.



And here is the foam.




Without a doubt this thing was dropped or impacted very hard in shipping. God only knows what the rest of my gear experienced.

And last but not least, the VP150 box